Review: Holly Beth Vincent’s Journey Through Minnesota, California
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
While Holly Beth Vincent‘s 2007 album, Super Rocket Star showed an entirely different dimension to the punk pioneer with a more eclectic instrumentation and a jazz/rock hybrid approach, her latest offering, Minnesota, California is more reminiscent of her days as leader of Holly and the Italians.
Since emerging from the London pub scene, the American-born Vincent was noted for her hard-driving tracks and tough-girl lyrics. It is that style she returns to with Minnesota, California, a title that suggests the blend of hard rock and Americana genres that bred every alternative style of music from hardcore rockabilly of the 50s to late 70s punk. It is here where Vincent returns, establishing the tone of the album with her first track, “Rita Hayworth.” A light guitar and soft vocal sounds tease the listener before the heavy guitar and driving drum beat come. The style is vintage Holly Beth Vincent as is the first single from the collection: “Hey Boy.”
It would be unfair to describe Minnesota, California as “catchy” simply because it is not as such in the sense that industry-homogenized popular music is. By virtue of Vincent’s diverse musical talents and listening to her thoughts behind her music (she appeared on Revenge of the 80s with me a short time ago), what makes the tracks on this CD memorable is by design. Minnesota, California is raw punk/rock in the early 80s style at its best from the guitar driven “Unattractive” to the subtle mix of 60s rock and 80s alt-rock in “Ghost.” Vincent also offers a dose of anti-pop with the hook-laden “Dramamine.”
Vincent does, in the album’s later tracks, change the tempo but not the attitude. She offers a taste of Super Rocket Star‘s jazzier tone with “Sunshine Song,” the softer folk-esque “His Girl Friday” and some commentary on the traditional male glamorization of the local “it” babe in “The Hippest Girl: “…smeller of glue/the hippest girl wants coffee/the hippest girl wants cigarettes/the hippest girl, baby, the one you just found/is taking her charm to another side of town.”
Throughout her career, Holly Beth Vincent was never afraid to be a bit quirky at times with her music. That shows a bit with the disturbingly captivating “Easter Bunny Homicide,” which she swings with the sweet tone of a young coffee shop singer. That track is followed by a soulful cover of “Take It On the Run.”
For fans of early Holly and the Italians music, Minnesota, California will bring back memories of the years before Vincent disappeared from the industry’s spotlight for several years. Like several other legendary musicians of the 1980s, she also offers on the album what might have been minimized by a music industry that was evidently unsure of how to work with such talent as hers with a new sound. Still, “Minnesota, California” will be enjoyed by both the early 80s purist and the eclectic-minded fan who wants to hear both the classic Holly Beth Vincent and something they might not have expected.
Link to this page
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment