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Patti Scialfa - Play It As It Lays
| Allmusic | | Patti Scialfa's second album, 23rd Street Lullaby, was a paean to the romantic, wild, unbridled joy of running around the New York City of the '70s -- a place that no longer exists -- as seen through the eyes of a wiser, seasoned, yet untamed adult heart. Play It as It Lays is its mirror image. Released just a shade over three years later (a brief time for Scialfa, whose debut set Rumble Doll was released in 1993) the songs on Play It as It Lays deal with doubt, heartbreak, betrayal, uncertainty, anger, and restlessness, and find redemption in embracing them all as part of the whole. Co-produced with Steve Jordan and Ron Aniello, Scialfa's songwriting has developed into something so focused that its economy and its sharpness are as becoming as a shiny new stiletto -- one that cuts deep but leaves the most beautiful of scars....full text |
| | Amazon | | Patti Scialfa can't utter a sentence, let alone issue an entire album, without the world scanning it for Bruce Springsteen-related subtext, so on Play It as It Lays--the sharpest, most assured, and best record of her solo career--she gives up. This beautiful, world-weary record, rich in girl-group harmonies, folk-roots rhythms, and clear-eyed lyrics, gets to the heart of what it means to be in a long-term relationship, whether it's with a rock god or a shoe salesman. There are sacrifices ("Like Any Woman Would"), concessions ("Town Called Heartbreak"), thrills ("Rainy Day Man"), and long spells of casting aside wistfulness and scraping up hope ("Looking for Elvis")....full text |
| | Billboard | | It's to Patti Scialfa's considerable credit that she's launched a potent solo career in the shadow of husband Bruce Springsteen, and in doing so has not tried to chase after anything but the mature kind of music she naturally makes. The Garden State native is at heart a Greenwich Village troubadour with a soul of . . . well, soul, the classic variety from Memphis as distilled by scores of Jersey shore joints. The latter gets a particularly strong ride on "Play It As It Lays," Scialfa's third and most accomplished solo album. She makes her sources clear on the Chiffons-referencing "Like Any Woman Would," the "Sally Go Round the Roses" snippet in "The Word" and the Janis Ian "Society's Child" nod in "Town Called Heartbreak," while "Play Around" sounds like a lost Lieber & Stoller tune for the Drifters.—Gary Graff...full text |
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