Live in Las Vegas

1998年Macy Gray展开《On How Life Is (什么样的生活)》专辑的录制工作，这张专辑曲调优美，融合了古典黑人音乐、城市蓝调音乐和希普霍普节奏，『I Try』、『Do Something』、『Still』等令人惊艳的排行单曲，片尾曲『The Letter』更让人感到毫无压力、自然且浑然天成。她的这张唱片在排行榜上达到了第6名的好成绩。『I Try』也攀升到排行榜前5名之列。2000年Macy夺得最佳国际女歌手、年度国际新人等特殊荣并在葛莱美赢得最佳女歌手大奖，Macy在世界各地掀起一股流行新风潮及音乐势力。紧接着，2000年Macy在VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards (美国具指标性的流行时尚大奖)中获得最时髦的女艺人头衔，并成为知名服装品牌CK的平面模特儿。透过这张在拉斯维加斯热力四射的现场演唱会，让你更深一层的体验葛莱美最佳女歌手的魅力。 (博客来) by Andy Kellman Let the cover of this release be a warning. On the front of Live in Las Vegas, Macy Gray is made to look more like a wax figurine or a Hanna-Barbera creation than herself. Judging from the look on her face, the photo could've been snapped in a hotel lobby by a zealous follower. It's the kind of presentation that should make a lot of her fans wonder what they're getting themselves into. Beyond the location, there's no information provided in the sleeve. A little research divulges that the set took place on March 1, 2003, a few months prior to the release of The Trouble with Being Myself. The track list is fairly balanced between her first three albums, and the songs are often peppered with '70s funk and old school hip-hop references, so the arrangements are rarely identical to what you're used to hearing. It all starts very groggily, with a fake-out intro of "I Try" that abruptly and awkwardly shifts into an instrumental funk freak-out (the kind that normally keeps the crowd occupied while the star is changing costumes or indulging in some water or whatever else is backstage), only to give way to a wobbly "Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak." Gray takes a while to warm up and hit her stride, and even when she's at her best here, she's not delivering a great performance. But what really rankles is that the backing singers are often out of sync, only adding to the sloppiness. Another warning is that this was not released on Gray's label, Epic, but by a DVD vendor that doesn't specialize in this kind of thing. The DVD version does allow you to get the full effect, which would be the smarter option if you must get your Macy fix. At least the images will be there to distract you from the faults of the performance.