Salesman's Girl

Laura Minor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hightone Records
• ASIN: B000069KFZ
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,116 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 16-JUL-2002

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rockbluescountryfolk -- Sheryl Crow without the commercials, July 17, 2002

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salesman's Girl (Audio CD)

If Sheryl Crow hadn't lost her street cred in the transition to Classic Rock postergirl, she might still be recording discs like Laura Minor's debut. Minor's rootsy music covers much of the same musical ground as Crow's -- rock 'n' roll energy (with a sweet powerpop edge), country blue twang, folk introspection -- but without the overexposed media superstardom and commercial profligacy that's become Crow's stock-in-trade.

Minor has grown her lyrics from poems, with imagery often substituting for straight-ahead exposition. But even in their initial opacity, her words are lyrical, rather than prose broken to fit a meter, or poetry stretched into song. Her mood is often rendered most clearly in the melodies and musical backings crafted by the band and producer David Lowery (ex-Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker).

The baritone guitar and anguished vocal of the title track provide forlorned underlining of a salesman's broken dreams. It's the same sort of power conjured by Libbi Bosworth's appraisal of her own father's sad-sack life on "My Old Man." Similarly, the longing of "American Girls" is buoyed by overlayed rhythm guitars, an ebullient melody and Jeff Laitaille's drumming. The blend of full-wattage electrics and acoustic strumming is worthy of the song title's pedigree (i.e., Tom Petty's "American Girl").

Minor can crank up the rockabilly sass of Wanda Jackson (though, clearly, Jackson never sang lyrics with the metaphysical edge of "Can't Keep Giving Away My Light"), or settle into a bluesy power ballad, edging towards Janis Joplin, while retaining the fragility of Kelly Willis. This is an accomplished debut, even without noting that Minor's only been working on music for a little over a year!

3-1/2 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid but Unspectacular, March 2, 2003

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Salesman's Girl (Audio CD)

There are so many young female singer-songwriters working in the alt-country genre these days that it's easy to them get lost in the shuffle. Laura Minor's problem is that she's not nearly as good a songwriter as Patti Griffin, nor as good a singer as Tift Merritt or Allison Moorer, nor as intense as Kathleen Edwards, nor does she have the pedigree of Caitlin Cary. She gamely gives it her best shot, aided by excellent production work from Cracker's David Lowery. Ultimately, though, what carries an album like this is the songs. And though "Salesman's Girl" contains a decent title track and some other spirited country rockers, many of the tracks are just not distinctive enough to allow her to truly stand out. Minor posseses a fine voice, and next time out she might be advised to record some cover songs to juice things up.

Overall, a passable country rock album that ultimately fails to break out from the pack.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Minor Effort but No Sale, December 15, 2002

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: Salesman's Girl (Audio CD)

Laura Minor's music is rooted in country. "Lonliness" is a pumping country # about a lonely who gets married. "American Girls" is an electric track that sounds like a good theme for a tv show, "Hey, American girls, we've got so much love to give." "Don't Come to Me" starts off slow and ends a bit more loudly, "We were fan blades of sex, muscle & bone; What is left but grief & the wind?" The title track with cowriter Jared Flamm is a midtempo #, "My heart beats too fast for the world." "Sink Back" is an odd lyric with a bland melody that's most attractive aspect is that it's loud, "Sink back into your mother & take me with you." "A cold cold wind's a comin', Godspeed to the drunks, Tell the world that I died for love," sounds like a low-brow follow up to Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World," only without a distinctive melody. The most successful track, "Can't Keep Giving Away My Light" sounds like Highway 61-era Dylan with its rocking ramble. "As Close to Sacred" has some interesting words, "Saint Francis of Assissi made you cry; I was married to the ocean, you were married to the sky." "If I Never Love" is a plaintive little tune. "Rust of the Carolinas" has a lot of specific imagery like blue jays and kudzu, although I'm not quite sure why. Laura's voice is nice, expressive, and floats nicely in the arrangements. There are two weaknesses with the CD: the first is the music which is not very original or imaginative and the second is the lyrics which show great imagination, but are too oblique to communicate. If she could combine her lyrical complexity with some melodies that stick around like Randy Weeks' great Hightone CD "Madeline," she'll have a place to go. For now "Salesman's Girl" is more product than music. Taxi.