As you all know, this has been the summer of my musical discontent…although more accurately it’s been the summer of my musical contentment and my wallet’s discontent. After my double barreled cd buying of the new Robyn and Madonna cds I was looking forward to a gap in my purchases. The next item on the list is Cyndi Lauper on 5/27 and to take a listen to the new Al Green that comes out that day to see if it to must be mine. All this said, you can imagine the word I said when browsing through my local discount store’s music section and I saw that the Duffy cd had released. (Hint, starts with f and rhymes with duck.) And with that, I snatched her cd “Rockferry” up and tossed it into the cart.
So ladies, you just realize that your life isn’t right. That the man you love isn’t capable of loving you back the way you wish he would. You need to reclaim your self-respect. To find yourself. You wake up just before the sun rises, pack your stuff into an old duffle bag, toss it into your beat up car and drive off into the rising sun on your journey of self-discovery. What cd do you listen to as you drive away? Duffy’s “Rockferry”.
Not to sound like every music critic on the planet, but it is the best way to describe it, Duffy’s cd sounds like a cleaner, less funky version of Amy Winehouse’s “Back in Black” album. It’s a fair assessment, but for me the two albums are a little like apples and oranges. Whereas Winehouse’s album reeks of self-destruction and self-loathing (God I love that album!) Duffy’s is filled with melancholy demands of self-respect and a desire for self-discovery. Maybe Rolling Stone did get it right when they said that Duffy is like Winehouse’s good girl sister.
The first single from Duffy’s album is “Mercy” which is up tempo tune that makes you want to shake your groove thang. It’s a great song. No other song on the album sounds like it. Not even a little. So do yourself a favor, don’t buy the album based on that one song! I don’t know if her label thought that Americans wouldn’t be interested in her bluesy, 60s songstress stylings or what, but they are definitely trying to pull the patented bait and switch on this one. In my opinion they’re doing the album a huge disservice. Duffy’s “Rockferry” album has a beating bleeding heart that draws you in, maybe it’s not an instant smash, but for me it is an instant classic.
Here’s the bait:
Here’s the switch: