Australian roots rocker
Anne McCue swings for the fences on
Koala Motel, her third solo effort. Enlisting the help of
X's
John Doe,
Heart's
Nancy Wilson, and No Depression stalwarts
Lucinda Williams and
Jim Lauderdale, she offers a batch of radio-friendly midtempo rockers that are clearly targeted for a mainstream breakthrough. The result is mostly successful, and a far more coherent effort than her previous album,
Roll, which saw
McCue trying on everything from gentle folk ballads to a fuzzed-out psychedelic freakout cover of
Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun." The only problem is the songs. They're not bad; they're simply a little nondescript. On the positive side,
McCue is an expressive singer, capable of channeling an aching sweetness on "Coming to You" and fire and bravado on "Hellfire Raiser." And she's a very fine guitarist, particularly on the blues-inspired tracks like "Driving Down Alvarado" and "As the Crow Flies," which give her a chance to stretch out and display her formidable chops. But it is telling that the album's best song is its only cover,
Tony Joe White's gritty swamp blues "As the Crow Flies." Time and again
McCue aims for the tough roots rock that her friend and mentor
Lucinda Williams has mastered. And time and again she comes up just a little short, settling for vagueness and easy rhymes where
Williams would have opted for a finely realized detail or an idiosyncratic character study. Still,
Koala Motel offers ample evidence of
McCue's talents. The songwriting may come with more time. If she doesn't knock the ball out of the park, she still connects solidly, delivering a satisfying set of hard-nosed rockers.