Getting Somewhere

1	Work to Do 2:51
2	You'll Never Know 2:32
3	Hallelujah 3:25
4	Fairweather 3:29
5	New Years Day 2:58
6	How She Does It 2:59
7	Where You Are 2:44
8	Take It So Hard 3:33
9	If It's Just for Today 3:40
10	Getting Somewhere 2:47

Barnes & Noble

The seventh Mrs. Steve Earle, Allison Moorer makes her first recording with her new husband, and though some things have changed -- this one has a harder edge than any of her other excellent recordings -- some have remained the same. In addition to producing, Earle plays guitar on several tracks and verbalizes some processed sweet nothings on a stomping, horn-bolstered, properly fatalistic love song, "If It's Just for Today." As a producer, he draws on his encyclopedic knowledge of Beatles and Byrds soundscapes to enrich the atmosphere of many of the songs here, and both artists' sense of the dramatic moment infuses some of the terse passages with an ominous urgency. Moorer sounds positively swept up in the spiritual dislocation she describes in "Getting Somewhere," a heated, jittery treatise in which she tries to talk herself into keeping the faith in desperate circumstances ("I have to believe I'm gettin' somewhere"). Other songs come to grips with the past and the present. An opening triptych of the Byrds-ish "Work to Do," the acoustic-based folk-rock beauty "You'll Never Know," and a subdued celebration of new love, "Hallelujah," feature Moorer's deepest vocal excursions as she tries to, respectively, reclaim "what's real" after a breakup; learn to express affection openly and honestly; and finally, in "Hallelujah," exhaling, but conditionally: "I hold on 'cause I guess I know / consequences come around to call." Later, though, on the string-enriched ballad "Where You Are," she sings sweetly and passionately of her newfound devotion, and it's a heart-touching moment. David McGee

All Music Guide

Allison Moorer's fifth studio album, Getting Somewhere, opens with the words "I got a lot of work to do," and Moorer obviously wasn't kidding -- the album packs ten songs into a little over 31 minutes, with the singer and songwriter backed by a lean and scrappy four-piece band on most of the tracks, and the results are as emotionally potent and hard-edged as anything she has ever released. Tapping into her own ravaged childhood on "I Don't Know How She Does It" and "New Year's Day," her fears and anxieties about the world around her on "Getting Somewhere" and the current state of her heart and mind on "Take It So Hard," "If It's Just for Today," and "Where You Are," Getting Somewhere is a deeply personal work, but one that's presented without an excess of fuss or showboating. With her husband Steve Earle in the producer's chair, the album sounds as clear and direct as Moorer's songs (she wrote all ten tracks with the exception of one collaboration with Earle), and if the backing isn't as raucous as on 2004's The Duel, there isn't a wasted note or gesture on this record, and the leaner approach makes more room for Moorer's singing. And though Moorer's voice can fill as much space as is necessary, she doesn't overplay here, giving the songs as much filigree as they can use and no more. If fans were hoping for a grander gesture than Getting Somewhere, they're probably not listening close enough -- this album is full of soul, intelligence, and fine music created by a truly gifted singer, and the elegance of its presentation is one of its greatest virtues. In an era of bloated and overproduced albums, Moorer has delivered a small wonder with Getting Somewhere, and it ranks with her best music to date. Mark Deming

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[Grade: B] Moorer is blessed with a marvelous voice, an expressive instrument of intense clarity touched with a husky quality.... The results are impressive. Barry Gilbert

Los Angeles Daily News

A worthwhile departure for a great voice that's often struggled with inadequate material. Bob Strauss

Hartford Courant

[Moorer] turns her attention to earthy rock tunes on "Getting Somewhere," and finds territory suitable for both her assured vocal approach and the lyrical confluence of angst and affection. Thomas Kintner