Search - Sloan Wainwright :: From Where You Are

Rob Weir review from The Advocate

A reader | 10/20/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Right As Wain Sloan Wainwright is not just Loudon's little sis by Rob Weir of the Valley Advocate October 1-7 1998 Last fall Sloan Wainwright was scrambling to finish her second album, preparing to play the Iron Horse for the first time, juggling the demands of touring, raising kids and running a bakery, and struggling to get out from under the shadow of a famous sibling. When you're both a songwriter and the kid sister of Loudon Wainwright III, identity can be an issue. "Being Loudon's sister has opened a few doors," Wainwright said, "but it's a mixed bag. Sometimes people - especially club agents - say "not another one. Prove to us you're good." She was in the process of asserting her uniqueness when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Touring, the new album and concerns about identity were all put on hold. Doctors found three tumors, all of which were wrapped around nerves crucial for singing; one neck growth was the size of a grapefruit. Fortunately, it was benign, and surgeons removed it along with two small carcinomas that had not invaded surrounding cells or tissue. The requisite vocal nerves emerged unscathed, but there's nothing like a bout with cancer to put things into a new light. During her recuperation, Wainwright's guitarist and musical collaborator, Steve Murphy, played the Beatles' Across the Universe" for her. "I hadn't even been able to talk for 12 weeks at that point, and I was beginning to feel like I wasn't going to be able to get back on stage again," Wainwright said. "Steve sang `Across the Universe' for me, and I was so moved that I croaked my way through it. To me, it's a very personal, prayerful piece about getting started again." I also proved to be what the doctor ordered for finishing the long-delayed second album. "I had more or less closed the door on the project," Wainwright said,. "I had been told I'd probably have to take one or two years off. But I was back on stage the second week of April, and soon thereafter we went back into the studio to lay down the last track for the album." From Where You Are was released in late summer on the Waterbug label. Wainwright's cover of the Lennon-McCartney classic eclipses John Lennon's original vocal. Gone are the sonic embellishments, the echo-chamber effects and multi-tracked strings and vocal overlays that earmarked the Beatles' recording. Wainwright wanted to give a live feel to the song, to echo the way she heard Steve Murphy play it. His acoustic guitar is slowed to allow Wainwright to take advantage of her contralto voice. The impact is at once spiritual and melancholy. The track embodies the way she and her band approach music -- and the way the resist slick production and saturated instrumentation. Given the talent that backs Wainwright up, it would be tempting to construct musical melanges: Guitarist Steve Murphy's background is in rock; keyboardist Cary Brown was weaned on classical, jazz and ska; percussionist Greg Burrows is schooled in world-beat rhythms; bassist Doug Wray can lay down solid rhythm and blues; and backup singer Liadain Clancy hails from Ireland's famed Celtic clan. Though the band rocks out on occasion and can dazzle with individual performances, what stands out on both of their recordings is how Wainwright's singular voice is spotlighted within well-balanced compositions. She draws comparisons to Joan Armatrading and Toni Childs in her ability to reach notes so low they're almost a growl, yet soar high on the soprano end of the scale. Wainwright is well-versed in classic pop and rock (her repertoire includes covers of the Grateful Dead's "Box of Rain," and Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand"), but the heart of the band lies in her own material. "I'm a dreamer and a thinker," she said. "I try to write every day. My dad (a former editor at Time) always walked around with notebooks in every pocket. They say we become our parents and I guess it's true; I have notebooks and scribblings everywhere." Where her brother is known for offbeat humor and biting satire, Sloan's imagery is often moody or ambiguous. In "I Eye the Lady," she describes a woman endowed with the outward signs of success: a Saab, a high-paying job, a baby and a "honed health club physique." In the song she toys with both envy and contempt, but by the time she concludes with "I am enough," we're still not entirely sure what Wainwright thinks. She admits that some of her imagery is "cryptic." On "Arm's Length," from her first album she sings "He can hardly guess/What's beneath those eyes/When he looks into the deep blue/That they are/He will only see one man's reflection/And she says it's time/To step away." Although ostensibly about a model and a photographer, it's tempting to draw personal parallels. There are at least five songs that delve into good-bye themes; the title cut explores the impact of her mother's death. "A lot of my songs are born out of my relationships with other people," Wainwright said. "But I have to admit that I'm reluctant to tear away all the surfaces and show everything that's underneath." So maybe it's all about identity after all, though Wainwright claims she's done fretting about that. The new album features "Don't Go," a duet with her brother. "There's not much I can do about being Loudon's little sister," she said. "It's just good to be creative with him." Wainwright's focus now lies in imagining what her future will involve. "I've only done about a dozen shows since my illness. Things feel like they're shifting into a new gear. I know it will be different, but I don't know how.""

Original artist

A reader | 03/31/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is good. Though I must comment on the reviewer above who maintains that this version of "Across the Universe" "...eclipses the...John Lennon vocal" on the Beatles recording. This is WAY not true. The lyrical and transcendent qualities attributed to the recording are far more in evidence in the Lennon vocal, even with the original arrangement. It is perhaps the most emotive vocal John Lennon ever recorded. To praise this recording is fine, but you don't need to denigrate past masters in the process. Much like the Fiona Apple version from a few years ago it's ok, but it doesn't measure up to the original at all. And if it's a stripped down version you want, check out The Beatles "Anthology 2" for the demo version, it's awesome, the best there will ever be."