THE ID
Macy Gray





Macy Gray artist area


Freud reckoned it was that dark,
inaccessible part of the psyche which gives you instinct
and craves immediate satisfaction.
Macy Gray believes that 'The ID' is "what you do before you think,
the real you...unedited".

Hence,
we find the Marge Simpson of soul digging deep into
her shadowy recesses to display her raw,
open, sexually predatory, violent, spiritual,
kooky and kind sides on this her follow-up
to 1999's seven-million selling 'On How Life Is'.

A musical departure from its predecessor,
'The ID' in fact sees the kinky-afroed,
feather boa-ed constrictor largely shedding her traditional
Al Green-ish soul skin for an altogether more experimental,
eccentric and, sort of cartoon-hippy approach.

Opening track 'Relating To A Psychopath' is a corker.
A quirksome, upbeat, fun and funky groove
with Beatles style guitar noodlings,
it calls to mind Deee-Lite or Fatboy Slim and
features such lines as "hot like hot wings with hot chocolate in hell/
cold like in my isolation cell in the winter kissing Mr Freeze".
Nurse! The screens!

The Prince-ly, camp disco 'let it all hang out' vibe of 'Sexual Revolution'
is a party tune and a half,
while the positive 'children are our future'
message of 'Hey Young World Part 2',
with its naff kids choir,
Mos Def sample and guest vocals from Slick Rick,
all sound a tad like Jay-Z's 'Hard Knock Life'.

'The ID's guest quota is high throughout.
Erykah Badu and Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist
John Frusciante donate their services on the gentle love song 'Sweet Baby',
while Sunshine Anderson (who Macy manages)
shows up on the ballad 'Don't Come Around'.
Strangely, both these tracks are the nearest sounding things to Ms Gray's
previous offering. Meanwhile,
Mos Def and Angie Stone's talents can be found on the happy
funked-up feel of 'My Nutmeg Phantasy' -
is nutmeg code for nookie here or what?

Elsewhere,
'Harry' is a bass-heavy groove which sees
Macy looking for a damned good seeing to
without any of that annoying commitment stuff,
while in the next breath, on 'Gimme All Your Lovin' Or I Will Kill You' -
brassy R&B number based on a Rita Marley tune -
she's threatening to machine gun the object of her affections
unless he promises to love her -
"my methods may be suspect"
she sings "but you gotta get love however you can.
" Hmmm, let's hope she thinks before she acts on this one.

'Oblivion' is a strange oompah-powered slice of nuttiness,
'Forgiveness' is an understated, spiritual,
acoustic guitar-flavoured lope and extra track

'Shed' - surely not a homage to the tumbledown constructions
at the bottom of many an allotment - is a throwaway bouncy jam.

There's plenty on 'The ID' to enjoy.
And as an exploration of Macy's mind it's revelatory.
But with this eclectic,
eccentric approach comes a lack of cohesion and quality control.
Thus there are a few patchy moments which we could have done
without and far few obvious singles than on her previous opus.
But hey, Freud would be the first to admit that
we can't be perfect all the time.

7/10

Gary Crossing