| Missy Higgins ≡ The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle [iTunes Deluxe Version] (2012) |
Missy Higgins – The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle [iTunes Deluxe Version]
Birth name: Melissa Morrison Higgins
Born: 19 August 1983
Instruments: Vocals, piano, synthesiser, guitar, melodica, xylophone
Notable instruments: Roland RD-700, Maton / Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genre: Acoustic / Alternative / Indie
Album release: June 1, 2012
Record Label: Eleven: A Music Company
Tracklist:
01. Set Me On Fire (3:35)
02. Hello Hello (3:00)
03. Unashamed Desire (3:31)
04. Everyone’s Waiting (3:52)
05. All In My Head (3:44)
06. Temporary Love (3:40)
07. Watering Hole (2:42)
08. Tricks (3:07)
09. If I’m Honest (3:32)
10. Cooling Of The Embers (3:59)
11. Hidden Ones (4:22)
12. Sweet Arms Of A Tune (3:40)
13. World Gone Mad (Bonus Track) (4:01)
14. Link In A Chain (Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Track)
Producer: Brad Jones, Butterfly Boucher
Website: http://missyhiggins.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/missyhiggins#!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/missyhiggins
≡ Deluxe album includes exclusive non-album track“World Gone Mad” plus digital album booklet.
Review by Doug Wallen on Jun 01 2012, 01:56PM
≡ How should we take that album title? Maybe as a reflection of those brassy vocal turns Missy Higgins has in her singer-songwriter toolkit?
≡ Or, more likely, her return to showbiz after deciding to quit music following her 2007 second album On a Clear Night and its U.S. gold single, the Sarah McLachlan-esque ‘Where I Stood’? Or, in light of her battles with depression, something more ironic? Whatever way, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle isn’t some self-conscious meditation on the vagaries of success in the entertainment industry. No, these dozen songs are intimate relationship studies with easy choruses, confirming Higgins’ sweet spot between commercially friendly broadness and striking personal investment.
≡ She makes it look simple, that balance. But thousands of bland, leaden albums have failed to secure the instant snap and ignition Higgins nails here. Made in Nashville with producers Brad Jones and Butterfly Boucher, this is an album of deliberate singles and co-writes that also happens to cut to the bone in that earnest but undeniable way that well-equipped mainstream songwriters can.
≡ If her time away from things did inform these songs, it’s in how Higgins uses music itself as a reference point in the lyrics. The spirited opener ‘Set Me On Fire’ is partly an ode to melody that falls in line with Sally Seltmann’s ‘Harmony to my Heartbeat’, while ‘All in My Head’ muses on “the sound of a single note ringing out” as the cue for a lover’s feared departure. And later, the closing ‘Sweet Arms of a Tune’ is about finding solace in music when that’s all that’s available.
≡ Of the co-writes, lead single ‘Unashamed Desire’ is a darkly anthemic Boucher collaboration that dresses its emotional core in carefully plotted arrangements. Leaning on middle-of-the-road alt-rockers of yore, Higgins enlists Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin for the catchy but disposable ‘Hello Hello’ and Semisonic’s Dan Wilson (Adele, Weezer) for the effectively spare ‘Everyone’s Waiting’.
≡ With lyrics co-penned by film director Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Bastardy, Ben Lee: ‘Catch My Disease’), ‘Watering Hole’ inhabits the homegrown blues tradition but doesn’t entirely work; it comes off hollow. On the other hand? ‘Tricks’, written with U.S. singer-songwriter Katie Herzig, is a total dream single that could very much be pitched as a country crossover. It’s so effortless and yet determined in a teeth-gritted way, while still allowing for a country drawl in the chorus.
≡ It’s telling to learn which songs Higgins wrote alone. The most extroverted is ‘Temporary Love’, just like the kind of surging ’80s hits Bonnie Tyler used to come up with. (Think ‘Holding Out for a Hero’). Even that, though, has a boutique flair to its strings and other instrumental embellishment.
