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JazzDigger Home > S - Jazz Artists > Scarlett > Item 1
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Anywhere I Lay My Head
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by Scarlett Johansson
Sales Rank: 37243
Price:$18.98
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Album Details
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1. Fawn
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2. Town with No Cheer
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3. Falling Down
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4. Anywhere I Lay My Head
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5. Fannin Street
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6. Song for Jo - Scarlett Johansson, Johansson, Scarlett
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7. Green Grass
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8. I Wish I Was in New Orleans
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9. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
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10. No One Knows I'm Gone
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11. Who Are You
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Recorded at Dockside Studio in Louisianas Cajun country, Scarlett Johanssons debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head features her distinctive vocal interpretations of ten songs by legendary singer-songwriter Tom Waits. It also introduces one original track, "Song For Jo," which she co-wrote with David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio), who produced the album and lent his instrumental skills throughout. The title track comes from Waits 1985 opus Rain Dogs, and Johanssons set also pulls cuts from Alice, Swordfishtrombones, Big Time, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, Real Gone, Small Change and Bone Machine. David Bowie adds backing vocals on two tracks, "Falling Down" and "Fannin Street," and the disc also features the talents of Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis from Celebration, among others.
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
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Listener Reviews & Comments
The key with cover versions is to reinvent them and, over the years, Waits's canon has proved remarkably adaptable to a variety of treatments (jazz, country, folk, thrash punk) by everyone from Tim Buckley to The Ramones. The guiding light behind Johansson's reinventions is her producer David Sitek (guitarist of TV on the Radio and desk-jockey for post-punkers like Foals and Liars) and prodigiously talented guitarist Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sitek's default setting here is to use dreamy, alt.rock soundscapes, equal parts Cocteau Twins, Sonic Youth and Mercury Rev. The title track, originally a mournful brass band dirge, is pepped up with a Casiotone drum machine; the ragtime guitar accompaniment of "Fannin Street" is transformed into a Mary Chain/Phil Spector stomp (with David Bowie on backing vocals); "Town With No Cheer" sees the bagpipes and synths of the original replaced by swirling organs and gamelan percussion. If Johansson's aim was to replicate the husky charisma she exudes on screen then she falls flat here; literally, since on many of "Anywhere..."s tracks she chooses to adopt a low, Nico-esque croon that's not entirely within her register. Which might not matter especially if it wasn't far and away her main contribution on an album purporting to reinterpret one of the most charismatic singers and lyricists in recent memory. The poppiest track is "I Don't Want To Grow Up", where Waits's beery singalong becomes a thumpy electro-pop belter. Best of all is "I Wish I Was In New Orleans" - on Small Change, it sounds like the mournful lament of a hundred-year-old man; here Johansson's guileless, breathy voice and the spooky, plinky-plonky celeste turns it into a demented nursery rhyme. The only problem is that Johansson, no matter how much double-tracking Sitek uses, can't really sing emotions. Johansson isn't much of a singer, employing a low, unexpressive register that has hints of Debbie Harry on her electronic-pop version of "I Don't Want to Grow Up", but its lack of flash is well suited to Sitek's dreamlike production job, a woozy sound he describes as "Tinkerbell on cough syrup". Her voice is not a revelation: sometimes manly, deep and mannered, sometimes a breathy, Monroe-like drawl. Much of the credit must go to Siteck, who works incredibly hard with his palette of sounds to make the album interesting. At its best - on "Fannin' Street" and "Song for Jo" - it has the epic, orchestral sweep of an old This Mortal Coil record, sleigh bells and pulsing Kodo drums creating an otherworldly atmosphere. It may be fine, mood-setting background music, but ultimately it does feel as if there is no real point to this record. Johansson, as in her acting roles, struggles to connect with a deep enough range of emotions. Waits documents ugly, messy emotions, and this is what makes his songs so moving. Johansson too often just sounds pleased with herself for being so clever and cool. Chelsea Girl The Classic Years Confusion Is Sex/Kill Yr. Idols The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities Rather Ripped Back to Mine Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006 5:55
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Anywhere I Lay My Head
by Scarlett Johansson
Price:$18.98
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