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Recorded in three days, It’s a Shame About Gemma Ray is a different sort of project for Ray, whose previous albums explored the balance between retro pop and neo-soul. Here, Ray’s lush arrangements are replaced by a stripped-down sound that’s almost spooky in its intimacy, with little more than slide guitar and kickdrum forming the bedrock of each song. As for the songs themselves, they’re all covers, and Ray twists each one to suit her alto voice and one-person backing band. Working with percussionist Matt Verta-Ray, she turns Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” into a minor-key ballad, Mudhoney’s “Touch Me I’m Sick” into a femme fatale seduction, and Alex Harvey’s “Swampsnake” into urban blues, with slapback echo and guitar tremolo accounting for most of the album’s hands-off production. The rest of the track list is similarly eclectic, running the gamut from an Etta James standard to a song by the contemporary Sub Pop artist Obits. Cover albums like this aren’t meant to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with an artist’s original work, but It’s a Shame About Gemma Ray more than holds it down, partially because it allows Ray to shine as a lead guitarist and partially because it’s so cohesive, shot through with the same cinematic noir touches used by film directors like Quentin Tarantino.
© Andrew Leahey /TiVo
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Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Gallon Drunk, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Lee Hazlewood, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
JEFFREY LEE PIERCE, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Obits, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Mudhoney, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Lloyd Price, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
HARVEY, Composer - McKenna, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Petty, Composer - Hardin, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Sonic Youth, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Komedia, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Secunda, Composer - Jacobs, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Coleman/Fields, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Minnie Lawlers, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Gerry Goffin, Composer - Toni Wine, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Komfeld, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Jordan Foster, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Gemma Ray, MainArtist - Easton/Shand, Composer
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
George Gershwin, Composer - Gemma Ray, MainArtist
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
Album review
Recorded in three days, It’s a Shame About Gemma Ray is a different sort of project for Ray, whose previous albums explored the balance between retro pop and neo-soul. Here, Ray’s lush arrangements are replaced by a stripped-down sound that’s almost spooky in its intimacy, with little more than slide guitar and kickdrum forming the bedrock of each song. As for the songs themselves, they’re all covers, and Ray twists each one to suit her alto voice and one-person backing band. Working with percussionist Matt Verta-Ray, she turns Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” into a minor-key ballad, Mudhoney’s “Touch Me I’m Sick” into a femme fatale seduction, and Alex Harvey’s “Swampsnake” into urban blues, with slapback echo and guitar tremolo accounting for most of the album’s hands-off production. The rest of the track list is similarly eclectic, running the gamut from an Etta James standard to a song by the contemporary Sub Pop artist Obits. Cover albums like this aren’t meant to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with an artist’s original work, but It’s a Shame About Gemma Ray more than holds it down, partially because it allows Ray to shine as a lead guitarist and partially because it’s so cohesive, shot through with the same cinematic noir touches used by film directors like Quentin Tarantino.
© Andrew Leahey /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 16 track(s)
- Total length: 00:45:30
- Main artists: Gemma Ray
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Bronzerat
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock Alternative & Indie
2010 Bronzerat 2010 Bronzerat
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