≡ The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle finishes with four downbeat, Higgins-only songs in a row. After the mandolin-licked ballad ‘If I’m Honest’ and the torch-y ‘Cooling of the Embers’, the more engaged ‘Hidden Ones’ fits bleak imagery (“Watch as the lion eats the clown”) to Higgins’ bottomless topic of heartache. Then comes the aforementioned ‘Sweet Arms of a Tune’, sealing the album’s back third as a quiet and reflective contrast to the more grand and anthemic tracks before it.
≡ It’s almost like, now that Higgins has returned to the fold, she’s made up her mind to have it both ways. To throw herself behind the punchy singles and collaborations, sure, but also to carve out space for those stark confessionals.
Fortaken: http://www.thevine.com.au
Discography:
≡ 2004: The Sound of White
≡ 2007: On a Clear Night
≡ 2012: The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Biography:
≡ With a flair for poignant ballads and pop/rock singles, Missy Higgins became one of Australia's most popular artists during the early 21st century. Her songwriting career began in Melbourne, where she attended boarding school and balanced her time between academics and music. Higgins' sister got ahold of "All for Believing," one of Missy's earliest songs, and mailed a copy to Australia's Triple J radio station without her sister's consent. The song ended up winning an unsigned artist competition named Triple J Unearthed, which effectively sparked Higgins' career as a singer/songwriter.
After signing with Eleven, the same Australian record company used by such homeland heroes as Silverchair, Higgins issued a self-titled EP in November 2003. The Scar EP appeared in August 2004 and set the scene for her full-length debut, Sound of White, which appeared the following September. Sound of White proved to be remarkably successful, remaining on the Australian charts for two years and going platinum nine times. Higgins then set her sights on America, where she made her debut in January 2005 with the domestic-only All for Believing EP. Released through Warner Bros., it included the title track and four other songs cherry-picked from the Sound of White LP (which was reissued in the U.S. shortly thereafter).
≡ Missy Higgins issued her sophomore album, On a Clear Night, in 2007, with an American release following in early 2008. While Sound of White had emphasized Higgins' flair for piano, On a Clear Night featured a new emphasis on guitar, which Higgins had used to compose the majority of the tracks. "Steer," the album's leadoff single, became her second number one hit in Australia. ≡ 
| Missy Higgins ≡ The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle [iTunes Deluxe Version] (2012) |
Missy Higgins – The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle [iTunes Deluxe Version]
Birth name: Melissa Morrison Higgins
Born: 19 August 1983
Instruments: Vocals, piano, synthesiser, guitar, melodica, xylophone
Notable instruments: Roland RD-700, Maton / Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genre: Acoustic / Alternative / Indie
Album release: June 1, 2012
Record Label: Eleven: A Music Company
Tracklist:
01. Set Me On Fire (3:35)
02. Hello Hello (3:00)
03. Unashamed Desire (3:31)
04. Everyone’s Waiting (3:52)
05. All In My Head (3:44)
06. Temporary Love (3:40)
07. Watering Hole (2:42)
08. Tricks (3:07)
09. If I’m Honest (3:32)
10. Cooling Of The Embers (3:59)
11. Hidden Ones (4:22)
12. Sweet Arms Of A Tune (3:40)
13. World Gone Mad (Bonus Track) (4:01)
14. Link In A Chain (Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Track)
Producer: Brad Jones, Butterfly Boucher
Website: http://missyhiggins.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/missyhiggins#!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/missyhiggins
≡ Deluxe album includes exclusive non-album track“World Gone Mad” plus digital album booklet.
Review by Doug Wallen on Jun 01 2012, 01:56PM
≡ How should we take that album title? Maybe as a reflection of those brassy vocal turns Missy Higgins has in her singer-songwriter toolkit?
≡ Or, more likely, her return to showbiz after deciding to quit music following her 2007 second album On a Clear Night and its U.S. gold single, the Sarah McLachlan-esque ‘Where I Stood’? Or, in light of her battles with depression, something more ironic? Whatever way, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle isn’t some self-conscious meditation on the vagaries of success in the entertainment industry. No, these dozen songs are intimate relationship studies with easy choruses, confirming Higgins’ sweet spot between commercially friendly broadness and striking personal investment.
