Pretty Little Head

Nellie McKay

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 31, 2006)
• Original Release Date: October 31, 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Black Dove
• ASIN: B000HIP4CY
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,487 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Cabaret

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Few recording artists follow their double-disc debut with another double-disc collection. Nellie McKay isn't the typical recording artist. The singer/songwriter/activist is a restless talent--with a steely backbone. When Columbia refused to release this 23-track set, McKay took a hike and put it out on her own Hungry Mouse imprint. (The song "Columbia Is Bleeding" isn't about her former label, rather the treatment of lab animals at the Ivy League institution.) McKay's creative restlessness brings to mind Robert Pollard and Matt and Eleanor Friedberger, not so much in sound, but in the sense that--for better or for worse--there's nothing she won't try. In "G.E.S." and "Mama & Me," she raps. In the latter, she quips, "See I been livin' with my mama/since I was an embryo/never had Nintendo/saw a lot of Brecht though." In "Tipperary," the British-born New Yorker torches up the joint music hall-style. Then in "Yodel," she, well, yodels. What holds it all together is McKay's flexible, appealing pipes. There's a reason she was cast as Polly Peachum in the Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera--the petite blonde oozes charisma. McKay's actress mother, Robin Pappas, served as executive producer on Pretty Little Head, which features charming duets with fellow iconoclasts k.d. lang ("We Had It Right") and Threepenny co-star Cyndi Lauper ("Beecharmer"). As with Get Away from Me, the album is like a seven-course meal; overwhelming if taken in all at once, but there's a little something here for pretty much everyone. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars no sophomore slump here, October 31, 2006

By	Bryant Burnette "Bryant Burnette" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

McKay's sophomore album was famously stopped from release by Columbia Records, who apparently demanded that it be released as a single disc rather than as the double-disc album the artist wanted. Who knows why -- I'm going to speculate that they just didn't want to pony up the meager cost to produce a double album. It's a strange decision, and totally the wrong one -- if you're releasing an album by someone whose individualism is a MAJOR part of their appeal, then you'd have to be nuts to try and step on them.

Luckily, McKay owned the rights to the recordings and was able to self-release the album. In case you're wondering, it's not a letdown. Maybe a leetle self-indulgent here and there, but so what? All art is self-indulgent, and this pretty much all works.

My personal favorites from the album are "Cupcake," the lovely "Long & Lazy River," "We Had It Right" (a duet with k.d. lang), and "Columbia Is Bleeding," but that's just me. As with her first album, McKay tries out a LOT of different styles, ranging here from hip-hop to ballad to pop to yodel, and whereas most musicians would have a hard time roping all those disparate elements into one corral, McKay manages to make it all seem of a piece. It's kind of astonishing, and will seem more and more so with each time you listen to the CD. Sorry, make that "CDs."

Another exceptional effort from an exceptional talent. Buy two and give one to someone you know would never buy it for themselves.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars when the cutest little kitty comes and hits you in the eye, March 25, 2008

By	My Uncle Stu (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I'm really digging Nellie McKay these days and tonight this album is my favorite. K.D. Lang and Cindi Lauper had been off my radar but their collaborations here are real treats.

The first disc is overall the more sober, less spirited of the two but I really enjoyed "The Big One." "Pink Chandelier" is a woozy delight. And of course "Bee Charmer," with Cindi Lauper stirred me up. Cindi Lauper has always been a guilty pleasure for me. "Girls Just Want to have Fun" coincided with the hormonal zenith of my adolescence. Madonna came on strong, Cindi started wrestling, Cindi got an ulcer, and then began the slow fade. But I never forgot her.

The second disc is very solid. "Pounce" clocks in under a minute but is all hook, it'll become tightly entrenched in your retroperitoneal space before the second yowl. I had a very aversive reaction to the creepy baby-talk histrionics in "Mama and Me" but it is has a peculiar elegance. "Columbia is Bleeding" is potent. And "Lali Est Paresseux" is a carefree treat, although I don't know what the lyrics mean, so I'm hoping it isn't some awful tear-jerker.

Thank you for listening, nighty-night.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely Un-Boring, November 7, 2006

By	Violet Robin (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

Buy this album if you are searching for something fun, something quirky, or something you've never heard before! I popped in the album for the first time on a long car ride, and I was completely captivated at first listen. If you are sick of albums that you have to listen to 6 times before you even like or remember the songs, then this one's for you. Nellie's voice isn't beautiful in the Norah Jones way (thank goodness), but it's very rich and very real. Her lyrics are sometimes just fun-silly, often poignant and biting. This album will appeal to all types of listeners...as long as you have a little mischief in you.