Martha Wainwright / Martha Wainwright
Artist Martha Wainwright
Album Title: Martha Wainwright
Album Cover:
Primary Genre Folk, World, & Country
Format CD
Released 04/12/2005
Label Zoë Records
Catalog No 01143-1063-2
Bar Code No 6 01143-1063-2 3
Packaging Jewelcase
Tracks
1. Far Away (2:54)
2. G.P.T. (2:44)
3. Factory (3:32)
4. These Flowers (4:11)
5. Ball & Chain (3:18)
6. Don't Forget (4:11)
7. This Life (6:01)
8. When The Day Is Short (3:46)
9. Bloody Mother F***ing A**hole (3:14)
10. TV Show (4:09)
11. The Maker (4:08)
12. Who Was I Kidding? (4:10)
13. Whither Must I Wander (2:47)
Date Acquired 02/27/2014
Personal Rating
Acquired from Cheapo Records
Purchase Price 6.95

Web Links

All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:

Notes

Standard Jewel Case with Sticker "Parental Advisory-Explicit Content"
Fold out insert includes lyrics.
Recorded and mixed at Monkey Boy Studios, NYC.
(P) 2005 Martha Wainwright & Brad Albetta
(C) 2005 Zoë Records, a Rounder Records Group Company, One Camp Street, Cambridge MA 02140.

Reviews
All Music Guide Review:

Review by James Christopher Monger
After teasing listeners with the enigmatic Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole EP earlier in the year, singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright comes clean with a lush, eponymous debut that should secure herself a place as one of the genre's finest young practitioners. BMFA, despite its headline-grabbing title, showed an artist of considerable depth and vision, attributes that she builds on tenfold with her first foray into full-length territory. Wainwright tears through words the way her mother, Kate McGarrigle, does, inserting mischievous pauses, experimenting with cadences, or sometimes just pulling the phrase out like a wad of taffy, while all of the while in complete control of the overall narrative. On the gorgeous opener, "Far Away," she waxes nostalgic for old friends and lovers. Backed by swirling guitars and piano she pines "I have no children/I have no husband/I have no reason to be alive/Oh give me one" without seeming the least bit ruined -- a poetic knack that she uses effectively throughout the record's entirety. It's a brave and delicate way to begin, and it engages the listener immediately with its subtle balance of voyeurism and wistfulness. "G.P.T." and "Factory" pick up the pace a bit, showcasing Wainwright's deft melodicism and mischievous nature -- the latter is in full effect on the raunchy "Ball & Chain" -- and "Don't Forget" and "These Flowers," two achingly beautiful ballads that bring to mind early Joni Mitchell, round out a first half that's awfully hard to top. Despite a couple of questionable midtempo offerings, Wainwright manages to keep the quality high, with a lovely duet with brother Rufus ("The Maker") and the aforementioned "BMFA," which is far more bold and beautiful than the title suggests, before closing with an intimate and affecting rendition of Vaughan Williams' "Whither Must I Wander." Wainwright's got all of the familial genes that make a child of music destined for success, but it's her fierce nature -- whether saucy and confident or just plain wrecked -- that makes every twist and turn of this impressive debut so easy to fall in love with.
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