Nina Gordon
Bleeding Heart Graffiti (Warner Bros.)
By Jim Keller
Published: August 17th, 2006 | 1:01pm
More than five years after Tonight and the Rest of my Life, Nina Gordon returns with Bleeding Heart Graffiti, an album chock-full of her brand of Bob Rock-produced pop that holds as much weight as a feather in the throws of a tornado. You may remember Gordon from her heyday with Chicago alt-rock sensation Veruca Salt, but there are no adept lyrics or blistering guitars here — they’ve been traded in for a season pass into alt-contemporary land.
With this release, one has to ask: What happened to the fire and fury women used to unleash on the world through music? Liz Phair has all but gone the way of the dodo, Sleater-Kinney is no longer showing its riffs, and Nina Gordon has ventured into the land of the bland. A concept album, Bleeding Heart Graffiti fails to sonically engage the listener as its story of the beginning, middle, and end of a relationship plays out. High point “Turn on Your Radio” is led by a dulled-down riff reminiscent of Weezer that echoes Linda Ronstadt’s “All My Life.” On low point, “Bones and a Name,” Gordon sings, “So she covered herself in sorrow and shame / And smoke and mirrors and fame,” a line that after several years still seems to reference Louise Post, Veruca Salt’s other half.
Last time I checked, American Idol contestants were the ones churning out albums like this. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times?
Issue #25
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