Lisa Loeb Albums (8)
'Camp Lisa'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 19
Label Furious Rose Productions
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The triumph of Lisa Loeb's second children's album (following her first, Catch the Moon, made with Elizabeth Mitchell) is that it is narrowly focused. As the title Camp Lisa suggests, this is a thematic collection of songs about going away to summer camp. Some of its selections, including "Home on the Range," are the sorts of numbers that have been heard around the campfire for generations. Others, including "Ready for the Summer" (from the movie Meatballs) and Neil Young's "Love Is a Rose," have been repurposed from other origins. Among the Loeb originals are pop/rock winners like "Wake Up Song" and the Beatlesque "It's Not Goodbye," the latter treating the inevitable if heartbreaking end of camp for the year. Loeb is joined by lots of enthusiastic children as well as friends including Maia Sharp, Jill Sobule, and Steve Martin, who contributes banjo playing to the shaggy dog story "The Disappointing Pancake." Camp Lisa is an album that will delight any children going to camp and any grown-ups who have ever been to camp. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The fluke smash hit of Lisa Loeb's debut single, "Stay (I Missed You)," in 1994 was a blessing since it gave her a career, but a curse since it defined her career. For many, she was just a one-hit wonder, and it took her a long time to shake that stigma as she kept cutting records and cultivating a cult audience. She lost her major-label deal in the process, but majors weren't suited for her anyway since it forced her to work on a scale that was too large for the modest music she made. In 2004, a decade after "Stay," she had signed to Rounder's Zoe subsidiary, a better fit for her warm, low-key folk-pop and ballads, as The Way It Really Is, her first album for the label, proves. Quite simply, it's the best, most cohesive record she's made, a clean, crisp collection of well-crafted, gentle tunes that slowly, surely work into the subconscious. Loeb co-produced the album with her husband Dweezil Zappa, and they never overdress the songs, nor do they rely on Spartan, all-acoustic arrangements; they let the music breathe, sometimes adding layers of guitars and keyboards, sometimes keeping it to just her and another instrument or two. The Way It Really Is is still a quiet, modest album, but that's its appeal -- by being sounding so modest, Loeb's skills as a songwriter stand out, as do her charms as a singer. It's a sweet, ingratiating album, the first that she's made to truly deliver on the promise of "Stay," the one that offers definitive proof that Loeb is more than a one-hit wonder. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Folkie Lisa Loeb has followed the lead of other adult-music artists (including Kenny Loggins and her co-pilot on this album, Elizabeth Mitchell) in making a disc of children's music that can be enjoyed by all ages. Some of the songs are lyrically pitched exclusively to the toddlers (e.g., the traditional number "Little Red Caboose" and the traditional adaptation of "Big Rock Candy Mountain") while others are a tad more sophisticated (a nicely revamped version of "Oh Susanna" and a lovely take on Bob Dylan's "New Morning"). Then there is the laudable ethnic content: "La Manita" (Spanish traditional), "Donguri/Rolling Acorn" (Japanese traditional), and "Fais Do Do" (French traditional). The original song "Stop and Go" is a "rocky" participation number and tons of fun, while "Catch the Moon" (also original) is dreamily poetic. And there's never been a more tender version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" than the one found here. The songs are rendered in a folk/country acoustic minimalism that is, in a word, enchanting. And the CD comes encased in a children's board book written by Erin Courtney and illustrated by Bonnie Brooke Mitchell. Catch the Moon is a record that the young ones can enjoy (or go to sleep to) while also being entertaining for the rest of the family, even after many plays.~ Adrian Zupp, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In retrospect, the monster success of "Stay (I Missed You)" did Lisa Loeb no favors, much as Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" eventually must have become something of a burden for Aimee Mann. The comparison is apt, both because Hello Lisa recalls the poppy but low-key folk-rock that's long been Mann's stock-in-trade and because its release was marred by the same kind of record company politics that stalled Mann's career for years: Hello Lisa is actually a revamped version of the earlier A&M release Cake and Pie, which had been dumped unceremoniously on the market earlier in 2002. Releasing herself from her contract, Loeb signed with the friendlier Artemis Records, replaced a few of Cake and Pie's weaker tracks with better new material -- including an excellent acoustic reworking of the extremely Mann-like single "What Am I Supposed to Say" -- and reissued the album in a more attractive new cover. Other highlights include the snarky teenage romance tune "You Don't Know Me" and the catchy power ballad "Underdog." ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
