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List Price: $17.98 | | Label: Sugarhill
Salesrank: 13041
Released: June 13, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.86 |
| Used Price: $0.87 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Getting Somewhere Track Listing:
1. Work to Do
2. You'll Never Know
3. Hallelujah
4. Fairweather
5. New Years Day
6. How She Does It
7. Where You Are
8. Take It So Hard
9. If It's Just for Today
10. Getting Somewhere
Editorial Review:
Marriage to Steve Earle (who produced this album) seems to have inspired the musical emancipation of Allison Moorer. Whereas her earliest releases seemed to balance commercial country potential with alt-country attitude, her sixth album achieves a different sort of balance--between fuzztone guitars (which variously recall garage bands, grunge, and Neil Young's work with Crazy Horse) and Beatlesque melodies, hooks, and harmonies. The music would be hard to classify as country, but is difficult to resist. Rather than extending the tradition of Patsy Cline or Dolly Parton, the ebullient propulsion of the opening "Work to Do" and "Fairweather" reminds one more of the Go-Go's and the Bangles. Following the chamber strings and double-tracked vocals that enhance "Where You Are," the intro to "Take It So Hard" pays homage to "Wild Thing," rock at its most primitive. For all of the music's surface catchiness, the writing is some of Moorer's deepest to date, from the bittersweet yearning of "You'll Never Know" and introspective balladry and spiritual refrain of "Hallelujah" to the closing title track's folkish prayer of perseverance. While her soulful singing and Southern accent remain undiminished, the results sound less like a musical progression for Moorer than a fresh start. --Don McLeese
Getting Somewhere Reviews:
The reviews of this one............. 
2008-07-23 - ....have been all over the place. And, I suppose that's to be expected...Allison has landed in the nether land where country, pop, and rock overlap. Some like that; some don't...I liked it just fine....
We have here an album about the good and bad of relationships, and just plain survival...she has "Work to Do" and she's "Getting Somewhere"...all in great form. "Fairweather", which deals with an unreliable lover, is probably my favorite track...
Allison is a pretty girl, with a fine voice, who has given us a well-produced recording. One caveat...31'01" is kind of short; that aside, great job.
A change will do you good!
2007-11-11 - Those country traditionalists wedded to Allison Moorer's old sound will not like the way she's changed upon wedding Steve Earle. But Moorer has never allowed herself to be stuck in or chained to any one musical style, and this transition from alt-country toward a popular sensibility is a superb showcase for her fine songwriting and her magical voice. Give it a try. I love the varied instrumentation she employs as well as the variety of themes she explores. It's definitely a new day for Allison, and this change, in my view, has done her a world of good.
More course changes for Moorer 
2007-07-19 - Alison experiments with yet another genre in her fifth album, Getting Somewhere, and it's not as successful as previous experiments. This album has a lot of pop/lite rock flavor to it. Many songs have a much faster tempo to them, consistent with that genre. A number of tunes are catchy: Work to Do, Fairweather, and If Its Just for Today being the most obvious. The album as a whole, however, just doesn't quite have the feel of serious art like some of Alison's other work. It seems a bit hastily assembled in parts. The faster tunes also have the effect of dampening, or at least making less noticeable, the excellent and unique qualities of Alison's voice. She sounds more like a generic singer. On songs that are slower, like Getting Somewhere and, especially, Hallelujah, her unique voice again comes out and it's a good thing. I like this album, but it isn't Alison's best.
Wings
2007-03-11 - "Getting Somewhere" is a departure for Allison Moorer. It offers a lot. "You'll Never Know" boasts a sunny melody, "If I could I'd plant a seed & make a blossom grow, let colors flow around you." "Hallelujah" is the best slow tune on the set, "Wings are hard to find; thank God I found mine in time." (The word "wings" is replaced by "faith" in the later chorus.) Steve Earle writes with Allison on what is my favorite track on the CD, "Fairweather." Its bubbly hook and breezy chorus makes this a charmer. "New Years Day" sounds like she took a page from Emmylou Harris' "Wrecking Ball" with thundering guitars. "Where You Are" is lovely chamber pop complete with string section that Allison dedicates to her sister. "If It's Just for Today" is a sunny love tune with thankfulness for a good love. "Getting Somewhere" is a good set with Allison branching out into different musical settings. It works well most of the time. Enjoy!
More than meets the eye
2006-10-05 - At first listen, 'Getting Somewhere' plays like an Allison Moorer foray into traditional singer-songwriter pop. However, after a few spins, Moorer's personal lyrics begin to come to the surface. 'Work To Do' and 'Fairweather' are tight pop songs that deal with moving on after the end of a bad relationship and the resulting promise of a clean slate. While the protagonist of 'The Duel' from Moorer's previous album of the same name was "a newborn atheist", the main character on 'Hallelujah' wearily professes that "faith is hard to find, thank God I found mine in time". Moorer's double-tracked vocals on 'Where You Are' are simply sublime in a touching chamber-pop tune reportedly written for her sister, Shelby Lynne. Moorer's powerful voice is in fine form throughout the album and she is backed by a top-notch band that never overplays its hand. There is not a wasted note or lyric on this album that clocks in at a bit over 30 minutes. Moorer has never been better as a lyricist and this is exemplified by the timely closing song 'Getting Somewhere', with it's eerie slide and electric guitar and lyrics that allude to Hurricane Katrina "broken and banished left there to sink, knee deep in water not one drop to drink" and the Iraq War "motherless babies and husbandless brides, stranded with nothing but tears in their eyes, no home to go to their world ripped apart, look to the sky and they open their hearts".
