My Shirt Looks Good on You

Catie Curtis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B00005NBXW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,876 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #27 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Folk
  • #53 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Urban Folk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Now a veteran of the New England singer-songwriter scene, Catie Curtis offers her most musically seductive album in 2001, but that's not necessarily good news. Backed by longtime friends Jimmy Ryan (formerly of the Blood Oranges and one of the most tasteful, compelling players in folk rock), bassist Andrew Mazzone, and young guitar-slinger Duke Levine, Curtis pushes further towards the danceable folk-pop of Shawn Colvin and Sheryl Crow, and pulls back from the close-to-the-bone songwriting that was once her signature. With the exception of the Southern working-class portrait "Sugar Cane" (co-written with Mary Gauthier) and closer "The Big Reprise" (a prickly meditation on divine injustice), Curtis mostly slips into the girl-meets-girl sentimentality of the title track, the adult contemporary clichés of opener "Run," or the haphazard coffeehouse diary of "Patience." The latter is a virtue these songs reveal too rarely. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catie does it again..., August 22, 2001

By 

mdsc18 - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Shirt Looks Good on You (Audio CD)

Catie Curtis is truly an incredible singer/songwriter. I have seen Catie Curtis is concert around 7 or 8 times and I am yet to be disappointed. I consider her my all-time favorite performer...she is truthful, passionate, and makes the stage glow. Her albums have always been wonderful, but My Shirt Looks Good on You is the most successful at capturing some of the glow that she has on stage. My Shirt is a lot different from previous albums, more playful and danceable, but still captures Catie's truthfulness and melodic voice. The new songs are more folk-pop than she has ever written before, which adds a great mix to her concert playlist along with Catie's previous tunes.

"Jane", "Patience", "Kiss that Counted" and "Run" are all very poppy...but quite enjoyable. The album was recorded an a old church turned recording studio and you can hear the deep acoustics most on these songs. I love that she can write folk music that is both lyrically moving and danceable.

"Elizabeth", "Don't Lay Down", "Sugar Cane", and "Love Takes the Best of Us" are true Catie. Each of these songs weaves a story and by the end of the three or four minutes you are experiencing the feelings described first hand.

Getting right down to it. Buy this album. See her in concert. Catie deserves all the success that she earns. 'My Shirt Looks Good On You' is sure to put you in a good mood and convince you that Catie Curtis is the most incredibly performer you have heard in years.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out of the Box, October 11, 2001

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Shirt Looks Good on You (Audio CD)

On Catie Curtis' 6th release, counting her 2 Mongoose releases "Dandelion" and "From Years to Hours" -- which I still am searching for copies of -- she moves out of the box from her previous releases, exploring somewhat new territory. (Her rendition of "Silent Night" on the "Snow Angels" 1996 CD is on my Christmas music rotation this year!) The CD opens with "Run" which has Catie's buttery guitar chiming to a slow rhumba-like beat. "Kiss That Counted" is a great pop tune as she sings that this kiss is "the one that mattered, that shattered my defenses." Catie's cracking vocals highlight "Jane." "Patience" is a driving tune, one of my favorites on the CD, "And down in the graveyard, they're listening to the underground; they're the only ones that ever learned to calm down." As near social consciousness as Catie's gotten, "Love Takes the Best of You" is about a child from Cambodia given up for adoption by its mother so the child could have a better life -- breathtaking. For me, "Bicycle Named Heaven" is not Catie's most original melody, a song about unrequited love. Michael Eisenstein's hot electric guitar rips through the title tune with Catie's scorching rocker, "Love & happiness, that's my condition." This track blows the roof off the CD & makes this a must-buy! Hot sax and Catie's bluesy empassioned vocal make "Don't Lay Down" shine. "Elizabeth" is a love song with a music box melody. "Now" is a great psychological study in dysfunction about someone who does everything they can to break up a relationship because they want it so much and are sure they can't have it; it's complex and so real. "Walk Along the Highway" is a ballad about Rhonda Lee who stays in an abusive relationship. If John Fogerty wrote a folk song, he'd be envious of Catie's "Sugar Cane," a swamp-flavored Louisiana tune, "From Thibodaux to Raceland, there's fire in the fields." Catie's vocal is moving on "Hush," I don't know why the world does turn; I don't think I'll ever learn." The CD ends with an idea song, "The Big Reprise." Catie examines the Christian notion of atonement that casts God as a bloodthirsty Dracula by requiring sacrifice of the Son, "What kind of God? What kind of friend? Did God let Jesus die again?" This one will raise eyebrows, but is well done. "Shirt" shows Catie feeling confident, being a bit adventurous, yet playing to enough of her strengths to keep her fans happy. This is a great growth CD & I love to hear her rock! Enjoy!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I must disagree!!, October 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Shirt Looks Good on You (Audio CD)

I recently had the opportunity to see Catie on her current tour. I'd heard a few songs from this album a year ago, when she opened for Dar Williams, and have to say that I was NOT disappointed. Although I agree that several of her older songs have a stronger "edge" and more of a theme of social awareness, these songs have their own beauty. It seems to me that as artists write more and grow in their talents, they a) say what they need to say "socially" and b) explore with different and bigger sounds as they're able, as success and progress enable them to do so. Maybe Catie's said her piece on some of the more cutting social issues; maybe she's moving into a new phase of life herself, with a less adversarial approach to those issues. Her songs have always seemed to be a commentary on what's happening in and around her (which the stories she tells on stage confirm), so my assumption is that as she grows and changes through the years, so does her music.

Regardless of the bigger, more produced sounds, I've thoroughly enjoyed the new album. "Patience," "Don't Lay Down," "Elizabeth," "The Big Reprise" and "Bicycle Named Heaven" are my favorites. I also urge everyone to see Catie live if you have a chance; her shows are packed with energy, and you get more than a glimpse into the terrific spirit that abounds from this musician. Go Catie!