There was a gap of about five years between Loeb's second and third albums, which is enough time for some sort of significant growth or stylistic alternation to have taken place. There's not much of such things on Cake & Pie, however. Loeb remains an above-average major-label singer/songwriter, given to pensive self-reflection that doesn't quite cross the line into self-absorption. The emphasis is on intense examination of the motives that drive, maintain, and sometimes erode relationships, passionate without boiling into a rage. Perhaps she should get a little more uncoiled once in a while, though, as the hardest-rocking numbers here, like "Payback" and "Too Fast Driving," deviate enough from her established brainy-yet-emotional persona to command a little more attention than usual. On the more expected acoustic-colored numbers, "She's Falling Apart" is, again, a standout in that it strips down the production to enough basics that the arrangement has an unguarded edginess on par with the wary uncertainty of the lyrics. Otherwise the melodies and playing tend too much toward average modern rock, albeit with more heart and intellect than most. As a singer, she remains pleasant and confident, but not so unique or fiery that she burns into the synapses as well as the best storytelling songwriters do. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Lisa Loeb's debut, Tails, didn't always deliver on the promise of her first single, "Stay," drifting into generic alt-pop territory when it should have played up her lilting, melodic soft side. Firecracker, her second record, is a better album. For starters, it's considerably more eclectic, with a varied, textured production ranging from jangly folk-pop and pounding rockers to lush pop. There are a number of strong moments on the record that confirm Loeb is a talented melodicist. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Lisa Loeb is a rarity in the music industry. She released her first single -- the gentle "Stay," taken from the Reality Bites soundtrack -- before she was signed to any record label and saw it hit number one. Record companies were eager to sign her, and she eventually settled with Geffen. Instead of rushing out her debut album, she waited over a year, releasing Tails in the fall of 1995. Surprisingly, it didn't fade away, becoming a hit with adult alternative radio stations and listeners. That's because Tails delivers on the promise of "Stay." While the basic folk-rock elements of the song are present, much of the material on the record doesn't sound like her breakthrough hit; there are some distorted guitars here and there, and she even rocks out a little bit. Nothing on Tails is as good as "Stay," either; there are too many sophomoric lyrics and unfinished melodies, but it is a pleasant record and, in its own way, charming. There is an innocence and naïveté about Loeb that makes her music sweetly ingratiating, even when her ideas are underdeveloped. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Like the Pixies before her, Lisa Loeb had an early demo dubbed "The Purple Tape" that circulated before she hit the big time -- and, like that Boston quartet, Loeb's Purple Tape was instrumental in getting her big-time exposure. Self-released as a cassette in 1992, The Purple Tape was a collection of ten original tunes by Loeb, all featuring no more than just her and her acoustic guitar. This is the tape that wound up in Ben Stiller's hands, which of course led to Loeb's "Stay" being the key song in his 1994 comedy Reality Bites, which in turn made Loeb the first unsigned artist ever to top the Billboard charts. "Stay" is not among the ten songs on The Purple Tape, which finally saw a CD reissue in 2008 where it was paired with an interview disc, but the songs here certainly share the sweet melodiousness and emotional vulnerability of her breakthrough hit -- and they're also simple and unadorned, lacking the big-budget productions that made Tails and Firecracker sometimes seem over-inflated. That's certainly not the case here. This is as simple as it gets, sounding exactly like what it is: a collection of endearingly open songs from a young coffeehouse singer who sometimes tries too had and stumbles, but that awkwardness just makes you root for her all the more. Really, of all the music Loeb has yet made, this Purple Tape comes the closest to delivering an album of songs similar to "Stay" -- this is intimate, ingratiating music and it's hard not to see why Ethan Hawke and Ben Stiller got a crush on Lisa based on this tape. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
