Album Review: Angela Hacker

“Hard to Handle” was supremely bad.

You know some people are looking forward to a Zac Hacker album not being “made to suffer through a full-length Zac Hacker album.” You are intitled to your opinion. Just remember he placed second because enough people out there liked his voice to put him in second place.

Personally, I love both Zac’s and Angela’s voice. I have already purchased her CD, which I love. I can’t wait to get a CD of Zac’s!!!

PlumCreek, the “how” and “when” don’t excuse the mediocrity of an album. I am sure Ms. Hacker has more talent than what is displayed on her newest release, but as you suggest this album was merely a means for the company to benefit while the name recognition was still fresh. In my opinion it is a huge disservice and slightly insulting to expect fans to purchase an album that required less than someone’s best effort. I too, hope that the record company doesn’t end up ruining “it” for her as they did with this album.

I know that Chris Young (the former Nashville Star)’s debut album was one of Nick Berry’s top picks for 2006 here on this site. I’d be interested to see how you think Ms. Hacker’s debut compares to Mr. Young’s (who has amazing vocal control and tone I might add!)

I work with Zac and Angela as a publisher, so obviously my viewpoint may affect my enthusiasm, but I could not disagree with you more. I agree that I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool is a lowpoint, I don’t know how it could not be, after all she did express the viewpoint that it wasn’t a song she would like to record. However what about the strong points?? What Angela does believe that she is? Do Right Woman is an absolute masterpiece and about as absolutely dead on Country Soul as could possibly be cut…..I don’t care that she sang it on the show…..she won the show because she picked great songs and sang the crap out of them and then they recorded them for an album and put them out…..why is that such a negative thing……..those, with the exception of one song obviously portrayed EXACTLY what she wanted to sing to the audience WITHOUT the record label’s influence if she could. I think it is a brilliant recording and an awesome job of singing several CLASSICS that totally define the boundaries of her artistry by just picking her favorite songs to sing for America, along with (obviously) her favorite songs that she has written that she wants to present to the pulic …………..I can only wholeheartedly disagree with your review and urge everyone to LISTEN FOR YOURSELF, I think the productions are awesome and what changes were made in instrumentaion were made were give the songs a more soulful twist than your basic straight up country production………
It is an awesome Country Soul recording, regardless of the situation

Mark Hall

A point of clarity about the Manrell song in Angela’s defense… According to her interview on NS, her comment intended to point out that she had anticipated a more difficult song, vocal range-wise… I believe her words referenced that melodically it wasn’t a challenge, hence the comparison to an easy song like Mary Had A Little Lamb and she was worried – never that she disliked the song. And she does it beautifully.

I agree with both Mark Hall and Rodeoclown. I wasn’t even a country fan when I watched the first episode but she hooked me and I am buying her music from Sweden, iTunes and Wal-Mart. She can “oversing” her country and rock songs on my stereo all day.

Following Angela’s triumphant performances on the Opry, I looked forward to her new Cd with renewed and even rabid anticipation. At last I would have a complete set of performances to substitute for and augment the bit and pieces of her music that I had managed to acquire from Itunes and elsewhere, and, moreover, one that was to be consistently and professionally produced. I got to Wal-Mart early (and it is one indication of my devotion to our girl that I would go there at all; I hate that place!), and the vendor was still there putting out the new discs. We had a nice conversation, and it turned out she was a country fan but was unaware of Nashville Star. Naturally I took the occasion to convince her that Angela was the greatest thing since sliced bread lol. I was a little surprised to learn that they were stocking initially only four copies. I had intended to buy four, but left satisfied with three, with the thought that now at least one other person could leave happy.

I love the artwork and the generally “look.” Though relatively simple, its use of browns and various shades of amber and blonde fit the ambience of our girl perfectly as does the generally rustic theme. It reminds me a little of the plain brown packaging of George Jones’ multi-Cd set of hits from the 1950s released ten or so years ago. Moreover her photos, without appearing “Hollywood” or overly processed, are just lovely. Though the track listing was available before, I must confess to being a little disappointed that there were only ten songs. Missing in action were You Don’t Even Know My Name, and Satin Sheets, which I had convinced myself might be made available (otherwise why would Angela promote it on the Opry?). It turns out that You Don’t Even Know My Name is available, but only as a special download from Itunes, and only then if you buy the entire album from that source (a typical nasty trick by the business types in Nashville, especially as this song has been one of the most requested!!) We can only hope that Satin Sheets (my favorite performance by Angela of all time so far) might be among those chosen for the upcoming Angela/Zac album.

As expected the vast majority of songs are familiar, and most are remixed and reproduced versions of those that have been on Itunes for a while. These are comprised of: Strawberry Wine, I Can’t Make You Love Me, Total Loss, I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool, and When Will I Be Loved. With only one exception, the new productions are successful, and flesh out the originals quite well. On When Will I Be Loved, for instance, harmony guitars are added making it sound more like the Linda Ronstadt version. Similarly, all have been layered to sound larger, and Angela’s vocals are EQed to be rounder and warmer. The one exception is Total Loss. John Bohlinger’s slide work is superseded by those of Steve Fishell, who has an excellent tone, but takes a simpler approach that in my judgment is less effective than John’s denser and dirtier interpretation. Still, it is a very good song, and the new production does work. I just wish Warner’s would pick it up and promote it as a single; it is far better than most everything else out there right now.

Two of the other songs, Love Me Wild, and You Got Me, are Angela originals and were scheduled for her independent Cd that she was to release if she didn’t win Star. Her first efforts at recording them were available for a while on her myspace site (and were downloaded by larcenous if clever fans). The new productions succeed in transforming songs that were good and had potential into something exceptional. Wild is classic radio fodder, a good opener with a great hook propelled by the fairly standard theme of love as sex; You Got Me, however, is much more profound and features Angela offering her love to a man as an antidote to the pain of a broken relationship. She sounds sincere and loving. Last among those tunes with which we have already become familiar is Hard to Handle, appearing first on the last episode of Star and featuring Zac and Angela in a greasy Southern rock duet – very Stax! If you saw it you know it was and is excellent; a good time for all! The two work very well together and those years of local gigs have paid off in their emotional and wild performance here.

This leaves the two “new songs,” an original, Emotionless, and Do Right Woman, Do Right Man, recorded first by Aretha Franklin. The first is powerful and like so much of Angela’s work expresses impatience at unnecessary (unnecessary that is to women :-)) barriers to love. How can it be, she complains, that intimacy has inspired no emotion at all on the part of her recent lover (is there a woman alive that has not asked that question?)? It is a question, however, that would not even occur to most men (because we are all pigs of course lol). This is another song that could sound well on GAC and CMT, listenable and commercial. The hidden gem on the Cd, however, is Do Right Woman, which is probably why she chose to give it a special mention during her Opry interview. A classic soul ballad, Angela sings it effortlessly, and it gives us some insight into one of the directions we can expect her career to take.

Regardless of the songs, whether fast, slow, superficial, or soulful, the common denominator is Angela Hacker and her immense talent at interpretation. She is such a skillful singer, gifted with such excellent tone, technique, and phasing that she is able to take any song and make it her own, including, we expect, even Mary had a Little Lamb. This is the Cd’s strongest aspect; it has good songs, one or two that are great, to be sure, but it is Angela and her at once unique and familiar vocals that drive the performances. In each tune there is at least one moment of brilliance on her part, a turn of phrase, a note being held etc., that collectively transform what might have been a raggedy collection into a strong album, one that would be a source of pride for most country artists. We have known from the first performance of the first Star (and some knew before then) that Angela had the potential to be something very special, and now here we have the first indication of the fulfillment of that promise. Just imagine what she and Zac are going to be able to do with time, a budget, and major label support? In this context, it is just possible that The Winner is . . . could assume legendary status as the genesis of a legend. Now it is up to us to get the word out!

I guess I must be dumb. I have been listening to country music since I was a little girl, and I still buy cds from Sara, Martina, Leann, and Gretchen among the girls. Angela’s cd is as good as those lady’s, or at least I thought that until you let me know how stupid I am for thinking that.

Well For all the losers WHO DIDNT VOTE FOR ANGELA OR ZAC!!!!

THey are hometown heroes down here in the SHoals!!! And i am gonna take up for them!!! Evidently u werent in line to buy the ced at 12 at night(I WAS) or at the walmart in muscle shoals for the cd signin(I WAS FIRST IN LINE) And u dont know what talent is!!!!! Because u c=dont even write like u have talent in an inch of ur body!!! SO before u go talkin trash bout somebody else look at ur self!!!!

I can understand the mention about negative undertones in Matt’s review, which elicited this outpouring of comments from her fans, but if you look into what he said, I think he hit the nail on the head. It does seem as though Warner Brothers released this album quickly to make a buck on the “fleeting name-recognition.” This is by no means fair to Angela and casts a shadow on Warner Brothers’ integrity.

I didn’t pay any attention to Nashville Star and never heard anything about Angela before this review, but it’s garnered so much attention here that I figured I had to give it a listen. That listen turned into more than just one so that I could try to get a fair handle on what I thought of this album.

As for Angela’s voice, I do like it and think it’s unique enough to give her a chance of having a few hits, but there are moments where it has a weird crack in pitch that makes me cringe.

“Love Me Wild” was nothing special and seemed to have a Rascal Flatts pop vibe to it. Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling it, but Angela does showcase her vocal talent and sings the song well. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The “Strawberry Wine” cover got a pretty good response, but it wasn’t that much different than Deana Carter’s version. There are a few moments where she almost takes the song over and makes it her own, but she reverts back to following Carter’s lead. For a few notes throughout the song, though, it coulda been awesome. I thought it was killer when she held “wine” at the end and the steel guitar goes perfectly with her voice. Despite my enthusiam for this song, I probably won’t listen to Angela’s version again because of the weird pitch thing I mentioned earlier.

“You Got Me” starts off promising, but as it progresses, I start noticing the oversinging that Matt brought up. It’s not over the top, though, and the song ends up being enjoyable enough. Calling the fourth cut, “Do Right Woman Do Right Man,” a masterpiece is taking it a little far. Angela sings the hell out of this splicing of pop and country, but it falls short of the masterpiece moniker. Again, not my cup of tea.

