at a glance...

Hometown: New York, NY
Debut: 1990

Members:
Jill Sobule -lead vocals, guitar, omnichord, electric piano, keyboards
Neil Rosengarden -piano, drums, percussion, recorder, trumpet
Michael Rhodes -bass
Mickey Grimm -drums, cajon, tambourine, tubular bells, marimba
Tom Hannum -pedal steel, dobro
Charlie Chadwick -bass
Chris Carmichael -violin
Brad -organ, bass, piano, mellotron, harmonium, backing vocals
Molly Felder -backing vocals

Related bands:
Lloyd Cole and The Negatives

Notes:
After an unheralded debut album in 1990, Jill Sobule gained fame with her second release, Jill Sobule, in 1995. The confessional single "I Kissed A Girl" remains the best known song and biggest hit for the Boulder, CO native who now resides in New York City. After a critically lauded but commercially ignored 1997 release, Happy Town, Sobule lost her recording contract with Atlantic and went on a self-imposed hiatus. She played lead guitar in Lloyd Cole's band, The Negatives, while the songs that would eventually comprise her latest album evolved. She has signed with Beyond Music and finds it liberating to create music without the pressure of a corporate giant.

Jill Sobule's fourth album, Pink Pearl, is a breathtaking revelation. The artist's first album since 1997's critically-acclaimed Happy Town segues seamlessly from acoustic ballads to hip-hop to winsome rock, occasionally combining elements of each. Sobule's lovely, perky vocals often mask deeper issues addressed in her outstanding, sometimes tongue-in-cheek lyrics.

The opening tracks, the hopeful "Rainy Day Parade" and the hip-hop influenced "One Of These Days," are plaintive calls-to-arms for the artist. She expresses palpable regret laced with optimism in lines like, "the dark clouds over my head/about to burst, I've seen the worst." Sobule, the songwriter, finds fascination in odd places, but not without stunning lyrical results. "Mary Kay," about the Seattle schoolteacher who sexually-abused a pupil, is an engaging piece of pop while the sullen "Lucy At The Gym" examines eating disorders.

Her heartbreaking ballads provide Sobule's most flattering showcase. The country-tinged "The Guy Who Doesn't Get It" elevates cluelessness in the face of despair to new heights. The singer transforms your heart into a lump in your throat as she pines achingly, "it's not that you're so special/you're just the cross I bear" on "Mexican Wrestler." Later, a less vulnerable Sobule unabashedly gives voice to a universal revenge fantasy in the self-explanatory "Somebody's Gonna Break Your Heart." It's about as close as the pixieish singer comes to belting out a song.

There is so much to like here -- a truly accomplished assortment of styles. At one point, Souble softly laments, "you will never love/and this I can't forgive." This provides somewhat of a parallel to the equally unforgivable absense of public embrace of Jill Sobule. Sadly, there are too many guys who don't get it, and record executives head that list.

If you like Jill Sobule, check out:
Cyndi Lauper Hat Full Of Stars
Julia Darling Figure 8
Michelle Malone Home Grown
Lisa Loeb Firecracker
Juliana Hatfield Beautiful Creature
Susanah Hoffs When You're A Boy
'Til Tuesday Everything's Different Now
Aimee Mann Whatever

-- Paul Barras