Joan Osborne – Little Wild One Review

Posted by Ian Parmenter on 11.04.2008

What If God Was A One-Hit Wonder?



Track List:
1. Hallelujah In The City
2. Sweeter Than The Rest
3. Cathedrals
4. Little Wild One
5. Rodeo
6. To The One I Love
7. Daddy - O
8. Meet You In The Middle
9. Can't Say No
10. Light Of This World
11. Bury Me On The Battery

For every indictment of the music industry one can think of, I think it says something that one-hit wonders can continue to put out multiple albums after their mainstream popularity has faded.

Don't get me wrong; I love this woman's music. But Joan Osborne is the definition of a one-hit wonder. "One Of Us" was a catchy, semi-controversial hit for her... back when I was in high school. She hasn't really had a hit after that, and it's been a long time. So, what's she been doing since then? (Note: Anyone who answered 'The Grateful Dead' doesn't need to finish reading this review, you already know enough about her to make your decision one way or the other.) The answer is this album, Little Wild One.

One thing that hasn't changed in all those years is that Ms. Osborne still has a voice that sounds like it'll fit into any musical genre you name. The problem with this album is that she names lots of genres, sometimes multiples within the same song. There are times where you find yourself thinking, "I could hear this track on a pop station... almost," or "alt rock," or "country," or "folk," or ... well, you get the idea. But that 'almost' is always present; every song is so close to being fit for a certain radio station, and then manages to pull away. More than once I found myself yelling at the music, "Pick a genre and stick with it!"

The first track, "Hallelujah In The City", is a perfect example. It starts off with an Americana-folksy acoustic twang with lyrics sung perfectly for a folk or gospel song... and then adds a rocking guitar, jolting you out of the mood the song was setting. I was really enjoying the song up until then; then the song changed on me. It was still good... but I wasn't done listening to that first part yet. I wanted more of that song. Sometimes, mixing melodies like this works; but here, it's just overused and misses much more often than it hits. At times, it feels like someone recorded a jam session instead of an album, and that detracts from the listening experience. It's still good, technically solid, artistic music... but it's like someone finger-painted cubist figures on a pencil-drawn dada-esque background. The art is great, but the styles don't work well together no matter how talented the artist is.

In a way, I think that's the point. Ms. Osborne doesn't have to worry about airplay or mainstream attention; I don't think she ever did, and "One Of Us" was a happy accident. This album is an artist at play, mixing styles and looking for something that works. In that sense, it's a success, because there's nothing that really fails; nothing makes you skip to the next track or take the disc out. There's something for everyone here, and you keep listening just to see what the next song will be like. A slightly-too-rocking-for-country-radio song about longing for a lover who's out on the rodeo circuit gets followed by love songs with a slightly blues-y background. Songs that rejoice in sweet relationships are followed by quiet, almost mournful meditations on the place of religion in today's modern cities... which for some reason, has an electric guitar breakdown in the middle of it.

Which brings me to my final talking point for this review: If you are, for whatever reason, annoyed by constant references to New York City, then you should avoid this one. Mentions of the city, it's layout, it's landmarks, pepper this disc's lyrics like someone fired buckshot at it from thirty feet away. For the most part, that's not a bad thing; it actually gives some songs an almost-Springsteenian feel with mentions of Coney Island and Battery Park. But for some listeners, it might be a turn-off.

The 411: If we just look at the songs individually, this is an 8.5 album, easily. The problem is that the songs, while great, don't mesh together into a great album. I would have loved for Little Wild One to be two albums, or even two discs; one of the peppy, upbeat music (yes, even the Country-inspired ones) and the other made of the slower music. As it is now, there's some mood whiplash that is just a bit too extreme for casual listening. This is an album destined to be put on your MP3 player and the songs split up among various playlists, never to be listened to in order more than once.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]