Alyson, who is so sainted that she only has to go by one name, has cleared some major hurdles and achieved many milestones in a relatively short
time by music biz standards. As I write this she has added another Top 10 hit on the Billboard club chart, first place in that same publication’s
World Song Contest, hitting # 1 on the Hot 100 Radio Chart and # 1 for a 2nd week consecutively on the Pop/Country Radio Chart (Roots Music Report)
to her trophy case and the best could still be yet to come!
Two years ago, the thought crossed my mind, “would she be just another flash in the pan/one album wonder?” Now that we’ve taken a “good look”
(and she definitely has some great ones), as if we would walk away, she calls us back with a stentorian “Hey You!” [PM Media] the latest from Alyson
to answer that “Silly Got Me Going” question. It is plain to hear that my self-starting, managing, and producing diva-to-be is as energetic and driven
as ever with the follow-up to the irrupt 2005 album which I gave all the kudos I could at that time. So can it be that her sound has evolved even more
so that I am exegete and will have to match my words? With a new producer and co-writer Jeremy Yeremian, it may be I have to eat some of them. The
title track gets your attention by immediately calling you out to pay attention or maybe ask her hand on the dancefloor. She is youthfully girly, amative,
and “holding hands” idealistic here, “You satisfy my fantasy,You kiss me like a prodigy.”
Like a shooter who varies the “touch” on his jump shot to fit the situation, Alyson seems to have learned how to change the texture of her voice, song
by song. We score on a trip south of the border, hair flying in the wind on “Adios Barcelona”, (does she really sing “Que Sera Sera”?) It is Doris Day
time! Then on the dreamy “Slip Away” which is reminiscent of the Cars’ hit “Drive” from the mid-eighties, the hidden amative passion is clear. Knowing
her propensity for the remixed version, we play the game of which songs she’ll go over-on this time – the ultimate answer however, is they all are
probably fair game, but I would leave alone “Slip Away”, as it is primed for mass appeal radio, at least for a couple of years; trust me! It wouldn’t
surprise me if that is her newest produce, Yeremian’s, voice on the beginning of “Shoobadoo” who’s flummery reminds me of a story about a young man who
couldn’t quite “perform” sexually for his bride in honeymoon frustration mode.
“Silly Got Me Going” (
purchase/download)
plays like a Times Square/Broadway musical chorus line number.
On “Some Love” (
purchase/download)she somehow creates a two syllable word out of one, making it sound to me like she’s singing “som-ma love” or even “summa love”. Cuut!” title rewrite! Correction, and upon further review she actually breaks the word “love” into “la-of, la-of” in order to create the previously described effect to da beat. Better than Big Brown odds that she does a remix on that one! Hey I just wanna get it right, like the lovers cast on “Sticky Sticky”, the lubricious rubber ducky song where, “ready, set, COME!” she sings.
On the future pumpin’ dance classic, “Here With Me”, my mind keeps wanting to rename it “take me away” because of the strong hook. No doubt there will be, and in fact are already a plethora of remixed versions. The current ten song album’s finale, “Forever” was actually a reggae flavored medium-tempo on her 2005 effort. Then she and Zeb retooled it into a super smash for the clubs and gracefully included it here on “Hey You”.
Alyson recently hung-out with me in the spirit of comity on my weekly radio show. I love her energy and exuberance about not only her music, but her jocund
mien appreciates imagination and fun as I do, so having digested my last review’s words, I can now bestow a well thought-out and perdurable five
future-is-bright stars for this record regina with all due “some lo-ve, some lo-ve, some lo-ve”.
Release May 2008 on PM Media.
