A World Without Heroes: Lisa Loeb

When I was growing up, I had a hard life. I don’t know if I can necessarily say that it was better or worse than anyone else’s. It was very hard for me, personally. It was very traumatic. There were not a lot of beautiful things in my life growing up. I had things that distracted me from the problems, chief among them were video games. As I started to get a little older, I began to get into music. One fateful day, I encountered this beautiful woman on the front cover of this very pink record, and it seriously changed my life.

Thank you, Lisa

I just wanted to take the opportunity to show off my autographs from Lisa Loeb and to tell her thanks again.

Review: Lisa Loeb: No Fairy Tale

All right. Lisa Loeb: No Fairy Tale. This one came out in February of this year, 2013. I was lucky enough to snag a signed copy of it, when I preordered it from newburycomics.com. I know that I’ve mentioned No Fairy Tale several times in every other Lisa Loeb review that I’ve done. It’s probably because it’s the one that is most fresh in my mind, it was the tour that she was on when I got to see her, and besides, it’s just a surprisingly good record.

 

I had a few reservations about this record before I got it. First of all, Lisa collaborated with a couple of people, who I don’t have any idea who they are; Chad Gilbert, and Tegan Quinn. It is very punchy, very electric, and very rock, and at its core, still very Lisa Loeb.

 

It was almost nine years between The Way It Really Is and No Fairy Tale’s release reaching into KISS territory of long waits between studio album releases for active bands. I have to say… I feel like it was worth the wait.

 

Lisa comes in this time and completely redefines herself. The album is almost completely, not hard rock, but definitely more electric and heavier than the rest of all of her other records combined. Very few tracks on this record even have an acoustic guitar even in them.

 

All of the vocal and lyric work is top notch Lisa Loeb. Even with the change in instrument style, there doesn’t feel like there is much of a change deep down at the core. Initially it was a little bit of a shock. The only song that feels like straight up, classic, acoustic Lisa is Ami, I’m Sorry. I was very pleased with this record as a whole, and very surprised at exactly how much I ended up liking it in the end.

 

When I went to see Lisa play live, I was floored by the fact that she had this record available on vinyl at her merchandise table. If you’ve been following me so far, you know how I feel about vinyl records, and here I come across Lisa Loeb: No Fairy Tale on vinyl.

 

I was very happy with the vinyl as well. The value was quite impressive, considering this is something that seems that it’s going to be a concert exclusive deal. The first thing that is noticeable of the vinyl is the fact that the cover art reflects the Japanese version of the record. This is something that Lisa pointed out when she was on stage, and she also made mention of the fact that the title of the record was mistakenly left off of the cover art where the title of the record didn’t appear(a fact that I noticed as soon as I got my hands on it). On the original Japanese version, the title actually appears on the cover of the book that Lisa is holding on the cover. Lisa even volunteered to write in the title for anyone who got their copy of the record signed after the show.

 

The vinyl itself, like I said was a really good value. Although not the coveted 180 gram heavy vinyl, the record itself is the standard weight, but being brand new, is very solid. The pressing is very nice, and the label mirrors the cover art of Lisa sitting on her throne. There is also a ten inch sheet that contains the line notes and lyrics, there is even a big picture of Lisa from the cover of the International version of the record on it. It’s on a nice glossy paper, and has plenty of little photos on it. The content itself is identical to the booklet in the CD version of the record.

 

The sound quality is phenomenal. It is spot on. I found this very surprising. The sound quality of the vinyl is comparable to that of the quality of the CD. Considering some of the other new releases that I’ve gotten on vinyl, I was very impressed.

 

The price was right, perfect in fact, at $20. Considering how nice it is and how potentially rare that it’s going to be, it was a downright steal. If you have a chance to see Lisa live, and these are still available, snag one. They’ll be great for vinyl lovers and even if you don’t particularly care for vinyl, they’ll still make a great collectable in the end. If you’re a Lisa Loeb fan, buy this record. Get it on CD if you can’t get it on vinyl.

 

Track List:

Side A:

1. No Fairy Tale
2. The ’90s
3. Weak Day
4. Walls
5. A Hot Minute
6. Sick, Sick, Sick

Side B:

1. Matches
2. Married
3. Swept Away
4. He Loved You So Much
5. Ami, I’m Sorry
6. The Worst

Review: Lisa Loeb: The Way It Really Is

The Way It Really Is is Lisa Loeb’s fifth studio album, not counting The Purple Tape. It felt like a particularly long wait for me, personally, between the last two records and this one, although it was only two or three years. For whatever reason, I remember that being a really long time. I remember really looking forward to this one, and wanting it really badly. It didn’t disappoint

Review: Lisa Loeb: Cake and Pie and Hello Lisa

Cake and Pie and Hello Lisa are often treated as if they are the same record. Lisa even mentions that Hello Lisa is a re-release of Cake and Pie in the line notes in her greatest hits record. They almost are. The two records only have a few unique tracks between the two, and were both released in the same year, 2002. I’m not entirely sure as to exactly why, but from what I understand, Cake and Pie wasn’t being promoted, and not selling like the label expected it to, so apparently, Lisa hopped labels and re-branded it as Hello Lisa making minor changes and additions.

The Tracks that appear on both records are identical to one another, in that they are the exact same versions, the exact same takes of the songs. There was originally an EP for Hello Lisa released that only had the new songs on it, but it seems to be so rare that I can’t even find any information about it.

As always Lisa’s lyric and vocal work is top notch. These two records really punch it up with the rock aspects of Lisa’s songwriting, too. They have fewer strings and less prevalent acoustics. You can tell as you listen to Lisa’s catalog that she continues to become more and more electric and straight rock; these records continue to support that fact.

They are both very good records. Each one has a little something that the other one doesn’t. The track lists are almost identical, though. In fact, if you aren’t a serious collector, since the EP either was never made, or is simply that rare, I may recommend skipping Hello Lisa in favor of Cake and Pie, and just download the additional tracks from the former. It’s similar to The Purple Tape if you own Tails and Firecracker. However in this case, the songs that appear on The Purple Tape are at least different versions of those that appear on the other two records.

Track List-Cake and Pie:

1. The Way it Really Is
2. Bring Me Up
3. Underdog
4. Everyday
5. Someone You Should Know
6. Drops Me Down
7. We Could Still Belong Together*
8. Kick Start*
9. You Don’t Know Me
10. Payback
11. Too Fast Driving*
12. She’s Falling Apart*

Track List-HelloLisa:

1. Did That*
2. Underdog
3. You Don’t Know Me
4. Drops Me Down
5. The Way It Really Is
6. Bring Me Up
7. What Am I Supposed To Say*
8. Everyday
9. Someone You Should Know
10. Payback
11. Take Me Back*

*Unique track

Review: Lisa Loeb: Firecracker

Firecracker Happens to be the first Lisa Loeb record that I was exposed to. To give a little background on this, I discovered Lisa Loeb accidentally. My cousin had this CD book that had a bunch of crappy bands in it. The only thing that looked interesting to me was this one by Lisa Loeb. It was because I thought that she looked good, and I had seen her in a magazine recently that she caught my attention. I listened to the record and instantly fell in love, I got him to make me a tape that day, and I damn near wore that tape out before I was able to go out and buy the record myself.

Review: Lisa Loeb: Tails

Tails was, after Stay, the world’s first look at Lisa Loeb as a musician. She had already been established for a little while, but Tails was really her entry into the world of mainstream musicians.

Incoming!

Today and tomorrow I’m going to do something a little bit differently from my norm.  I’m going to have a whole slew of articles that I’ve got coming up to wrap up Lisa Loeb Month.  I’ve got reviews for all of the rest of her records, and some other little articles that I’ve come up with.  This is all going to culminate into the new feature that I’m going to run, tomorrow evening.  I’m not going to say anything about it just yet, you’ll just have to wait and see.  Brace yourself and get ready for a whole lot of Lisa Loeb love!

I’m not done yet

Hello everyone.  … All three of you.  I haven’t posted in ten days, but that doesn’t mean that I’m abandoning my blog.  The past couple of weeks have been completely nuts.  I’ve experienced loss and experienced a dream come true.  I’ve also been working particularly hard at my paying jobs this past week.  We’re also potentially on the cusp of another great civil rights movement in the US.

So much stuff has been going on, I just can’t believe it.  I’ve been brain storming on new posts, and I’ve got a few.  I’ll finish up with Lisa Loeb month, including a new feature that Lisa will be the subject of in the first entry.  I’ll also be posting more on myself and my gender identity and the exploration of it.  I’ve got stuff coming soon, so don’t go anywhere.

Lisa Loeb Day

I spontaneously erupted into tears three times today(and once more when writing this). By no means was I sad. I was happy. Interestingly enough, I can say that I’m possibly happier than I have been in my entire life. I had a rare, rare opportunity last night. I got to see one of my biggest (if not the biggest) heroes live and in person. I got to see Lisa Loeb, who was headlining at the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival.