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Play It as It Lays is, without doubt, the record where Scialfa gives us the full fruit of her exceptional gift as a writer, a singer, as an artist.
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The sharpest, most assured, and best record of her solo career.
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Scialfa's third and most accomplished solo album.
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Sultry suits her fine, but when she reaches for the sadness in these self-written songs, she can’t summon the sense of conflict that was embedded in ’50s pop.
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Play It As It Lays is a satisfying, engaging album that deserves to stand apart from the Boss-related madness that's sure to overtake it.
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MojoScialfa's writing wipes away any celeb-gossip patina through the universality of convincing detail. [Oct 2007, p.92]
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Q MagazineScialfa has surrendered and retreated into singer-songwriter orthodoxy, despite the appealing doo-wop backing vocals of 'Like Any Woman Would' and the lyrical twists of 'Black Ladder.' [Oct 2007, p.105]
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What makes her third album, Play It As It Lays, much more than another Springsteen-wanna-be project is the insightful female perspective she brings to these ten songs.
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On Play It As It Lays, Patti "Mrs. Bruce Springsteen" Scialfa sounds like the typical wife of a captain-of-industry type from New Jersey: vaguely bored and unfulfilled.
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Patti Scialfa's new album is characterised by an effective combination of earthiness and poise.
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UncutScialfa's third is the most complete and satisfying of her career, the lyrical candor matched by the open-ended optimism of the band which weaves doo wop, gospel and rockabilly influences into a convincing whole. [Oct 2007, p.102]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 15
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Mixed: 1 out of 15
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Negative: 4 out of 15
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Nov 21, 2021Good rock album by Bruce Springsteen’s wife highly recommended feel like you’re on a ranch.
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PeterM.Dec 4, 2007
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ZachHNov 19, 2007Absolutely horrible. How Patti got her own solo career or why Bruce even lets her sing on stage is way beyond me. The critics are full of it.