Alison Ray – Downside
Up (CD)
Sound: B-
Music: C+
Alison Ray’s Downside Up (2006) is a strange CD
album. It wants to be rough and Rock,
but its popish “moon, June, spoon, croon” lyrics fly in the face of the
arrangements and the vocals are in the twilight zone between the two
awkwardly. When the lyrics are not
predictable, they are unbelievable, making this critic wonder (besides the
obligatory “I made this album for me” shtick) who this album was aimed at. Was it young gals trying to “Rock out” or a
serious attempt at a Rock oriented entry to gain respect?
Either way, despite some kind of mixed ambitions, the
album just does not work. Even the PCM
2.0 16bit/44.1kHz Stereo sound is a little distorted, as if on purpose. The idea is to add character to the sound,
but it backfires on an already problematic project.
- Nicholas Sheffo