I agree with Matt on “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and thought it was the best cover on this album. I gotta give her props for this cut. “Emotionless” does sound familiar and I think Angela does a great job of singing, but I’m beginning to think this isn’t supposed to be a country album. I thoroughly enjoyed what Matt suggests is the most memorable song on the album, “Total Loss.” I don’t see it becoming a hit, but I wish the whole album had that kind of vibe. This should be the signature song from this album.

The Mandrell classic, “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” had some redeeming qualities and I’m sure is enjoyable by Angela’s fans, but I found it to be lacking. Or maybe it had too much going on.

“When Will I Be Loved” is a catchy cover that doesn’t disappoint. It doesn’t deviate too much from the original, but it’s clearly Angela. And finally, I don’t think anything could make me say something nice about “Hard To Handle” appearing on a country album.

In the end, I found a few songs enjoyable, but overall, I thought the album was lacking and definitely did a disservice to Angela, so like Matt again, I would like to hear a full length album of originals.

I just bought Angela’s cd today and i love it!! I havent been able to take it out of the cd player. So nice to hear Zach on it too. Love the Hackers!

Baron, I don’t think that “songbird” is a valid criticism of Angela. If anything, she tried to put so much passion into her songs that they sound contrived. I also don’t think that this quickie album provides sufficient basis for declaring that she has decided to record “market-tested schlock.”

Ah now Jeff, nothing wrong with a little verbal tussle not and again to keep things sharp.

Matt – I use the phrase “songbird” to refer to a woman with obvious talent that takes the easy, boring way to money in her song choices.

I know the power of song choice doesn’t always lie with them but that’s the big label game for ya. And my “market-tested shlock” criticism stands as it refers to this particular release and that’s what it is.

I must be honest……I love her voice, but after my initial reaction to defend her album on that merit, the truth is it is not very good. I am not going to say that she doesn’t have the talent (and the voice) to stand out though. My thought now is shame on warner brothers, and nashville in general. It is sickening really. The record companies are only interested in the bottom line. So making music that has no meaning is no big deal to them. Name recognition equals album sales, and whatever worked for so and so last week is the formula that they use this week. You know I can’t really blame them though. They are just trying to make money not music. The fault lies in the hands of the idiots that actually buy the albums. How in the hell did “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” ever sell anything anyway? Because there are people stupid enough to buy it! Angela really never had a chance with this album. I’m sure that she did what the record company said just to get to make the album. I would like to hear what she would come up with if she had total creative control in the studio. Until that happens, we really won’t know what she has to offer. Unless we go catch her live somewhere, and I will bet my bottom dollar that would be a show to remember.

I must say that I am proud to see Mark and all the others from our fair area of the Shoals coming to the defense of our fair-haired daughter.

Let me first say that if she puts an album out there, I will buy it. I can agree with both sides of this debate though. Yes, this albm is classic Angela Hacker sound (anyone who ever heard her at Bayou knows that) but the quality of the album is less than I would have expected for a debut album for the winner of a show where WBR was promoted so heavily and especially one from a company like WBR-Nashville and the total media blitz they put out for this album after the show. Song choice aside, the recording quality of a couple of the songs didn’t sound so great (they were “covers” she had done on the show) which could have been from the sheer speed at which it was all put together. This was totally WBR, NBC/USANetworks and Nashville Star’s prodution company, Reveille LLC, trying to play on the show name and the excitement from the announcement of this years winner. That can’t be held against Angela. Give her time to get her feet under her and learn the ropes of WBR – she’s a quick study so it won’t take long.

My favorite is and shall be – EMOTIONLESS. Love it Love it Love it Love it!!! Also love Can’t Make You Love Me and Love Me Wild.

There is rumor of her official album coming out in the Fall of 2007, so please reserve judgment until after its release. As for now – she is still on of the “greatest things since sliced bread”!!

As for Zac – BRING IT ON BOY! Play your heart out and sing son, song!! I’ll buy any album you put out.

Sandy Freeman

Having lived a few years longer than some of you I know with out a doubt, if we could get the DJ’s to play “total loss” she would have a hit as it would be the theme song of a lot of women!!!!!!!!

I know what I like…and I LOVE Angela. It makes no difference to me if you do not. It is frusterating to me not to be able to hear her on the radio though. When I call in on a request line, they always say, “it’s not on the play list.” Can someone pleezeeee tell me whay that is? I love several on that CD. I have never bought an album or CD that had 100% winners….but loved all but two of this one.

Well now , here we are two years after some of the original comments on here. So where is she now? I knew it all along and let me say I am glad to see her career went nowhere. When Angela was on Nashville Star I didn’t see any real country talent and I believed she had the crowd behind her because her and Zach brought all of their supporters with them. I mean anyone who supported Zach, supported Angela. They both had twice the (studio) audiance support than the other contestants were able to bring. A somewhat unfair advantage.
I never felt she had any polished talent and I am glad to see I wasn’t the only one who feels that way. I personally supported one of the other contestants anyway.