| Slantmagazine |
 At first blush, it seems that the last thing Nashville needs at the moment is another young blond starlet competing for face time in a crowded market. But Laura Bell Bundy's Achin' and Shakin' puts nearly all of her contemporaries on notice. Showing infinitely more personality, ambition, and genre know-how in any given 10 seconds of her debut than some current country stars have shown in their entire careers, Bundy demands attention and develops a persona built on equal parts theatricality and a love-me-or-hate-me abandon.
Even the way that Bundy has structured her debut speaks to her willingness to take risks. Divided essentially into two EPs unified by tone and theme, Achin' and Shakin' gives Bundy the opportunity to show off the real breadth of her talents. The six tracks on the Achin' side draw heavily from the lush production style of the countrypolitan era, with hushed string arrangements, heavy pedal steel, and delicate piano lines. It's a style well matched to the songs, which trade in traditional country tropes of heartbreak, loneliness, and reflection. Opener "Drop on By" is a sultry come-on reminiscent of Sammi Smith's landmark cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night," and "Please" is a bluesy, desperate number that sounds like vintage Tanya Tucker....full text |
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| Nytimes |
Dr. Dog, the Philadelphia indie-rock band that released its first album in 2001, is already feeling its age. “Where’d All the Time Go?” asks one song title (and opening line), and it’s a recurring notion throughout “Shame Shame,” the band’s new album. “I do believe that there’s no more tricks up my sleeve/The good old days are past,” Toby Leaman sings in “Stranger,” the album’s first song.
Perhaps Dr. Dog is identifying a little too closely with its grizzled main sources, the three B’s of 1960s rock: the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Band. From them it variously draws chord changes, exuberant vocal harmonies, rootsy Americana and familiar instrumental sounds. Or perhaps Dr. Dog is taking stock as it moves from the home recordings of its previous albums to a professional studio and an outside producer, Rob Schnapf (who has worked with Beck and Elliott Smith). But in the new songs — melancholy thoughts about time, decline and limitations — are neatly refuted by music that’s full of life....full text |
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| Allmusic |
| Laura Bell Bundy is well-known as a Broadway performer, but less so as a contemporary country singer. Her debut album, Longing for a Place Already Gone, was released on her own independent LAB Records in 2007. While it never charted, it was substantial in that it recalled a much earlier era of country music without falling into pure nostalgia. Achin’ and Shakin’ is her Mercury Nashville debut, produced (mostly) by Nathan Chapman. It's a concept recording with two distinctly different reflections on love, the words in the title reflecting musical interpretations of modern country music. The Achin’ side is, predictably, the more melancholy part of the recording. From its opener, “Drop on By,” with its lilting old-school country leanings, Bundy sings in a big, throaty contralto that begs her beloved to come by, no matter when or why. It’s followed by what may be the album’s finest track, the nakedly confessional “Curse the Bed,” a lilting ballad that speaks its anger and pain with a candor that is only held in check by the instrumental backing. One can hear the heartbreak in Bundy's phrasing, which invites the listener into the most intimate of experiences. The Shakin’ side of the set is led off by the sassy single “Giddy on Up,” introduced by a funky soul bassline before being undercut by fiddles and banjo and punched up by a horn section. It walks a line between a retro look at Southern soul and contemporary country. It’s a dance tune, pure and simple, even though its lyric content deals with betrayal. The other standout is “Rebound,” a down-and-dirty sexual number that boasts of the protagonist’s way to heal her heartbreak. The chorus is a brave thing, even for today’s country: “Pick me up, lay me down/Won’t you be my rebound.” The same goes for "Boyfriend?" Both of these rollicking, rowdy songs reflect the more sexual side of Gretchen Wilson's anthemic and liberating "Redneck Woman." "If You Want My Love," with its gospel backing chorus and good-timey electric guitars, moves the record into more redemptive, less desperate terrain. The latter half's uptempo, swaggering reflection of the singer’s persona will no doubt resonate with country audiences more, though it’s the first half of the album that is more substantive and memorable....full text |
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