[.ca] High Dive

From Amazon.com:
Maria McKee's first studio album in seven years is also her first release on her own label. To go from producing an inescapable global hit like "Show Me Heaven" to funding one's own recordings in a little over a decade may not seem the ideal career trajectory, but the truth is that McKee was always far more indie rocker than pop diva. "Show Me Heaven" certainly paid a few bills, but it also served to overshadow her sterling earlier work with Lone Justice. High Dive, then, is McKee as she would prefer to be seen--far closer to Kirsty MacColl than Whitney Houston, a wry, literate singer-songwriter blessed with a voice that's both technically pristine and approachably human. Though High Dive is marred in spots by over-fussy production, the best moments here, such as the wise and witty title track and the unabashedly Lone Justice-like "In Your Constellation," justify McKee's investment in herself. Andrew Mueller

Uneven Effort:
"High Dive" is an uneven effort, one where Maria McKee the singer greatly outshines Maria McKee the songwriter. As a singer, Maria is a great vocalist who packs emotional wallop. Her band on this CD does a decent job of giving her support. However, the lyrics to this CD strain and come off as just plain odd rather than effective or creative. Maria appears to need some strong guidance to rein in the material. The disc sounds much better when you don't pay attention what she's singing. The opener "To the Open Spaces" has a buoyant feel with a great sense of freedom. "High Dive" sounds like she was channeling Burt Bacharach with somber lyrics juxtaposed to the lush melody. "Non Religious Building" is a bizarre anthem to suicide. "From Our T.V. Teens to the Tomb" has a busy theatrical melody but somehow needs a plot to support the lyric. This set has grown on me with repeated listening, but is still an uneven effort with hidden charms.

only for diehards...unfortunately I'm one:
You know a songwriter is in trouble when they recycle their own songs. That is especially true when that song was on the previous release as "Life is Sweet" is here. Good gosh, if you're gonna make me wait seven years, write a new song. To double my despair, that's the best song on the cd. The remainder are basically Broadway show tunes. I was able to stay with Maria through her stylistic changes low these many years, but I didn't like what I heard when I put this disc on, and still don't. I'm looking forward to her next move in, hopefully, yet another direction. I hope it doesn't take until 2010 - I don't know if I can make it that long with this disappointment.

masterpiece:
Maria Mckee breaks my heart. Over and over and over again. And with "High Dive" she masterfully takes me places that consistently surprise and unsettle. Maria has never made the same record twice. She's obviously not interested in being slotted by the record industry or music-buying public or for that matter producing careful and comfortable pop music that is sure to be played on your local ez rock station. Yes, her music challenges. Yes, her music occasionally frustrates and yes, her music inspires awe. Every single time. I urge you to listen to "Something Similar" on "High Dive". What a soulful and terrifying look at the very essence of our life on earth. Brings me to tears every single time I listen to it. "High Dive" is complex and melodic and jarring and full of magnificent production details unlike almost any other music being listened to today. In the end though, it is Maria's acute sense of what connects us all as human beings - the never-ending search for love and acceptance - that takes her music out beyond the heavens.

Wow.....What a mess:
I will start by saying that there was a time when I thought anything this woman wrote or sang was gold. I have listened to this album three times now and, at best, it is sounds like "B" sides and throw aways from other efforts. A few times, I thought I was listening to a bad lounge act. Maria, you can do much more! I wanted badly to like this album. Instead, I got out her "You got to sin to be saved" CD and remembered happier times.

Nice try, Little Diver...:
The Little Diver (fans know that this is Ms. McKee's nickname) makes a good try, but the cd is a bit cluttered. Also, she didn't record "Jason and the Idea Box", a song my band, Life's Hero, sent for her to record. Oh well, maybe on the Little Diver's next cd.

• To The Open Spaces
• Life Is Sweet
• After Life
• Be My Joy
• High Dive
• My Friend Foe
• In Your Constellation
• Love Doesn't Love
• We Pair Off
• No Gala
• Non Religious Building
• Something Similar
• From Our T.V. Teens to the Tomb
• Worry Birds