[2009-05-26] Michelle Shocked "Soul Of My Soul" (Mighty Sound/Megaforce/MRI/RED)

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:55 am

No cover image or tracklisting yet ...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0020G5LLU/?tag=imwan-20

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:56 am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2009

MICHELLE SHOCKED’S NEW ALBUM SOUL OF MY SOUL LOVES TO TEASE

May 12 release is a prelude to future multimedia collaboration between Shocked and sweetheart, fine artist David Willardson

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Two intense, seemingly divergent, emotions — love and anger —dovetail on Michelle Shocked’s forthcoming recording Soul of My Soul, a passionate album in every sense. The 10-song collection is set for May 12 release on Mighty Sound, distributed by Megaforce/MRI through RED Distribution. It is a teaser for a future series of creative collaborations between Shocked and Willardson entitled Indelible Women, which will feature “performance portraits,” both in song and on canvas, of iconic trailblazers Audrey, Amelia, Ella and Georgia, among others. It is Willardson’s portrait of Shocked that appears in his “Pep Art” painting style on the album’s cover.

“I think the meditation these past several years, ever since I stopped drinking, really, has been to jettison rage,” says Shocked, “without losing the ability to feel strong feelings.” Two “strong currents” in her present life conspired to teach her that lesson. Artist David Willardson, “the Official Love of My Life,” is one such tide, and Shocked raves about his warm and nurturing nature. On the flipside is her “nemesis,” the Bush Administration “and their alleged enlightened self-interest. Between the two of them, my emotions have run quite high in recent years.”

The sentiments on Soul of My Soul are couched mainly in straight-four, no frills, rock ‘n’ roll — just the context for Shocked’s two-pronged passion play. Among the songs about her new love is the acoustic ballad “True Story,” where Shocked sings directly to Willardson. “The producer [Devin Powers] said he wasn't getting enough emotion from the vocal performance,” says Shocked. “I knew exactly what to do.” Pouring her heart out over the phone, she nailed “one perfect, passionate take” that culminates in a deluge of happy tears. Willardson also inspired the ebullient,
Stones-y anthem “Love’s Song,” a spacey Kate Bush-meets-U2 meditation on the couple’s future called “Heart to Heart,” and the lusty “Paperboy,” a snapshot from Willardson’s youth (when he lost his job for neglecting his duties to chase a girl).

Clearly there are no love songs for the Bush Administration, at least in the traditional sense. Shocked does proffer a ballad, “Other People,” that at first blush sounds like a kiss-off to an untrue lover — which it is, except Shocked sings to Bush’s America, the ugly, war-mongering face of the country she loves. “I used to rant, ‘Bush, pull out like your father should have.’ Now I say, ‘I love you America, but I think we should see other people.’” She gets feistier on the Steve Earle-ish folk-rocker “The Ballad of the Battle of the Ballot and the Bullet,” which she sings “because I can.” On “Liquid Prayer” — Soul’s lone soul tune — Shocked meditates on tears cried to a God she counts on to provide the Kleenex. In the ironically tropical “Pompeii,” she frets over the fate of a “broken democratic state” beholden to corporate compromise and “entwined in orgiastic lies, with the top about to blow.”

Shocked says her “vexation” fuels these Soul songs. She’s righteously, morally and intellectually pissed off at the state of the nation over the last eight years — but instead of tossing beer cans, she flings measured words. For example, “Giantkiller” is a snarling punk rock anthem where Shocked artfully and poetically vents her venom, in turn giving her message added philosophical oomph.

. . . that fact in the back of my mind
I meant to meet the world
A pocket full of rock and wood
But I was fearless, I was bold
Taking aim so carefully
I set my stone and let it fly
And when the giant fell to earth
None more surprised than I

If there’s a more eloquent way to say you’re chuckin’ rocks at a big ol’ jackass, well, leave it to a sophisticated hillbilly to find it. And really, that’s the nut and the shell of Soul of My Soul: it’s a reconciliation of our most gentle and base aspects by demonstrating that we are neither by default or circumstance, and both by choice. “It was Zen and the art of the Dunk-Tank,” Shocked smiles. “I had a target, I took aim and I hit, I believe, a bull’s-eye.”

Spiderboy · 31 Jul 2006

Quote:

The 10-song collection is set for May 12 release on Mighty Sound, distributed by Megaforce/MRI through RED Distribution.

FYI, this release was rescheduled for May 26 a couple of weeks ago.
See: http://www.michelleshocked.com

Tricky Kid · **Joined:** 23 Sep 2007 **Posts:** 8297

I guess I'm officially old enough that I find the affiliation between Michelle Shocked and Megaforce to be amusing...

[2009-05-26] Michelle Shocked "Soul Of My Soul" (Mighty Sound/Megaforce/MRI/RED)

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