Stretch Limousine on Fire

Stretch Limousine on Fire

by Catie CurtisCatie Curtis

Overview

On this album, Catie Curtis' sound is a bit more raw and immediate, the arrangements more clearly centered on her acoustic guitar, and her voice seems to be roughening up a bit -- not so much in tone, but in execution. She tends to fall off more at the ends of phrases, and to quaver a little more when she sustains them. This is almost certainly an artistic choice (she's not yet old enough for it to be a function of wear and tear), and it mostly works. The songs are largely concerned with the issue of temporariness: of beauty, of love, of grace, and while they don't exactly communicate a feeling of despair, they often bring a sense of bafflement, and that works very much in their favor on tracks like "Shadowbird" and the deeply affecting piano-and-voice composition "River Wide." "Another Day on Earth" is unusually rockish, with an infectious, Hammond-driven singalong chorus and a synth rock verse. "After Hours" finds drummer Jay Bellerose contributing some rather weird and very cool tom-tom sounds to a brooding meditation on mortality. The title track, a rather nasty little slice of class warfare, is the album's only real disappointment -- instead of demonstrating the kindness and subtlety that has characterized so much of Curtis' work in the past, here she picks an easy social target and goes for cheap applause. Otherwise, this is an album that her growing legion of fans will enjoy very much; newcomers may want to start with her first couple of releases and work their way up to this one.

Product Details

Release Date: 08/30/2011
Label: Compass Records
UPC: 0766397456324
catalogNumber: 4563
Rank: 97100

Tracks

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Catie Curtis   Primary Artist,Acoustic Guitar,Vocals
Duke Levine   Electric Guitar,Lap Steel Guitar,Octave Mandolin
Lisa Loeb   Vocal Harmony
Mary Chapin Carpenter   Vocal Harmony
Jennifer Condos   Bass
Lorne Entress   Percussion,Drums,Keyboards,Vibes,Orchestra Bells
Jay Bellerose   Drums
Julie Wolf   Keyboards,Vocal Harmony
Glenn Patscha   Piano,Keyboards
Dave Limina   Hammond B3
Jesse Williams   Bass
Thomas Juliano   Electric Guitar
Jenna Lindbo   Vocal Harmony

Technical Credits

Catie Curtis   Composer
Lorne Entress   Producer,Engineer
John Jennings   Engineer
Dan Petty   Engineer
Mark Simos   Composer
Julie Wolf   Engineer
Mark Thayer   Engineer
Ryan Freeland   Engineer
Andy Pinkham   Engineer
Fred Wilhelm   Composer
Matthew Curry   Cover Illustration

Customer Reviews