Word: songe
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...sound coffeehouse pop. It has a comforting warmth, a topping of sugary froth, and it provides a kind of buzz, like sipping a cappuccino in a corner cafe. It is led, mostly, by female singer-songwriters, writing primarily from a feminist point of view. On her hit song Bitch, Meredith Brooks declares that she wants to "reclaim a word that had taken on a really derogatory meaning." But ideology or no, these women are unafraid to celebrate their own sensuality. On the inside flap of her album, Jewel poses in a sexy yellow swimsuit...
...Jewel just 23--and yet it echoes with sounds of three decades past: the crisp emotionality of Joni Mitchell, the artful lyrics of Bob Dylan. While rooted in acoustic folk, it draws freely on blues, jazz and even hip-hop. "There's no such thing necessarily as a folk song or pop song," says jazz singer Wilson. "What it is is not as important as how you do it, and how you do it is not as important...
Coffeehouse pop is gentle but not tame--there is a quiescent anger within it over social issues and matters of the heart. The songs seek to engage life, not shrink from it. "There was an innocence that prevailed in the '60s that was crushed by the assassination of J.F.K. and King," says Jewel. "Our parents have become disillusioned. It is their disillusionment we deal with in many ways; it's a kind of crust we have to break through." In the title song on Pieces of You, Jewel attacks religious and sexual intolerance, her voice breaking as she sings...
...does that Joni Mitchell song go? "I've looked at life from both sides now..." McLachlan has certainly seen both sides in the music business. As the Founding Mother of Lilith--and the only performer playing every date--she is sure to win a wide new audience for her lush, thoughtful songcraft. Her new CD, Surfacing (Arista), out this week, is an elegant, old-soul album, with several standout songs, including the bewitching Building a Mystery and the ravishing Adia. Radio is already all over it. But not too long ago, McLachlan couldn't buy airplay. "When my album Fumbling...
Both because of and despite such associations, Bacharach, 69, is currently enjoying greater popularity than at any other time since his heyday in the 1960s and early '70s, when, working against the rock grain, he was responsible for dozens of Top 40 hits, including surprisingly nuanced adult-oriented love songs for performers like Gene Pitney, Dusty Springfield and, his greatest vessel of all, Dionne Warwick. The current renaissance--Bacharach's last big hit was 1985's That's What Friends Are For--began a few years ago, with the explosion of interest in so-called lounge music, especially in Britain...