Sylvia Hotel

Cheryl Wheeler

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 26, 1999)
• Original Release Date: January 26, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philo / Umgd
• ASIN: B00000HXE0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,572 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Since her first independent EP appeared in 1983, Cheryl Wheeler has been keeping her fans content and more than confounding critics who might prefer to pigeonhole her. This gifted singer/songwriter can shift from deep irony to deeper emotion in the space of a single measure. On Sylvia Hotel, Wheeler's comic brio is particularly abundant. Witness her tongue-twisting, starchy paean to the potato (to the tune of the "Mexican Hat Dance"!)--this is most definitely roots music with a difference. Then there's "Meow," an ode to her master-slave relationship with a saucy, self-loving feline: "I see you in Memphis on the Nile in the spring / Swinging through some palace doing your Egyptian king thing," Wheeler growls. But there are also several beautifully serious songs--such as "His Hometown," a keen tribute to some stronger roots, and "Lighting Up the Mighty Mississippi"--that wreak emotional havoc on listeners' hearts. Leavened with essential humor, abiding images, and sublime harmonies (courtesy of Lucy Kaplansky), Sylvia Hotel should break Wheeler out once and for all. --Kerry Fried

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only thing better is seeing Cheryl live, February 4, 1999

By	"tweakley" (Mercerville, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Once again Cheryl Wheeler has released a selection of songs that at one minute makes you laugh so hard that you are crying and at the next, you are crying so hard that you start to laugh. It talks of everyday issues, of love lost and moving on, it is a deep, touching and often funny work. She has a voice of an angle and the wit of a stand-up comedian. But it is the depth and beauty of her song writing that is her true gift. If you have never seen Cheryl Wheeler sing live, then you are truely missing one of the most magical events in music today. Sylvia Hotel captures a snapshot of that magic with live recordings of Unworthy and Potato but the real beauty of the recording for me comes in the lovely but sad title song, the lonely Lighting Up the Mighty Mississippi and Rainy Road Into Atlanta. Also All the Live Long Day and But the Days and Nights are Long are stand outs. Sylvia Hotel is one of the most satisfying releases in a long time, it is not to be missed.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Cheryl!, July 24, 2001

By	Jonathan Lyness (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this album several months ago and really love it. At first listening I would have called it a 3.5 or 4-star album: the production is a tad heavy in places, and Cheryl's voice is smoother and less gritty than in her live performances (aside from the two live tracks). But unexpectedly, this album grew on me in a big way. Cheryl's lyrics are deceptively simple and so insightful about the small pleasures in life. His Hometown and Lighting Up The Mighty Mississippi in particular I find just incredibly moving--I feel like they'll be with me a long time. I guess I can understand why other reviews rated this album lower--a couple of tracks are weaker than the standouts--but every review is personal, and I can only say that Cheryl Wheeler has touched me personally with this album. If you are a fan of wistful, beautiful singer-songwriter music, you just may feel the same way. Five stars, at least.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best female singer songwriters, October 24, 2001

By	www.MoisBenarroch.com "www.MoisBenarroch.com" (Israel) - See all my reviews

Wheeler has such a beautiful and expressive that even if she wasn't a singer-songwriter she would have a career in Music. She is also a great performer, and a funny woman, making all this together, an artist you can't resist.

This is Wheeler 5th release and not much different than her previous releases. Her songs are mostly personal, about being an everyday woman, an average person living in a crazy word. In But The Days And Nights Are Long, she sings:

Life is short, but the days and nights are long
Time will heal all the wounds
Someday soon I'll be rising, I'll be strong..."

In an anti-gun song, which is, as it should be the most rocking song, If It Were Up To
Me, she makes a list of the reasons that make people kill, but accuses the guns:

Maybe it's the movies, maybe it's the books
Maybe it's the bullets, maybe it's the real crooks
Maybe it's the drugs....
...
Maybe It's the fertilizer, maybe it's the nose rings
Maybe it's the end, but I know one thing
If it were up to me, I'd Take away the guns.

A very effective song, that could convince some people (am I still too optimistic, at my
age?) and may save a few life. A must listen for every congressman, tired of
impeachments and other apples.

Sylvia Hotel is a great addition to a brilliant career, by one of the most significant
female singer-songwriters of American music.