MIssy Andersen
Music Review: Missy Andersen - Missy Andersen
Blues Source
By Tim Richards
July 2009
 
Missy Andersen was born in Detroit, but currently resides in San Diego. But she took all the soul and R&B from Detroit west with her. This CD is drenched in the soul, big band sound of Motown from beginning to end. Andersen’s sultry and smooth vocals can lull you in to a trance like state, but in the next breath become a powerful guttural growl. All the while she’s backed by a band that not only found the groove, they sound like they invented it. With husband Heine Andersen on guitars, Asmus Jensen on drums, Søren Bøjgaard on bass, the whole enchilada is neatly rounded out with Jeppe Juul on keyboards. Now these guys are tighter than bark on a tree, but just so you don’t get too complacent they’ve added the horns of Robbie Smith and Bob Mathes on trumpet and saxophone respectively and the finger picking styling’s of Nathan James on a track.

Kicking things off is a off the charts interpretation of the O. V. Wright classic Ace of Spades followed by the funky New Feet, then she launches right into Ann Peebles I can’t Stand the Rain. Lord have mercy it’s a soul overload at its finest! Her treatment of Tell Mama, while it doesn’t stray far from the original, is made unique strictly with the quality of Andersen’s vocal prowess. Oddly enough Andersen chose an acoustic version of Stand Up and Dance as the closing track of the CD. While the rest of the CD is packed with this big fat horn driven sound, Stand Up and Dance features just James guitar and Andersen’s vocal. Don’t misunderstand, I like it, it just almost seems out of place with the rest of the songs.

While there is a glut of talentless singers currently on the airwaves, here’s one that deserves to be heard. Finally, a voice that runs the spectrum without breaking a sweat and has the ability of cruise through songs where others fear to even take the chance because they know they’d only look foolish.
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