Early review of Krall album

[johnfoyle]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/10be ... 57,00.html

Diana Krall: The Girl in the Other Room

Liz Hoggard finds that change has made Mrs Costello all the better (Verve, £12.99)

Sunday March 21, 2004
The Observer

There's always been something prissy about Diana Krall. She's a PR girl's dream. Even when unkind gossip linked her to Clint Eastwood a few years ago, she never seemed entirely human. But over the past two years, Krall has been through some dramatic changes - including marriage to Elvis Costello and the loss of her mother. Her new album, The Girl in the Other Room, is a polished showcase for her cool jazzy idiom, but there are moments of genuinely raw emotion. It also gives her a chance to reveal her talent as a songwriter.
The record, Krall's eighth, has six compositions co-written by her and Costello, including the title track. 'The Girl in the Other Room' - Krall's swinging piano set off by drums and bass - has a lovely teasing melody. But the lyrics themselves are wonderfully perverse. Is the woman obsessed by her reflection in the mirror of love? Bored? Depressed? Play it over and over again and you still can't tell - the mark of a great song. There are other good choices. Mose Allison's blues 'Stop This World' highlights the weird androgyny of Krall's voice. There is a touching rendition of Costello's 'Almost Blue' (a great wedding gift from her new husband who is famously prickly about covers), while the big band-style 'Love Me like a Man' (with its salute to Count Basie) is genuinely sexy.

True, there are follies. Can anyone but Joni Mitchell really deliver 'Black Crow'? And 'I'm Pulling Through' really does have Billie Holiday's name on it. But the gospel-charged 'Narrow Daylight' is terrific. And the album closes with an extraordinary double bill - 'I'm Coming Through' (a Krall original which is a far more interesting take on Joni) and 'Departure Bay', Krall's description of the family's first Christmas without her mother. Costello wrote the lyrics as she poured out all the treasured reminiscences of childhood. It ought to be sickly, but it's a brilliant evocation of a family home you can never go back to after a parent has died.

At the very point where she was mutating into the new Vonda Shepherd, Krall has really loosened up (hell, her ironed-straight hair is even worn natural on the cover). My only quibble is the new single. Tom Waits's 'Tempation' is a classy choice - but has Krall really ever done anything wicked enough to deserve it?

[AlmostBlue]

It will definitely be worth it to hear AlmostBlue But April 27 is a long wait !
Elvis claims this is the new defacto standard for AlmostBlue.
Better than Chet Baker's, better than Elvis Costello's, etc.

[bambooneedle]

Temptation (Tom Waits)

Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
everything is made from dreams
time is made from honey slow and sweet
only the fools know what it means
temptation, temptation, temptation
oh, temptation, temptation, I can't resist
I know that she is made of smoke
but I've lost my wayy
she knows that I am broke
so that I must play
temptation, temptation, temptation
oh, whoa, temptation, temptation, I can't resist
Dutch pink and Italian blue
she is waiting there for you
my will has disappeared
now my confusion's oh so clear
temptation, temptation, temptation
whoa, whoa, temptation, temptation
I can't resist

[BlueChair]

You know, I don't even really like Diana Krall, but I have a feeling this album is going to be really good.

[SweetPear]

The same for me too , Blue. I don't really like her I don't know why. I can't really put my finger on it.
I too am sensing that this is gonna be something good. If at least not that good, then very interesting.
Can't wait to hear it.

[AlmostBlue]

at least five of the songs had EC participating..

..but AlmostBlue will certainly be great.

they just told me there will be a US tour - she already has dates all over Canada