Reviews

Fast Folk Musical Magazine #805: Lora Lee Amram's The Other Side is a lot jazzier than the CDs usually noted in these pages, an album of cabaret songs without the cynicism, world- weariness and outright showing off for showing off's sake that that genre usually connotes. The 12 songs, all from Lora Lee's own pen, are lively and optimistic without being naive or sentimental. Lora Lee's vocals are always right on target and deliver intense and varied moods. The arrangements are complex, the production tasteful. The songs fall into two styles, simple cabaret ballads and ballads with a Brazilian/samba/bossa nova-flavor. Quite nice, but die-hard folk fans should be warned that "The Hawk" recorded here, is as close to "pure folk" as this collection comes.
The Music Paper: LORA LEE AMRAM, The Other Side
(CD12): This one lands smack in the middle of adult contemporaryland. Not made for kiddies, but for those with kiddies, Lora Lee Amram has assembled one hell of a cast of musicians who lend a colorful variety of feeling and texture to her intelligent, insightful songwriting. Fleeting reminders of Toni Mitchell appear from time to time, not only in terms of lyrical quality but also in the smart combination of musical stylings, from folk to Brazilian-flavored jazz. The production is top-notch, as are the arrangenients. My favorite tracks are "The Hawk." "Neurotic" and "Keys." Each one is as different from the other as is imaginable, which only serves to highlight the range of their author's capabilities. (World Music Artists, 928 Peekskill Hollow Road, Putnam Valley, NY 10579, 914 528-7299

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