"Like a Grade School Valentine, My Heart Is Asking and Aching All the Time..."

OK, so can we all agree on at least one thing?

I mean, every year, there are those of us who write in this music section on this little website, and for whatever reason, certain releases strike up the kind of passion that a 14 year old girl has for Justin Timberlake. For example, the 14 year old girl in kristinafh loves the Goo Goo Dolls. That same 14 year old girl can be found in thevoid99 anytime David Bowie puts out something new. I could mention Pearl Jam, but there seems to be like 10 of those kind of people on this site. But despite new albums by PJ and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones coming out this year, neither were on the top of my "most anticipated list." A little lady named Kay Hanley was.

Who the f*ck is Kay Hanley?

Glad you decided to ask. Way back when, Kay was the front woman for a terrific Boston based band called Letters to Cleo. That band scored a hit in 1995 when their song Here and Now was featured on the soundtrack to the hit TV show Melrose Place, not to mention the band's debut, Aurora Gory Alice. The band released two more albums after Aurora, but in the end, it just wasn't much fun anymore. They played their last show together in Boston on May 4, 2000.

Having already been married to Cleo guitarist Michael Eisenstein, they had a baby shortly after that final show. For the most part, Hanley wasn't on radar. Then in January of 2001, she all of a sudden popped up and played a gig a month in Boston with some new material she wrote on her own. But her biggest break came in March and April of 2001.

That is when the soundtrack to the Josie and the Pussycats movie was released, and Kay Hanley was the definite star. The songs had kick, vigor, and most importantly, the big pop hook. It was the biggest success of her career, going gold. With that boost, her solo album became a bit sidetracked, as she was tired after making the Josie record. Reinvigorated, she re-entered the studio in January of this year to put the last touches on Cherry Marmalade. She also recorded a song with Boston punk heroes the Dropkick Murphys which made fans of Hanely salivate at the thought of more new material from her.

Cherry Marmalade: MMM MMM GOOD

If you were expecting a Letters to Cleo redux, or even a Josie redux, you will not like Cherry Marmalade very much. This is a musically mature effort from Hanley, that shows her spreading her wings musically AND vocally.

The first song that really reached out and grabbed my attention was Chady Saves the Day, which sounds like a mix of Norah Jones and a weird psychedelic record from the 1960s. More than anything, Hanley is given the chance to extend her vocals to the breaking point and she doesn't disappoint.

But don't let that description make you think that Hanley has left great melodies behind either. Sheltering Sky has a great guitar line that seems to soar up and out into the deep blue sky. It's a great little romantic pop song that could be a hit if she had any type of major label money behind her (she doesn't).

The first single, This Dreadful Life, does have a bit of that tongue twister chorus that made Here and Now such a fun hit. And the best hope for a hit may lie in the Josie sessions reject Mean Streak, by far the song that most recalls Cleo, both in musical vigor and in the way Hanley sings it. In Cleo, Hanley had this punkish bratty sneer that was both angry and sexy as hell. But on this album, her vocals are much more warm and inviting.

One of my favorite songs on the record is definitely Galapagos, which Hanley wrote while on the last Cleo tour and it basically sums up how one feels when they're about to leave the touring band life in their past. It's a wonderfully atmospheric song that works because of one factor: Kay's voice.

I have to admit that this album was not what I was expecting at all. I was expecting a fourth Cleo album under the Kay Hanley brand name. What I got was a deep look into Hanley's soul with some of the best and most thought provoking pop music I've heard in a very long while. It's definitely not for everyone, but this Cherry Marmalade tastes damn good.

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