Mandy Moore
May 26, 2009
I was initially interested in past her glory days pop star Mandy Moore’s newest album “Amanda Leigh” because I heard a comparison to Todd Rundgren, a musician I greatly admire.. And that comparion is quite apt, I can’t remember a single thing about anything I’ve heard from Mandy Moore and I’ll make no apologies for saying this but “Amanda Leigh” is an accomplished work of pop music. Leave your indie cred at the door.. this is genuinely good. Yeah, I was surprised as well.
Points:
The comparison to Rundgren is quite apt, but also worth mentioning for comparison is Jackson Browne. “Amanda Leigh” is an album that’s comfortable but intriguing, an album that feels relaxed in tone, but it’s interesting enough to keep you in your seat. It’s a gentle album to be sure, soft around the corners and very welcoming.
I’m curious if Moore has always been classy like this, because “Amanda Leigh” certainly is a classy, mature work. It has love songs, but they feel classic, rather timeless in how they’re presented instead of the usual pop garbage.. Moore presents herself with restraint, showing an eye for the lavish details that make pop work, but also when to scale back. She doesn’t sound angry or immature. She sounds relaxed and assured in her ability as a songwriter and a musician.
It helps that Moore draws from some of the greatest pop musicians of all time, Rundgren and Browne’s influence are undeniable, and bubblegum pop this certainly isn’t. It occasionally feels a bit repetitive tonally, but I also feel like Moore has come a long way from billboard star to this. “Amanda Leigh” is warm and welcoming, it’s just if you walk on in and let it treat you to all it has to offer.
The issue here for me is whether or not I can even listen to Mandy Moore from a neutral position. On the one hand we have her film career with largely forgettable (if not cringe-worthy) portfolio items like ‘A Walk to Remember’, ‘Because I said So’, ‘License to Wed’ and more of that ilk. Her musical career has likewise been largely forgettable unless you were circa a 14 year old girl during part of Mandy’s career.
What makes her interesting, and what I can’t ignore, are brief moments during her career that give me hope. I’m not saying they are huge – but they are worth noting. The biggest is her role in the movie ‘Saved’, but she has had the wherewithal (or the decency of hiring an agent who knows better) to have a few appearances on ‘Scrubs’ and ‘The Simpsons’ as well.
Is it redemptive? Not necessarily. But maybe it means she has the capacity to do something not entirely terrible in her professional career. Does this album fall into that category? I’m not convinced. But I do agree it is aguably the most mature work she has produced thus far. But, again, can I look at Mandy Moore, or anything she produces, without the aftertaste of all she has done to this point?
That said, comparisons to Browne and Rundgren might be reaching… although I’m not huge on throwing around comparisons for the sake of mood and comfort on a record, especially when also using the term bubblegum pop for a record.
Also – I’ll address the question about Mandy Moore always being classy. The answer is no.
Something worthwhile. But to be expected from someone as well composed as yourself.
A few points worth mentioning:
The comparisons to Rundgren and Browne aren’t really too much of a reach. To back it up, the clavinet sounding item on Amanda Leigh sounds like they came directly off of Rundgren’s Something/Anything.. in addition to the fact that there is a song on the album called “Nothing Everything” If that’s not some kind of nod towards Rundgren I’ll eat my shoe.
Browne and Moore seem to be focusing on similarly oriented themes throughout their songs, in addition to have that slight country/folky tinge. I feel like I’ve gone a bit easy on the album, afterall, it is fairly light. Pleasantly airy, but not much between the ears. This review was written after an initial impression of the record. I still stand by it as a good record, I won’t claim it to be anything but airy pop. But that’s what I’m in the mood for a lot of the time.
I come from a relatively clean slate with Moore. The most familiarity I have with her is through the film Saved, and I thought she did an alright job there. So I don’t really have any bitterness towards her. Does “Amanda Leigh” redeem her? Not really, she has some distance to travel before she’ll be taken seriously. For what Amanda Leigh is, it’s quite good. It doesn’t really have any pretension of importance and I feel that it’s mostly honest work.
At least you gave it a shot.