June 27: My favourite underrated musician
I have long championed Amanda Marshall as the best female pop
vocalist of the 1990s. Perhaps it's patronizing and sexist to use
'female' as a qualifier - as if women can't hold their own as musicians.
When I got my new iPod, I made sure I put Amanda Marshall's entire
catalog on it. There is something about that far-reaching smoky alto
voice of hers that makes me go "ooh yeah yeah."
Amanda Marshall is 5'5", which makes her one inch shorter than me. She is six months older than me and she has exactly three albums out. Her last album, Everybody's Got a Story, was released in 2001. She has been silent ever since. I had the good fortune to see her perform in Cornwall in 2008 and that was one of her more recent performances. Every now and then, I Google Amanda Marshall and I find nothing new about her. It is entirely possible that she has left the music business and is working as a chambermaid at a motel somewhere. This would make me sad - not because she's a chambermaid (which is an honourable profession) but because she has a gift and it should be shared with the world.
The Internet gods tell me that Amanda Marshall has a new album in the works. It has been in the works since about 2010. I guess it's hypocritical of me to diss her for that since I've had a novel in the works since 1988. But, c'mon... Amanda. You let your 30s go by without giving us anything new.
I have seen Amanda Marshall perform three times and she always opens with the same song, RIDE from her sophomore album, Tuesday's Child. When I saw her at the Calgary Stampede in 2002, it started to rain and Amanda Marshall had her band stop the song they were playing and immediately she launched into Let it Rain, which is on my top ten favourite song list of all time.
Seriously, listen to Let it Rain. It sounds like it's being sung by a woman who has walked through the Valley of Broken Hearts and is bloody well proud of it. She made it through with her heart intact and she's not against locking it away forever, but she's no fool. She ain't giving it away unless you're in it for the long run.
Amanda Marshall's first two albums are full of innocence. Dark Horse is about a girl reminiscing about a love affair she had with a slightly older boy when she was 19. Birmingham is about a woman leaving an abusive man, driving to Birmingham in hopes of a better life. Sitting on Top of the World (later covered by Leann Rimes) is about how the right guy makes her life wonderful. Believe in You is about the value of showing people you have confidence in them.
Then comes 2001's Everybody's Got a Story and she's going off in a whole new direction. Suddenly, she's not afraid to use the F-word and call out a racist boyfriend for his disgusting worldview. Songs like Sunday Morning After, which about the aftermath from a Saturday night of heavy drinking and partying, shows that she has lost her naivete.
A new album may come out one day and I will probably buy it. Still, I am wary that her last studio LP was made when she was in her late 20s and when the new one comes out, she will officially be middle aged. I wonder if she'll still have her trademark long blonde curls or if they've been cropped off in favour of a more mature look.
Of course, Amanda Marshall has no obligation to put out another album and she can probably make a comfortable living doing the odd corporate gig for $5,000 a hit. I wonder if I'm in the minority when I declare her to be just as talented as Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Tina Turner or the Wilson sisters. Maybe I am. But that don't matter.
I just want it to rain again.
Amanda Marshall is 5'5", which makes her one inch shorter than me. She is six months older than me and she has exactly three albums out. Her last album, Everybody's Got a Story, was released in 2001. She has been silent ever since. I had the good fortune to see her perform in Cornwall in 2008 and that was one of her more recent performances. Every now and then, I Google Amanda Marshall and I find nothing new about her. It is entirely possible that she has left the music business and is working as a chambermaid at a motel somewhere. This would make me sad - not because she's a chambermaid (which is an honourable profession) but because she has a gift and it should be shared with the world.
The Internet gods tell me that Amanda Marshall has a new album in the works. It has been in the works since about 2010. I guess it's hypocritical of me to diss her for that since I've had a novel in the works since 1988. But, c'mon... Amanda. You let your 30s go by without giving us anything new.
I have seen Amanda Marshall perform three times and she always opens with the same song, RIDE from her sophomore album, Tuesday's Child. When I saw her at the Calgary Stampede in 2002, it started to rain and Amanda Marshall had her band stop the song they were playing and immediately she launched into Let it Rain, which is on my top ten favourite song list of all time.
Seriously, listen to Let it Rain. It sounds like it's being sung by a woman who has walked through the Valley of Broken Hearts and is bloody well proud of it. She made it through with her heart intact and she's not against locking it away forever, but she's no fool. She ain't giving it away unless you're in it for the long run.
Amanda Marshall's first two albums are full of innocence. Dark Horse is about a girl reminiscing about a love affair she had with a slightly older boy when she was 19. Birmingham is about a woman leaving an abusive man, driving to Birmingham in hopes of a better life. Sitting on Top of the World (later covered by Leann Rimes) is about how the right guy makes her life wonderful. Believe in You is about the value of showing people you have confidence in them.
Then comes 2001's Everybody's Got a Story and she's going off in a whole new direction. Suddenly, she's not afraid to use the F-word and call out a racist boyfriend for his disgusting worldview. Songs like Sunday Morning After, which about the aftermath from a Saturday night of heavy drinking and partying, shows that she has lost her naivete.
A new album may come out one day and I will probably buy it. Still, I am wary that her last studio LP was made when she was in her late 20s and when the new one comes out, she will officially be middle aged. I wonder if she'll still have her trademark long blonde curls or if they've been cropped off in favour of a more mature look.
Of course, Amanda Marshall has no obligation to put out another album and she can probably make a comfortable living doing the odd corporate gig for $5,000 a hit. I wonder if I'm in the minority when I declare her to be just as talented as Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Tina Turner or the Wilson sisters. Maybe I am. But that don't matter.
I just want it to rain again.
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