Songs From An Unmarried Housewife And Mother, Greenwich Village, USA

1	Yankee Doodle 1:15
2	Looking For God 3:46
3	G Chord Song 2:32
4	Out Of The Blue 3:03
5	No Such Thing As Love 4:13
6	Cold Hard Wind 2:47
7	To Alaska With Love 4:00
8	Love Comes to Town 3:21
9	Goodbye Cruel World 3:34
10	Suit And Tie 3:31
11	Born Yesterday 2:55
12	Sweetie Pie 3:28

Barnes & Noble

Suzzy Roche's second solo effort delivers all we have come to expect -- and more -- from the youngest member of the groundbreaking Roches. Tight, off-kilter harmonies and delicious melodies abound on this 12-cut set. The disc's added bonus is the intimate, poignant songwriting by Suzzy, who often appeared more the comic when with her sisters. While her first outing, 1997's HOLY SMOKES, wrestled with pain and loss following the death of her father, this disc discovers healing love and support in unexpected places. Character portraits such as "No Such Thing as Love" and "Suit and Tie" find beauty in the smallest detail. Roche also has a talent for writing love songs that are romantic without being idealistic. "Theirs is a real thing, a dish in the sink/A dog in the stairwell making a stink/They got a true love so real you can feel it," sings Suzzy in "To Alaska with Love." Still other songs, such as "G Chord Song," "Born Yesterday," and "Love Comes to Town," are smooth odes to joy and life's small pleasures. Tasteful acoustic arrangements provide a breezy organic atmosphere, and the vocal harmonies -- by Suzzy and guests Jules Shear, Loudon Wainwright, and Maggie Roche -- make for constant surprises. This album is a triumph -- like a sly smile letting you know the kid is all right. Karl Hagstrom Miller

All Music Guide

Not many people would open a disc with a tin whistle and voice version of "Yankee Doodle," but Suzzy Roche pulls it off. A former member of folksinging sister trio, the Roches, Suzzy invited sister Maggie, daughter Lucy, and Loudon Wainwright III (Lucy's father) to join her on this joyful collection. Wainwright and Jules Shear add hillbilly harmonies on "Cold Hard Wind," while Wainwright also adds banjo. There's a Roche-like novelty penned by Maggie Roche, "G Chord Song," and "To Alaska With Love" is an epic love story, the kind that songwriters love to tackle. "Love Comes to Town" is an ode to open hearts while the other side is told in the wistful "No Such Thing as Love." Tasteful as ever, David Mansfield takes on dobro and pedal steel chores while Curtis Stigers sits in on trumpet for the cocktail jazzy "Out of the Blue." Producers Stewart Lerman and Roche have just the right touch with her heartfelt and strong folk music; it sings out rather than sits back sounding quaint -- no easy task for a voice as sweet and old-fashioned as Roche's. Denise Sullivan