SOUND OFF: Laura Bell Bundy - Achin' & Shakin'

This week we are taking a listen to one of Broadway's brightest stars Laura Bell Bundy, late of HAIRSPRAY and LEGALLY BLONDE, who is hoping for some pop/country-crossover success with her latest, for all intents and purposes, double-album...

Giddy & Up
Laura Bell Bundy - ACHIN' & SHAKIN'
SCORE: 8/10

Talent? Check. Looks? Check. Material? Check. A recipe for a hit, for sure, but a confection both sweet and savory enough to please picky theatre fans and admittedly less-picky, but much more fickle pop/country music fans alike? Now, that is a tall order! Is our leading lady truly up to the tough task she has set forth with this endeavor? Without question, Laura Bell Bundy is an attractive performer with a certain je ne sais quoi about her that makes any material she performs more interesting and ingratiating when she is performing it, sometimes through sheer will... but this is a country album! While I am a vocal proponent of LEGALLY BLONDE and would claim that it, along with HAIRSPRAY, is one of the strongest pop-oriented scores of the 00s, it is her performance as Elle Woods that truly made the show "so much better", to cite a lyric from the Act I Finale of that show's score by the always accomplished Larry O'Keefe and co-writer Neil Benjamin, oftentimes in spite of the material. While this new album is always entertaining, occasionally infectious and sporadically emotionally involving, it truly is so much better than most of the albums of this ilk - and so, truly, idiosyncratic - and for that, and perhaps for that alone, I recommend it. While portions of it are sure to turn off Broadway fans with its slightly out-of-place uber-hip production affectations, both in the album production itself and Bundy's riffs and runs, her vocal performance and nuanced readings of many of these songs make it more impressive overall than the mere sum of its parts or the intentionally hokey and jokey music video for the lead single, "Giddy On Up", currently making the rounds, may have led us to initially believe. ACHIN' & SHAKIN' is really two albums in one with half the tracks having a bluesy, country-tinged vibe and the second half more fun, frivolous and gospel/funk/pop-oriented. Even more to Bundy's credit, she proves herself equally adept at both sides of the coin - or, to crib a country metaphor, allows us to eat from both sides of the trough.

The album begins with the sonorousness of Bundy's instrument over the country twang and down-home inflections that accent the first half of the album with the attractive, strong opener "Drop On By". The production values are high and the material solid, on this track and throughout the album, and the band is always cookin'. This early track immediately brings to mind the sounds and style of the classic Vicki Lawrence song "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia" and I'd love to hear Bundy tackle that tune sometime soon, whether live or on an album. "Curse The Bed" is Bundy's bid for a blistering ballad, the likes of which are often on the bill (and Billboard) for Carrie Underwood, and Bundy more than holds her own with it. In particular, the lyrics for this track and a few others, many by Bundy herself, are quite witty and winning and she proves herself to be a formidable songwriter in addition to her strengths as a charming actress and a powerful, emotive singer. "Cigarette" continues the country tone of the album and while the orchestration may be a bit over-twanged, the up-front vocals are a definite asset and make the song a bit more memorable than it could have been with a less-involved and committed performer than Bundy. "Please" is the strongest track of the album up until this point and while it is sometimes hard to buy Bundy as someone who knows "too much" about "second chances", she sings with the conviction of chanteuses, of music chamber or country, twice her age. "Please" has hit potential, even beyond many of the tracks here, and proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Bundy has succeeded in her vying for a country crown to go with her Broadway tiara, but is that truly where she is served best? With someone as multi-talented and blessed with the apparent ability to move effortlessly between genres, I suppose she should not be forced to choose between the two. After all, she does give a Broadway-level performance whether singing songs in the pop vein of Shaiman, serious musical theatre of Sondheim or raucous rock/country like Rascal Flatts. "Homecoming Queen" is catchy and unassuming and gives us a slight glimpse of the songwriter behind the singer and her dedication to delivering each and every emotion with delicacy and devotion - the lyrics coming straight from the heart to her head to the pen to her lips. The somber, ruminative mood of the album continues with "When It All Goes South" and it is in this track that the lyrical wordplay reaches its apotheosis, at least thus far in the affair, and the album firmly establishes itself as a true curiosity: a successful country-pop-Broadway crossover and one of the first of its kind. "Giddy On Up" is the big bid for a tv/radio single and it is as riotous, ribald and risky as any pop/country/Broadway crossover single you are likely to find, bringing to mind the best of 9 TO 5-era Dolly Parton, though it is slightly over-produced and gets a bit muddled in the final third. All in all, ACHIN' gets an A, but I'm not quite quaking in my boots just yet, so perhaps it's time for some SHAKIN'.

