Note: Creative differences with her label Columbia led to the two camps parting ways and the delay of Pretty Little Head’s release. It’s finally available as a self-produced, self-released album.
Also Note: Pretty Little Head is a double album, but the total length of the two discs is only 64 minutes. It’s actually shorter than many of the bloated, single-disc releases of today and plays more like a double LP on vinyl.
Sound: With her piano, synthesizer and multi-instrumental backing band, Nellie whimsically flies through Broadway-flavored pop, loungey, singer/songwriter ballads and dramatic, skittering rock.
Heavy Rotation tracks: “There You Are In Me”; “The Big One”; “Columbia Is Bleeding”; “Real Life”
Medium Rotation tracks: “Swept Away”; “The Down Low”; “We Had It Right” featuring KD Lang
Explicit Lyrics*: “Mama & Me”
Recommended: Nellie’s ambitious, idiosyncratic and esoteric music feels more focused on Pretty Little Head than it did on her debut Get Away From Me. Her over-the-top wackiness and all-over-the-place genre hopping is more streamlined and digestible. Several tracks should register with fans of Fiona Apple and Tori Amos.
Grade: B+

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* Noting of explicit lyrics is for the benefit of radio music directors or anyone else that needs/wants to keep their music FCC-friendly.