The Way It Really Is

1	Window Shopping 3:17
2	I Control the Sun 3:01
3	Hand-Me-Downs 3:42
4	Fools Like Me 3:38
5	Try 4:13
6	Diamonds 3:04
7	Would You Wander 3:33
8	Probably 3:04
9	Accident 4:04
10	Lucky Me 2:29
11	Now I Understand 3:07

Barnes & Noble

Since breaking through a decade or so back with the ubiquitous, mellifluous "Stay," Lisa Loeb has been trying to convince people that she's more than just another pretty face framed in cat's-eye glasses. Her first studio outing for adults in nearly three years -- check out Catch the Moon, her first-ever kids' album -- The Way It Really Is goes a long way toward realizing that goal with its surprisingly serious tone and simple, heartfelt folk sound. The mostly spoken "Window Shopping" pairs a love-as-product tale with likably tremulous dueling guitar lines, while "Hand Me Down" pares things down even further, employing a sparse acoustic backing that's every bit as downcast as Loeb's lyric, a not-so-fond goodbye letter. She does float back into shimmer-pop territory now and again -- the chiming "I Control the Sun" resonates with a quirky, decidedly feminine confidence -- but by and large, The Way It Really Is comes across as Loeb's attempt to convey exactly what the title promises. That's not always fun and games, but it makes for consistently provocative and meaningful listening. David Sprague

All Music Guide

The fluke smash hit of Lisa Loeb's debut single, "Stay (I Missed You)," in 1994 was a blessing since it gave her a career, but a curse since it defined her career. For many, she was just a one-hit wonder, and it took her a long time to shake that stigma as she kept cutting records and cultivating a cult audience. She lost her major-label deal in the process, but majors weren't suited for her anyway since it forced her to work on a scale that was too large for the modest music she made. In 2004, a decade after "Stay," she had signed to Rounder's Zoe subsidiary, a better fit for her warm, low-key folk-pop and ballads, as The Way It Really Is, her first album for the label, proves. Quite simply, it's the best, most cohesive record she's made, a clean, crisp collection of well-crafted, gentle tunes that slowly, surely work into the subconscious. Loeb co-produced the album with her husband Dweezil Zappa, and they never overdress the songs, nor do they rely on Spartan, all-acoustic arrangements; they let the music breathe, sometimes adding layers of guitars and keyboards, sometimes keeping it to just her and another instrument or two. The Way It Really Is is still a quiet, modest album, but that's its appeal -- by being sounding so modest, Loeb's skills as a songwriter stand out, as do her charms as a singer. It's a sweet, ingratiating album, the first that she's made to truly deliver on the promise of "Stay," the one that offers definitive proof that Loeb is more than a one-hit wonder. Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Entertainment Weekly

Her writing is stronger than ever, and the material is curiously light on its feet. (B) Marc Weingarten