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BEST LAID PLANS (2004)
While making the food and drink run for one's companions might seem like the lowliest of tasks to some, it's likely that Derek Webb now looks fondly on such activity. Sent out for coffee and munchies while he and his former bandmates in Caedmon's Call were recording the Long Line of Leavers album in Nashville in the spring of 2000, Webb ran across indie artist Sandra McCracken performing at a small café just two doors from the group's studio. Impressed with both McCracken and her music, Webb worked up the courage to ask her to open some dates on the band's upcoming tour. McCracken and Webb began dating soon afterwards, and were eventually married in January of 2001.For Best Laid Plans, McCracken uses the eclectic, acoustically-based music of her first two indie efforts, 2000's The Crucible and 2001's Gypsy Flat Road, as a starting point. The stark cello and piano-driven leadoff track, "Plenty," finds McCracken in a wispy, slightly dissonant voice (think Tori Amos meets Christine Denté) relaying a gripping portrayal of indifferent love ("I poured out like a rainstorm / You were dry under the bridge"). "No More Tears" is a gritty, yet literate account of hurt and abuse which proves that all-out rock need not check its brain at the door. The bracing "Last Goodbye" shows McCracken steering her vocals in a roots rock-friendly vein, a la Sheryl Crow or Jill Phillips. And "Find You Out" is quite simply a solid, well-written piece of radio-friendly pop.
McCracken hits a rough patch around the midpoint of the record. The bluegrass-tinged "500 Miles," although agreeable enough, is ultimately rather undistinguished. "Took You for Granted" ("I took you for granted / Left you there stranded / I just need a second chance") is similarly featureless, both musically and lyrically. "Where Do You Go to My Lovely," a number one hit for English folk singer Peter Sarstedt on the British charts in 1969, is every bit as smug and tedious as the original. And while the Biblical references in the Celtic-inspired "Son of Cain" ("All this blame is justified / Drop your sword / Leave me to wander far and wide") add a certain poignancy to its plea for mercy and forgiveness, the song itself lacks the infectious melodic leaning of McCracken's finest work.
Fortunately, the tailspin is only temporary. The slightly countrified "Stay" ("Through the kitchen walls / Underneath the pavement / Are the secrets of the fall / In some long-forgotten language") is worded just obliquely enough that it requires multiple listens to fully digest and appreciate, which is one of the hallmarks of great songwriting. "Letters," with its triumphant combination of cello and lazy slide guitar, sounds every bit like classic ELO — a very good thing, by the way, regardless of whether or not one remembers the '70s. And the closing track, "Age after Age," which features McCracken and Webb backed only by hi string guitar and harmonium, is the perfect bookend for the sparsely instrumented "Plenty."
Listeners enamored with McCracken's back catalog might balk at Plans' slightly tempered indie inclinations. Fans of Top 40 radio, on the other hand, may well be put off by the album's overridingly somber tone and sometimes inscrutable language. Those willing to approach the new release objectively, though, will find that it stands quite nicely on its own merit. McCracken's voice is sturdy and adaptable, handling rock, pop, folk and bluegrass with equal ease. And her lyrics, while admittedly an acquired taste, are nearly always both thought-provoking and moving. Whether McCracken goes on to gain widespread recognition or labors on in relative anonymity remains to be seen. Either way, those who like their music served with honesty and depth are certain to be pleased with the talented singer/songwriter's latest undertaking.
- Bert Gangl
May 2005
May 2005
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