The Trouble With Being Myself By Macy Gray On Audio CD Album 2003 Very Good
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The Trouble With Being Myself By Macy Gray On Audio CD Album 2003 Very Good. Gray still wields her hoarse yet tuneful voice like a genius, hitting every note she wants despite the cracks and never letting it sound overly contrived. The single "When I See You" is pleasant but clearly a song that required no heavy lifting, and the most intriguing setup on the record -- "It Ain't the Money" featuringPharoahe Monch andBeck -- is surprisingly desultory as well. The Trouble with Being Myself Review by John Bush From her debut, Macy Gray has been too eccentric to qualify as a straight pop singer, but far too inconsistent to be truly called a great artist -- except, of course, when considering her glorious whiskey-soaked voice. Her third album, The Trouble With Being Myself, is more of the same, a set of sub-standard songs with drowsy chord progressions, humdrum lyrics, and loose-limbed but musically comatose backing from her studio group (heavy on the Hammond organ). Gray still wields her hoarse yet tuneful voice like a genius, hitting every note she wants despite the cracks and never letting it sound overly contrived. Unfortunately, she also continues to be the victim of chart-focused, overly market-tested arrangements that never break out of the mold of soulful, organic R&B and pop. The single "When I See You" is pleasant but clearly a song that required no heavy lifting, and the most intriguing setup on the record -- "It Ain't the Money" featuring Pharoahe Monch and Beck -- is surprisingly desultory as well. (Monch 's raps are uncharacteristically awkward, and Beck clumsily plays a stoner Timbaland with his background vocals.) After the unrepentant ego on display with her second album, The Id , the title here (as well as the cover shot, of Gray crouching in the corner of an abandoned house with a mistrustful look on her face) apparently speaks to the fact that Gray's been persecuted for being "different." But the commercial and critical indifference that greeted The Id wasn't due to a lack of acceptance, but to a set of songs that was utterly average. That same lack of distinction plagues The Trouble With Being Myself. Blessed with a voice that immediately announces itself, Gray still hasn't found a musical personality to complement it.
