rating: 9
Not content to be yet another entry in the Alanis
Morissette young female singer-songwriter
sweepstakes, Patti Rothberg easily breaks away
from the pack on her delightful debut album.
As unlikely as it seems, this 23-year-old former
art student who was discovered playing in the
New York City subway has
made one of the best debut records of the year.
Between the 1 and the 9 is both familiar and
fresh. Rothberg is a born storyteller who
combines some frank and insightful lyrics with
'70s-influenced alternative rock to create a
mixture that is at times reminiscent of New York
punk pioneers Patti Smith and Lou Reed. Add
some spare production (by another newcomer --
producer Little Dave Greenberg) and melodic
guitar licks, and you've got an album that
sustains, even demands, repeated listenings.
Rothberg's voice is an appealing mixture of
girlishness and strength, but what's really engaging
about this record is her songwriting, which
thankfully avoids the dreaded alterna-rock
humorlessness exhibited by some of her peers.
Compare her "Treat Me Like Dirt" ("Coming to
my senses was never really me/You've broken
down my defenses/And you left me in the
debris") or "It's Alright" ("But it's alright I know
I'm gonna live/Cuz I know you gave the best you
could give") to Alanis Morissette's shrill "You
Oughta Know." The album has a few minor weak
spots -- some sour guitar notes on "Out of My
Mind," the slightly derivative "This One's Mine"
and the occasional overfamiliar melody -- but
what Rothberg and her band lack in polish they
more than make up for in enthusiasm and charm.
Rothberg is simply one of the brightest things to
come out of New York City (not to mention its
subway system) in years. -- John Slepian
PATTI ROTHBERG
Between the 1 and
the 9 (EMI)
13 tracks, 42:02
Release: 4/2/96
BUY THIS
INSTEAD OF:
Alanis Morissette
Jagged Little Pill
(Reprise, 1995)
BEST LYRIC:
"You can't be as
dumb as you
pretend/Or do you
really only like me
as a friend/Do you
wish for me to give
a smile/Or are you
just going through
me like the turning
of a style" -- from
"Looking for a
Girl"
source: http://www.tvguide.com/music