Maureen McGovern - Nice To Be Around

I like Woodhawk (the band i found yesterday) so much that it's a karmic necessity to listen to something i'm sure to dislike. So, i opened this 99 cent album from target's "we're not going to chase you if you try to steal it" bin.

I don't think i'm being unfair when i say that Maureen McGovern was never famous. She had a few well known soundtrack songs, but let's face it she's not Anne Murray or Cher. Don't get me wrong, she has a personality, but this record sounds like "Anne Murray sings songs rejected by Cher." Not surprisingly, Dionne Warwick and Barbra Streisand were her childhood idols.

I can't help but compare this to everything i've listened to in the last month, and it just never comes together: a good composition with frankly stupid lyrics, or a promising lyrical exposition with pure orchestrational hack work. It just doesn't work to my ears. She has a super forceful voice, which isn't a bad thing at all, and it's no wonder her main success came on Broadway, but she's not a pop star.

She is, however, a case study in which kind of record deal to never, ever sign. 40% is not an acceptable cut for any agent, ever. A full-salary back-up band is a lot like raising chickens and goats: you don't get to go on vacation.

I haven't heard anything else of hers (and i'm not going to), but the imaginary record executive inside me feels like they all just wasted her potential. Voice-wise, she has a real similarity to early to mid Grace Slick, and i feel like if they had led her more in the thought provoking direction (as opposed to what i call the "mistress of toys" direction), she could have killed it. As it stands though, this might as well have been a Christmas album, because i just can't care.

You are of course welcome to disagree.

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