≡ She makes it look simple, that balance. But thousands of bland, leaden albums have failed to secure the instant snap and ignition Higgins nails here. Made in Nashville with producers Brad Jones and Butterfly Boucher, this is an album of deliberate singles and co-writes that also happens to cut to the bone in that earnest but undeniable way that well-equipped mainstream songwriters can.
≡ If her time away from things did inform these songs, it’s in how Higgins uses music itself as a reference point in the lyrics. The spirited opener ‘Set Me On Fire’ is partly an ode to melody that falls in line with Sally Seltmann’s ‘Harmony to my Heartbeat’, while ‘All in My Head’ muses on “the sound of a single note ringing out” as the cue for a lover’s feared departure. And later, the closing ‘Sweet Arms of a Tune’ is about finding solace in music when that’s all that’s available.
≡ Of the co-writes, lead single ‘Unashamed Desire’ is a darkly anthemic Boucher collaboration that dresses its emotional core in carefully plotted arrangements. Leaning on middle-of-the-road alt-rockers of yore, Higgins enlists Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin for the catchy but disposable ‘Hello Hello’ and Semisonic’s Dan Wilson (Adele, Weezer) for the effectively spare ‘Everyone’s Waiting’.
≡ With lyrics co-penned by film director Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Bastardy, Ben Lee: ‘Catch My Disease’), ‘Watering Hole’ inhabits the homegrown blues tradition but doesn’t entirely work; it comes off hollow. On the other hand? ‘Tricks’, written with U.S. singer-songwriter Katie Herzig, is a total dream single that could very much be pitched as a country crossover. It’s so effortless and yet determined in a teeth-gritted way, while still allowing for a country drawl in the chorus.
≡ It’s telling to learn which songs Higgins wrote alone. The most extroverted is ‘Temporary Love’, just like the kind of surging ’80s hits Bonnie Tyler used to come up with. (Think ‘Holding Out for a Hero’). Even that, though, has a boutique flair to its strings and other instrumental embellishment.
≡ The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle finishes with four downbeat, Higgins-only songs in a row. After the mandolin-licked ballad ‘If I’m Honest’ and the torch-y ‘Cooling of the Embers’, the more engaged ‘Hidden Ones’ fits bleak imagery (“Watch as the lion eats the clown”) to Higgins’ bottomless topic of heartache. Then comes the aforementioned ‘Sweet Arms of a Tune’, sealing the album’s back third as a quiet and reflective contrast to the more grand and anthemic tracks before it.
≡ It’s almost like, now that Higgins has returned to the fold, she’s made up her mind to have it both ways. To throw herself behind the punchy singles and collaborations, sure, but also to carve out space for those stark confessionals.
Fortaken: http://www.thevine.com.au
Discography:
≡ 2004: The Sound of White
≡ 2007: On a Clear Night
≡ 2012: The Ol' Razzle Dazzle
Biography:
≡ With a flair for poignant ballads and pop/rock singles, Missy Higgins became one of Australia's most popular artists during the early 21st century. Her songwriting career began in Melbourne, where she attended boarding school and balanced her time between academics and music. Higgins' sister got ahold of "All for Believing," one of Missy's earliest songs, and mailed a copy to Australia's Triple J radio station without her sister's consent. The song ended up winning an unsigned artist competition named Triple J Unearthed, which effectively sparked Higgins' career as a singer/songwriter.
After signing with Eleven, the same Australian record company used by such homeland heroes as Silverchair, Higgins issued a self-titled EP in November 2003. The Scar EP appeared in August 2004 and set the scene for her full-length debut, Sound of White, which appeared the following September. Sound of White proved to be remarkably successful, remaining on the Australian charts for two years and going platinum nine times. Higgins then set her sights on America, where she made her debut in January 2005 with the domestic-only All for Believing EP. Released through Warner Bros., it included the title track and four other songs cherry-picked from the Sound of White LP (which was reissued in the U.S. shortly thereafter).
≡ Missy Higgins issued her sophomore album, On a Clear Night, in 2007, with an American release following in early 2008. While Sound of White had emphasized Higgins' flair for piano, On a Clear Night featured a new emphasis on guitar, which Higgins had used to compose the majority of the tracks. "Steer," the album's leadoff single, became her second number one hit in Australia. ≡