| I first saw Jen Porter a few months back,
during a Singer Spotlight showcase at Fitzgerald's, and I was impressed. So when I
received the CD for review, I was excited to sit down and listen to it.
I put it in the CD player, sat back and started
to make my notes. First note, "this sounds like Natalie Merchant." Well, at
least the voice sounds like Natalie Merchant. Now that's not a bad hand to hold in a vocal
card game, but is it a Royal Flush? Well, as the CD goes on, it does have a few Aces.
Track two, "How it Feels," has a great bar Blues feel to it and Porter does
bring something to it that makes the vocal her own. Before you think that it’s all
about the voice, let me say that Porter is a very fine writer, there is no question that
she can craft a fine song. Tracks like "Shakespearean Tragedy" and
"Tonight" offer more of an original sound, as did my favorite track "Your
Child." With its haunting melody and lilting vocals, I was caught up in playing
"Your Child" over and over again.
A CD like this can be somewhat frustrating; you
have a hand full of songs that you really like, and a hand full you'll probably never
listen to again. For me it was about 6 out of 11 – more than half, but not a flush, a
good hand, but not necessarily gonna take the pot. When Porter does shine, and she does,
it's when she sings more mid-tempo songs. The closing song "Goodbye" is one of
the other songs that had me thinking Porter has that something special that can set her
apart from the crowd. It's all right here; it's just that the house still has the hand,
not by much. Porter has some face cards, but not a Royal Flush just yet.
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