And Life is Suck

Overall Album Score: 9.0 out of 10

Through some twist of fate, I actually saw Macy Gray live. (She was touring with David Bowie, who is among the few rock stars I practically worship.) I didn't think much of her at the time, and neither did the rest of the audience. I remember the drummer had to work pretty hard to get us clapping with her beats. Well, she had a really awful stage presence for a start. Her head of untamed afro-puff kept on bobbing up and down wildly and her extremely bright smile seemed fake to me. I didn't think much of her songs, either. (She also did a painfully unfunny parody version of the All in the Family theme song that makes Weird Al Yankovic look like James Joyce.) Well, who knows what I'd think of that performance now, but after delving into her debut album On How Life Is intimately I think she's a considerable talent and responsible for making some very fun R&B/pop music.

The first thing any reviewer has to mention first about Macy Gray is her voice. It's weird. She's like no mainstream singer that I've ever heard! (Although take that with a grain of salt ... I haven't heard every mainstream singer out there.) Well, she's certainly unique. She sounds like she would have gotten a pretty fair career as a voice actor for a kid's cartoon if her singing career wasn't a success. I'd say the voice is a cross between Tina Turner and Tommy Pickles from Rugrats. Her range is pretty limited, but this weird sound produces enough novelty effect for the songs to be interesting just for that respect. So, these vocals are weird but in a good way.

Now, let's talk about the music. It's very good! The only song I remember hearing from that concert (apart from that abysmal parody I previously mentioned) is "I Try." It's partly due to the fact that I've heard it before, but that's also a testament to the fact that the track is memorable! Hooray!! If the other songs aren't *memorable* in that respect, they at least make for some considerable at-the-moment pleasure. Every song is tastfully produced; don't expect any of that cheap production that plagued those TLC albums! Take On How Life Is in your car, crank up the volume, and jam with it most vivaceously! Speaking as someone who doesn't always enjoy such mainstream pop music, I can say I could do this without feeling an ounce of guilt. This album is "artistically viable." Nothing about it is throwaway in the least aspect. All hail Macy Gray! I don't hate you anymore for being the boring opening act for David Bowie!!!

Overall Album Score: 9.0 out of 10 (Macy Gray's debut is surprisingly awesome.)

Average Song Score: 9.0 (These songs are enormously well written, which completely shatters my preconceived notion of her music.)

Album Tilt: 9.0 (Engaging and entertaining from beginning to the end.)

Artist Rating: 9.0 (She's not trying to push the boundaries, but she's being considerably interesting with the styles that have long been made available.)

Track Reviews

Why Didn't You Call Me 9.5/10

Oh give me that groove! It's as polished as a rich guy's dining room table, but it still manages to have enough raunch to give it attitude. If you're hearing Macy Gray's vocals for the first time, you might find occasion to laugh out loud. Her odd vocals deliver a very interesting "musical instrument" to say the least. But the best thing about the song is that it has a catchy melody! Why, this is a song that's worthy of Stevie Wonder -- the master of this brand of soul pop! ... The weird innovation here is they insert background conversation noise, which gives this an interesting texture. I love it all!

Do Something 8.5/10

Some broken up vocals begin this 'un, and it's saying something that sounds almost like a bad word! (OOoooo!) Well, this song isn't nearly as delightful as the previous track and neither is it as catchy. But the R&B groove (mid-tempoed this time) still has a lot of that 'tude and so does Gray's cartoon vocals. Woot? There's some beautifully done orchestral work in the latter half of the tune that does a great job of keeping my attention! It needed it, because five minutes was a little too long for such a work that doesn't change its rhythm at all.

Caligula 9.5/10

This track features another delicious R&B groove, except this one's done by rather off-kilter instruments. An organ that seems uncomfortably weak makes up the bulk of the groove and other sound effects chime in. Very well done! Whoever's responsible for the song production must be one of the few mainstream producers who actually does *good* work! (Search for my Mariah Carey reviews for the opposite end of the production spectrum.) The funny thing is the song doesn't have a melody to speak of ... it's just the groove and instrumentation. But it's all so varied and spicey (chock-full of odd instrumentals) that this song is absolutely impossible to keep your attention from veering away from it. This track is really really really fun.

I Try 9.5/10

Now, here's a song with not only fun and unique instrumentation, but it also has an extremely fantastic melody. It's no wonder that this was also Macy Gray's biggest hit single from the album! It also landed her a Grammy award for vocal performance. Well...... I absolutely abhor the Grammies, but I don't see anything wrong with honoring these crazy cartoon vocals. The song is easily the hookiest of the album. The production tricks are surprisingly at a minimum, though. (Maybe they were thinking silly production tricks weren't suitable for a hit single?) Anyway, this is a very well written song.

Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak 9/10

The song title also describes Macy Gray pretty well, I can imagine! Well, at least we're back to the crazy song production. A lot of '70s guitar that was popular in the blaxploitation era is present as well as some odd sound effect strewn throughout. The track manages to even have a spirited chorus that even contains a few good hooks or two. It's retro but with modern production sensibilities. This track contains the best things about yesterday and today! Yeah!!! (Can you see why I'm so excited about this album???)

I Can't Wait to Meetchu 9.5/10

This is based on a very repetitive hook, but it's a catchy one. The song producers do the right thing and continue to build up the orchestration throughout and make the effort even more glorious as it moves along. This production is horn-heavy and extremely easy on the ears! It's fun without getting cheap or corny. Brilliance!!

Still 8/10

This is slower and more mid-tempoed. There's a piano at its core (next to the drum beat as usual!) But in the production, they also add in some rather beautiful string passages that are just subtle enough to not go overboard. All that said, this song just doesn't seem as appealing as the other tracks. The blame for that is probably due to the lack of novelty effect, but the melody isn't as hooky as some of these other songs. It's "still" pretty above average for the genre.

I've Committed Murder 9/10

This is also not one of the album's highlights, but big fans of lyrical content might enjoy hearing her narrative. There's also some interesting vocal interchanges in the middle of this! Interesting that the typical groovy percussion is replaced with bongos this time! The instrumentation slowly gets more bizarre as it moves along (bringing in, what, a mandolin????) No, that wasn't a bad idea at all! The chord progression is a little too usual, and the melody is extremely simple. But, just with so many of these songs, the instrumentation and production is unique enough to be fun. It gets more interesting as it progresses, which I wish more artists would think about doing. I mean, if the melody were just a tad better, it would almost be as good as Kate Bush!! That's pretty good.

A Moment to Myself 8/10

This is pretty bland to start with and the song production is considerably milder than the other songs. The song production is just slightly weirder than "I Try," but the melody isn't nearly as memorable unfortunately. Oh ........... so I guess this is the worst song on the album. It continues to be just weird enough to be enjoyable. Yes, thank goodness for that strange voice! (I hear guinea pig noises at the end of this! ... I miss my guinea pig.)

The Letter 9.5/10

And the effort concludes with this absolutely blistering number. I'd wager to say that the melody is as catchy as "I Try" (but, you know, catchiness is absolutely impossible to measure). The song is nearly six minutes long making it the lengthiest track of the album. But the slow development to utter glory makes the running length completely necessary! This is a catchy song that's, above all, fun!! Yay!

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