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A classic rock sound
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This review first appeared in the January 31, 1997 issue of the North County Times.
Alison Pipitone is one of those musicians who make this reviewing gig worth all the dross that the major labels release: After too many hours spent listening to Alanis Morisette sound-alikes and Kenny G clones, every so often you get a cranking little rocker like this independent release out of Buffalo, N.Y.
So how to classify Pipitone's music? Industrial folk? Traditional punk? She's a singer-songwriter, but with a real rock 'n' roll edge to her music. No wimpy Springsteen or Billy Joel stuff here.
And this album never lets up. Pipitone's 1995 debut, "Life in the First Person," had some brilliant moments – her second as a consistency the first lacked.
The most important thing to know is that Pipitone writes beautiful melodies, hook-laden little gems that nestle in your head and don't leave. She's got a mooth voice that, like her songs, still has an edge to it, a bit of bourbon-and-Marlboro-tinged razor wire that cuts right to the heart of a song.
Look, if anyone with any clout is paying attention: Sign Alison Pipitone to a major label, and you've got Top 10 hits all over this CD: "The Story Ends," "Day 37," "Queenie." They're all classic pop songs a la Natalie Merchant or early Pretenders.