The second half of the album is significantly more upbeat and pop-oriented, as the funky "wicky-waa" electric guitar and grassroots guitar that meet and merge by the first chorus of "I'm No Good" clue us in to, though that track's similarities to Carrie Underwood's huge hit "Last Name" were not lost on this reviewer, though that may have been intentional and does not take anything away from the bubbly, bouncy frippery that this song undoubtedly is. "Rebound" is a high-kickin', boot-clickin' barn-burner with a killer chorus and given a quite vocally rockin' rendering by Bundy. The interplay between Bundy and her back-up vocalists, both in sung and spoken repartee adds another level of genteel charm and folksy fun to the already attractive and well-done album. Perhaps my favorite track on the album, "Boyfriend?" begins with a slinky guitar riff that quickly builds to one of the most effortlessly ingratiating and toe-tapping songs of the bunch and quite ingeniously juggles all three genres Bundy is tackling here simultaneously - the instant hummability and likeability of perfect pop, the bite and wit of the best country and the co-existing high drama and low comedy of Broadway. "If You Want My Love" is the most rollicking song on the album besides, perhaps, "Giddy On Up" and displays Bundy's punchy, plucky persuasiveness in putting over a number. To answer the clause of the song's title: I do, indeed, at least if it is half as much fun as this track. This track, by the way, manages to let funk flower out of the bluegrass roots at the song's core while still managing to keep a foot in gospel and the other in country/pop. That may be a lot of roots and feet, but Bundy always sings straight from the heart: she never forgets her roots, whether Southern or Broadway, and she stands tall on her firmly planted feet while navigating tricky material. "Everybody" is a feel-good closer to an dually feel-bad (ACHIN') and feel-good (SHAKIN') double album and leaves us with a song in our heart, if not a lump in the throat or a deep thought in the head. I suppose, after all, there is too much in the world to depress us these days so a good dose of SHAKIN' is the perfect antidote to ACHIN' - as well as everything else that may bring us down. As this album proves, you can be down but you are never out and luck lies with those who make it for themselves. Sheer luck is less responsible for the success of this album than most of its other fetching attributes.

So, back to that checklist now that we've finished thoroughly achin' and shakin': Does Bundy succeed in her lofty goals? Lassoing the likes of pop, country, bluegrass, funk, and bringing it all back to Broadway, Bundy proves you can't keep a good girl down for long in the first half, and by the second half I was won over and willing to admit I would be hard pressed to find a better tour guide for a sonic trip down South than this lovely lady. While it may not change the face of music as we know it, on Broadway or beyond, this album is an excellent effort and always engaging and fun, and to hold it to too high a standard would be unfair to Bundy and her cohorts. While some may find the mere idea of country-pop unappetizing, particularly Broadway fans whose sole exposure to the genre extends from BIG RIVER to 9 TO 5 and ends there, it is through Bundy's fierce talent and songwriting ability that the album rises above a bid for a big crossover paycheck and instead causes this critic to give her an A for effort and, more importantly, a big check mark in the column titled "Success?" and a note: "resounding". Whether giddying up, getting down or de-giddied this is a ride I recommend hitchin'.