Macy Gray has been hailed as
the “new Tracy Chapman”, which could be either a good or a bad thing, depending
on your point of view. Despite the fact
that I have never understood all of the fuss about Tracy Chapman, and am not impressed
with her warbling, I approached Macy Gray with open ears. After all, where I cannot think of one
single Tracy Chapman song that I can stand to listen to, I am a fan of Ms.
Gray’s “I Try”, which made my list of songs I must have. Unfortunately, “I Try” is about all there is
of value on On How Life Is. With
the notable exception of the aforementioned “I Try”, the rest of the album
sounds like the mumblings of a sister who is tripping. Many of the lyrics are, shall we say,
suggestive, and Ms. Gray’s singing (if you can call it that) is, for the most
part indecipherable and unintelligible.
If you can get the single, do it, but don’t invest in the rest of this
throwaway release.