Naked Movie Star

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Naked Movie Star
Naked Movie Star.jpg
Studio album by
Cindy Lee Berryhill
Released1989
Genre Anti-folk [1]
Label Rhino
Producer Lenny Kaye
Cindy Lee Berryhill chronology
Who’s Gonna Save the World
(1987)		Naked Movie Star
(1989)		 Garage Orchestra
(1994)

Naked Movie Star is the second album by the American musician Cindy Lee Berryhill, released in 1989. [2] [1] Like her debut, it was released by Rhino Records. [3] Berryhill supported the album with a North American tour that included shows with Sarah McLachlan, and later, Kevn Kinney and Peter Buck. [4] [5]

Contents

Production

Recorded in New York City, the album was produced by Lenny Kaye, who also played guitar on the album, credited as "Jones Beach". [6] [7] [8] Kaye helped Berryhill move beyond the acoustic trio sound of her first album by using jazz musicians; Berryhill was interested in working with him more for his work with Patti Smith rather than his subsequent production credits. [9] [10] [8] Berryhill played guitar and harmonica on Naked Movie Star. [11]

"Yipee" is a 13-minute beat poetry-inspired track. [12] "Trump" is about Donald Trump's 1980s real estate tactics. [13] "12 Dollar Motel" describes the existence of a prostitute. [13] The narrator of "Baby (Should I Have the Baby?)" contemplates an abortion. [10] "Old Trombone Routine" is about a faded musical act. [14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [12]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [16]

The Washington Post wrote that Berryhill is "the most audible alumna of New York's anti-folk movement, but there's also plenty of post-punk edge and neo-Beat humor on her new Rhino album." [17] Trouser Press noted that "the first album's spirited quirkiness eventually re-emerges, complete with a new set of purposeful musical reference points." [9] The Chicago Tribune determined that "the musical diversity adds another dimension to Berryhill's terrific stories, which she tells in an arrestingly matter-of-fact voice." [12] The San Diego Union-Tribune concluded that, compared to the debut, Naked Movie Star "had a colder, more formal tone, the sound of a California kid who had strayed a long way from home." [10] LA Weekly called it "an impressive album by a distinctive artist." [18]

AllMusic wrote: "Just barely flirting with self-pity but never quite stepping over that line, thanks largely to a deflatingly self-mocking bridge that smartly punctures the overriding sense of 'woe is me,' 'What's Wrong with Me' also features the loveliest melody of Berryhill's career and a simple piano-based arrangement that makes it sound not unlike a Beach Boys ballad from the early '70s." [15]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Me, Steve, Kirk and Keith" 
2."Old Trombone Routine" 
3."Supernatural Fact" 
4."Indirectly Yours" 
5."Trump" 
6."12 Dollar Motel" 
7."Turn Off the Century" 
8."What's Wrong with Me" 
9."Yipee" 
10."Baby (Should I Have the Baby?)" 

References

  1. 1 2 Kot, Greg (April 6, 1989). "The folk revolt". Tempo. Chicago Tribune. p. 3.
  2. ↑ "Cindy Lee Berryhill Biography by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Cindy Lee Berryhill, Naked Movie Star". San Diego Magazine. Vol. 42. November 1989. p. 130.
  4. ↑ Brown, Joe (July 14, 1989). "'Star' Quality and a Light 'Touch'". The Washington Post. p. N22.
  5. ↑ Brodeur, Scott (February 17, 1990). "Folk Blues at the TLA by Kinney and Buck". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. D6.
  6. ↑ D'Agostino, John (April 8, 1991). "Berryhill's Brand of Folk Stirs Up the Irish Music". Los Angeles Times. p. F1.
  7. ↑ Goldstein, Patrick (February 5, 1989). "Pop Eye". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 74.
  8. 1 2 Kemp, Mark (June 1989). "Beat Poetry". Spin. Vol. 5, no. 3. p. 16.
  9. 1 2 "Cindy Lee Berryhill". Trouser Press. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 Peterson, Karla (October 18, 1991). "Berryhill is digging her roots". The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. E13.
  11. ↑ Wynn, Ron (May 14, 1989). "Variety Marks Distaff Musicians' Work". The Commercial Appeal. p. G3.
  12. 1 2 3 Kot, Greg (June 1, 1989). "Recordings". Chicago Tribune. p. 15D.
  13. 1 2 Arnold, Thomas K. (June 21, 1989). "Pop Music". Entertainment Desk. Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
  14. ↑ Milano, Brett (June 1, 1989). "Cindy Lee Berryhill Naked Movie Star". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 8.
  15. 1 2 "Naked Movie Star Review by Stewart Mason". AllMusic. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  16. ↑ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 59.
  17. ↑ Harrington, Richard (May 31, 1989). "Odds and Ends". The Washington Post. p. D7.
  18. ↑ Tsing Loh, Sandra (May 25, 1989). "Naked Movie Star Cindy Lee Berryhill". LA Weekly. p. 100.
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