REVIEW: Missy Higgins’ “The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle”
Missy Higgins’ has recorded an album that will be for those who love their style of pop music with compassion, a bit of confession, and perhaps a bit of redemption to let the listener knows “I know how you feel, for I feel this way too”. She is a vocalist who brings in the listener to her stories about being along, wanting to feel saved, and hoping things around the corner and during the next turn will be worth the tiem and effort, as she explains in The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle. Albums like this work because they aren’t trying to say the artist is better than anyone. It’s a bit like feeling as if your life is an open wound, and all you need is peroxide in order to clean it up. Higgins sings about putting herself out to the world, and whatever you take from her experiences, it’s okay:
““open up my chest and take what you like
open up my chest if you’d like
I’ve got nothing to hide
Cut open my heart and turn on the light
Cut open my heartache if you’d like
I’ve got nothing to hide” (from “Unashamed Desires”)
There are songs of relationships, romance, hopes, fears, dreams, and concerns, probably some of the more accessible topics in music because while we realize there are over 7 billion people in the world, we still want a connection with that one, or two, or a close circle of friends. It’s perhaps magical when we find someone who can be detailed and open, and that’s when the magic begins, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle if you will. Maybe that “razzle dazzle” she speaks of comes through when a connection is made between friend to friend, lover to lover, someone lost also finding someone who has also been roaming around. Are we truly two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year, running over the same old ground, touching on how we always find the same old fears? Wish you were here, right? No need to wish, for you have met up with what you’ve been looking for, or wanted to hear. Her name is Missy Higgins.
What do you think?