Search - Susannah Mccorkle :: Hearts & Minds

Susannah had both - a heart and a mind - and TALENT

culturecritic | New York, NY United States | 05/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A world that can never have enough genuine talent, we have lost a wonderful performer. I had the pleasure of seeing Susannah McCorkle four years in a row at the Oak Room in New York City's Algonquin Hotel. She never failed to have the room wrapped around her finger. Susannah McCorkle was fluent in five languages, and her gift for words extended into not only translating beautifully the lyrics of Brazilian classics (The Waters of March), but also to interprating standards with a fresh perspective. Between songs, Susannah always had a theme, or story, that tied the lyrics together - bringing forth not only her interpratation of the lyrics, but giving the show cohesion. This was cabaret at its best.This album covers the material she sang at her last show at the Algonquin. It is a fine example of her style, blending 70 years worth of music. Susannah sounds great on the tracks,and her sultry, smokey voice delivers the goods. Personal favorites are "Love, look away", a slightly haunting broken heart melody, the funny, catchy and vivid "My Attourney Bernie", the wispy "Do You Miss New York?" and the introspective and lovely "Scars".Some reviewers (one really comes to mind) have knocked this album and Susannah as a singer. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I'll say seems a shame to miss out on the fine work of a performer like Susannah McCorkle who had a fresh perspective, a tireless imagination picking material and a unique, smokey-voiced delivery. Sure, she does not sound like Ella, Carmen, Abbey, or a number of other legends. Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin don't sound alike either. So what?Susannah, you are missed. Much love."

Wonderful and winsome

Don A. Frascinella | The City By The Bay, USA | 11/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Susannah McCorkle may not have always hit a home run every time out but even the work that is not as great is a far sight better than most. What makes Susannah incomparable is her ability to take a group of songs that do not appear to be very distinguished, and yet make them into memorable tunes. Such is the case with Hearts and Minds.One common trait that puncutates her recordings is her ability to handle works from a very diverse group of songwriters. Susannah can handle a Rogers and Hammerstein tune ("Love Look Away") with one track and on the next one, go right into a Dave Frishberg tune ("My Attorney Bernie") on the next. (Frishberg, who wrote songs like "Van Lingle Mungo" and the Krall anthem "Peel Me A Grape" does not appear on this CD as he does on others).While there are the usual contributions from notables like George Gershwin's "Love is Here to Stay" and Jimmy Van Heusen's "It Could Happen to You", one of the most notable songs on this CD is Frishberg's "Do You Miss New York". While this may capture Frishberg's own feeling about leaving New York for California, it has become a question that we all can ask these days.Finally, Susannah also gives one of her own tunes a spin - "The Computer Age (In Motion)", which she wrote with Thelmo Porto.Hearts and Minds came along in the last year of Susannah's life and does give a glimpse of what she might have been thinking. The CD opens with "I Can Dream, Can't I?" and closes with "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", which may have been the case since she doesn't seem to have gotten the admiration and respect which she was due. In between these tunes is "Do You Miss New York?" and perhaps a question Susannah is asking herself in the afterlife.We miss you Susannah. More than you will ever know."

Brave Soldier, Noble Soul

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 06/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

""There's something irresistible in Down. You can't help falling, the grave is calling." Does this line from one of the songs hold any sort of key to the sad and shocking endof Susannah McCorkle? More importantly, what does it tell us about her art, her personal voice, her contribution?I had always respected her good taste, impeccable diction, choice of material and accompanists. But frankly the single cuts I'd heard on radio had never prompted me to purchase the recordings. Instead, I was reminded of interpretations of the same material by other singers with warmer vocal quality, more confident intonation, more consistent control, more sensuality. But after hearing this album, I'm a believer.The first several cuts--familiar standards--do little to impress the listener. The voice seems "cold," a bit rough and husky, a trifle insecure. I notice the curious articulation of the interdental consonants (the tongue momentarily "sticks" when she gets to a "t" or "d"). Then she gets to "For All We Know." From here on the music overcomes all resistance, getting under your skin and creating a warm glow, then spreading to the heart where it begins to cut deeply."Everybody's got scars on the way to the stars from crash landing on Mars." She confronts and manifests pain like few other artists. Anyone close to this business knows how tough it can be, how impossible even. Perhaps the real marvel is that Susannah pursued her passion and connected with so many for so long. And it's obvious she could have fun with it, and in an ironic, detached sort of way. "The Computer Age" is a comprehensive catalog of the uses of technology and the dangers to human relationships ("We should be in bed holding each other tight, Not cybersurfing all night"), to self-reflection ("Get some control, or you'll lose your soul"), and to children ("How will they find the life of the mind? Poor kids!").By the time she gets to "Do You Miss New York," you may wish you could tell her how much you have a reason to miss her. "If you had to face it now, do you still think you could hack it?" Apparently Susannah thought she no longer could, but perhaps a legacy such as this vital record of an artist's heart and mind can not only help the rest of us face it but somehow make it work."