You may not recognize her name, but as track one of Water to Drink begins to play and Victoria Williams whines out the first verse, she may sound strangely familiar. With just a minute more listening time, it becomes clear why - her voice is reminiscent of that of the Wicked Witch.
Given a few more notes, however, she starts to mellow out a bit, and strong supporting music rises above her words. Williams herself plays the electric guitar, and she is aided by an assortment of eclectic instruments in each song. A plethora of instruments -violins, basses, trumpets, trombones, saxophones, clarinets, cornets, banjoes, accordions, and mandolins, for instance - make periodic appearances to assist the usual piano and drums. The songs will make your feet tap and hips sway, with their provocative combination of jazz, pop, and folk music. Most of the tunes remain fairly upbeat, varying in topics from hat pins to love and longing.
Williams deserves credit for her song- writing -she wrote all but a few of the songs on this CD - as well as for attempting to make her voice sound somewhat pleasant. She comes very close to succeeding, and fans of such artists as Alanis Morissette or Macy Gray would probably best appreciate her style. Given time, the ear does become accustomed to the melancholy squeakiness of her voice, and it can even become strangely soothing - at times. For example, Williams does not succeed when she takes a stab at the classic "Young at Heart." Although the background music is beautiful, she simply does not have the smooth voice needed to pull it off.
Born in Louisiana in 1959, Williams moved to California to pursue her vocal career. Her first solo album debuted in 1987. Williams' career was well underway by the early '90s, and she was opening for such artists as Neil Young. In 1992, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Fellow artists collaborated to create Sweet Relief: A Tribute to Victoria Williams, with the hope of paying her extensive medical bills. The album was widely successful and raised a great deal of money. It also aided in publicizing Williams' name and the excess profits allowed her to establish the Sweet Relief Fund to help other musicians with medical problems. Since then, she has released several new albums, and was a guest artist at the well-known Lilith Fair.
Water to Drink has been paced so that the faster songs play first, followed by slower songs until the final track. The music is much catchier in the faster songs (even big band-esque in some), so the first half of the album comes across much stronger than the second half. In fact, the best way to enjoy this CD might be to put just the first six tracks on repeat.
Most interesting, perhaps, is a song that honors Williams' Louisiana heritage. Words such as "lagniappe" (pronounced "lan-ya" by Williams) simply do not come out of the mouths of Bostonians often. This little extra something from Williams is a welcome addition to the album, and the lyrics are well worth listening to.
The title track, "Water to Drink," is by far the jazziest and most enjoyable, and could entice just about anyone to get on his or her feet and dance. It seems that Williams' voice has been designed for this song (or, more likely, vice-versa), and she pulls off "dooby-dooby-da" in a way that not many singers could. If there is a climax in the album, this is it.
Water to Drink is not an album to rush out and buy, but if you come across it unexpectedly, it might be worth picking up and giving a try. After all, it grows on you, and on a rainy afternoon, it would be ideal music to play as the background to a good book.
