Jenny Toomey: Antidote : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Each volume in this double-disc set has its own subtitle: One is dubbed "Chicago," the other, "Nashville." It's not quite what you're thinking; "Patsy Cline" is on the "Chicago" disc, not "Nashville," and the overall mood isn't urban blues vs. country swing. It's all about fractured romance though, which is apparently all but inevitable: "I'm not offering a heart you could break/Just a chance you might make a graceful mistake," Toomey sighs on "Breezewood, PA." It's basically a low-key mix, as cello, vibes, organ and flute vie for space with the usual suspects (guitar-bass-drums), topped off by Toomey's cool, straightforward vocal delivery. "Nashville" is the livelier of the two, kicking off with the haunting "Unclaimed," which wouldn't be entirely out of place in a David Lynch film (broody strings, moody piano, gently twanging guitar), and there's also a bluesy -- at least as bluesy as you can get with strings -- cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Fool for You." An antidote for the lovelorn, perhaps?

GILLIAN G. GARR
(October 9, 2001)