Despite the fact that I loved Michelle Branch's debut disc, and the fact that for $5.99 I found Avril Lavigne worthy of taking a chance on, I kind of hesitated with regards to piano songstress Vanessa Carlton. Let me explain...

The whole chick playing the piano thing hasn't exactly been my favorite over the years. In the words of Carletta, there's "Tori girls and Ani girls," and if I lost my penis, I'd be an Ani girl. Tori Amos just doesn't do it for me, I respect her as an artist but as far as listening to her for enjoyment, well, no thanks. And then there's Fiona Apple. Again, no thanks.

For the most part, I found myself unimpressed with Carlton's first single, A Thousand Miles. I mean, come on, that chorus is just oozing Cheez Whiz. But then I heard it again. And again. And again. And it hit me. That melody is quite possibly the coolest pop melody I've heard in ages. No, I'm not joking. So I took the first step. I got the disc out of the library before I plunked down 15 hard earned dollars.

I wouldn't have been surprised if I got a Michelle Branch type disc with the piano replacing the guitar. But Carlton really showed me how much ahead of Branch she is with regards to her songwriting. While Branch's songs have a sweet, almost sentimental high school mentality to them, Carlton's has this dark "life" mentality to them. OK, so they're not all dark, but I think you get my point.

The first song that really drew me in was Unsung. Not surprising given my main musical tastes of rock and roll. This reminds me of old school rock and roll with a hell of a fiery twist. It drives forward but the lyrics are what make this song special:

if only I could get into that corner of your head
where things finally match and meet the standards that you set
oh how I wish I was the treasure you were lookin for,
bet I would feel better if only I could find the door

Ladies, let me tell you, if you think you know pain, then maybe just maybe you should read the lyrics to some of these songs. My god, they are painful, bleak, heartbreaking to read, but it's obvious there is some kind of medicine involved in the writing of them.

The second single is of course, Ordinary Day, a song that is getting some decent airplay both on the radio and on VH1/MTV. It's an extremely strong pop song that has another one of those gorgeous piano melodies. But that melody, my god that thing is just infectious.

Vanessa also steps back into time to pull out a cover of the Rolling Stones Paint it Black. Part of this song reminds me of Tori, those really slow and soft verses. And then when it explodes, it's like she's busting down that door she's singing about and coming with everything she's got, and saying "what you got bi*ches? Can you handle this?"

Wanted may as well be called Unwanted, and it's another song where you could easily mistake the dark textures of the song for a Tori Amos song. This is a long way from A Thousand Miles, believe me.

Unfortunately, what was so close to being a perfect album is upended by a song that is just absolutely wretched. Pretty Baby. What an awful song, I mean honestly, I could crap out better lyrics. It's a shame too, because the structure of the song is actually halfway decent. But to put Pretty Baby on an album with such amazing songs like Paradise and Twilight is close to an INSULT to those songs.

All in all though, this may end up being my pick for Pop Album of the Year when it's all said and done. As far as Vanessa Carlton's career goes, she's going to have a very long and prosperous one.



Recommended: Yes