Hearts and Minds

This album covers the material she sang at her last show at the Algonquin. It is a fine example of her style, blending 70 years worth of music. Susannah sounds great on the tracks,and her sultry, smokey voice delivers the goods. Personal favorites are "Love, look away", a slightly haunting broken heart melody, the funny, catchy and vivid "My Attourney Bernie", the wispy "Do You Miss New York?" and the introspective and lovely "Scars".

Some reviewers (one really comes to mind) have knocked this album and Susannah as a singer. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I'll say seems a shame to miss out on the fine work of a performer like Susannah McCorkle who had a fresh perspective, a tireless imagination picking material and a unique, smokey-voiced delivery. Sure, she does not sound like Ella, Carmen, Abbey, or a number of other legends. Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin don't sound alike either. So what?

Susannah, you are missed. Much love.

Aside from Computer age, there are a few songs from Susannah's traditional source, the Great American Songbook, but on this album there are many more contemporary songs than usual. The set begins with two popular oldies - I can dream can't I and Love is here to stay. Do not panic if you normally buy Susannah's album for the oldies - some of the contemporary songs are excellent, including Feet do your stuff and Do you miss New York.

This album may be a little different from Susannah's earlier music, but it's not that different and it is, of course, brilliant. I have never worked out which is her best album of all, but I do not need to because they are all wonderful.

I had always respected her good taste, impeccable diction, choice of material and accompanists. But frankly the single cuts I'd heard on radio had never prompted me to purchase the recordings. Instead, I was reminded of interpretations of the same material by other singers with warmer vocal quality, more confident intonation, more consistent control, more sensuality. But after hearing this album, I'm a believer.

The first several cuts--familiar standards--do little to impress the listener. The voice seems "cold," a bit rough and husky, a trifle insecure. I notice the curious articulation of the interdental consonants (the tongue momentarily "sticks" when she gets to a "t" or "d"). Then she gets to "For All We Know." From here on the music overcomes all resistance, getting under your skin and creating a warm glow, then spreading to the heart where it begins to cut deeply.

"Everybody's got scars on the way to the stars from crash landing on Mars." She confronts and manifests pain like few other artists. Anyone close to this business knows how tough it can be, how impossible even. Perhaps the real marvel is that Susannah pursued her passion and connected with so many for so long. And it's obvious she could have fun with it, and in an ironic, detached sort of way. "The Computer Age" is a comprehensive catalog of the uses of technology and the dangers to human relationships ("We should be in bed holding each other tight, Not cybersurfing all night"), to self-reflection ("Get some control, or you'll lose your soul"), and to children ("How will they find the life of the mind? Poor kids!").

By the time she gets to "Do You Miss New York," you may wish you could tell her how much you have a reason to miss her. "If you had to face it now, do you still think you could hack it?" Apparently Susannah thought she no longer could, but perhaps a legacy such as this vital record of an artist's heart and mind can not only help the rest of us face it but somehow make it work.