Liz Queler
No Small Wonder
Red Wall
From the woman who has brought you many a commercial jingle (Gatorade, Meow Mix, and Exxon are among her credits), pushed along the scores of movies such as Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Barney’s Great Adventure, and whose very own song “Silent Witness” can be heard on the soap Passions five days a week, comes No Small Wonder, her second album. Liz Queler is as folk as a campfire, but the country twang is enough to keep any cowperson tickled pink. She’s got a good voice, but it’s one of those CD’s that seem to be just one long continuous song. She writes (or at least co-writes) ten of the twelve songs on the album, and the strange thing is that the best two are the ones she didn’t have anything to do with. This could be because they are the only two that don’t sound exactly like the others; she seems to be exercising her talent more. “Crescent City,” originally by country star Lucinda Williams, is a New Orleans-tinged peppy county song, and “My Old Flame” is pure piano and saxophone smoky, lounge-style jazz (which Liz Queler has a wonderful voice for). The album as a whole would be three times better if it were as diverse as the two songs she didn’t write.
Red Wall Records, PO Box 742, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025; http://www.lizqueler.com
