Lucy Woodward – Highline Ballroom – New York (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)

Lucy Woodward – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY – July 17, 2010

There was probably a certain amount of wishful thinking involved when the emcee at this show introduced Lucy Woodward as “The star of stage and screen” – but even if he somewhat over-inflated her importance, in a better world those accolades would be deserved.

Instead, Woodward was playing the show for her terrific third album Hooked – her first album for the legendary jazz label Verve Records – and way too many people have never heard of her.

In fact, to this day, Woodward is best remembered for her 2003 hit single “Dumb Girls” as well as writing Stacey Orrico’s hit single “There’s Gotta Be (More To Life).” Both are wonderful songs; however they couldn’t be farther artistically from where Woodward is now. Back then her label was trying to sell her as an Avril Lavigne-lite.

Woodward showed her true colors a couple of years ago when her second CD Lucy Woodward is Hot and Bothered reintroduced her as a modern jazz chanteuse, a good-natured jump and jam artist whose sound is timeless and at the same time a tougher sell.

Hooked continues Woodward’s metamorphosis into a jazzy song stylist, with a broad stylistic palette and a warm, inviting vocal style. The Highline show was a return home for the Bronx-born singer who has recently moved to California. She seemed comfortable and welcoming in this homecoming show, where she introduced the new album to her old hometown. And she was not just playing with some hired hand jazz band, her musicians were smoking hot.

The show was very specific to Hooked – playing every song on the album except for her gorgeous cover of “Stardust.” In fact, the only complaint I have about this show is that none of the songs from her amazing previous album Hot & Bothered were performed at this show – unless you count “Slow Recovery” which was originally on that album and has been rerecorded for the new one.

That gorgeous heartbreak ballad, which is Woodward’s current single and would be a smash in a just world, sounded quietly and defiantly strong in a stripped-down more acoustic arrangement.

In fact, the live versions often improved on the already good versions on Hooked. For example, the live setting brought out the humor and desperation of the ticking-biological-clock torch song “Babies” in a way that the more lushly orchestrated studio version doesn’t quite achieve. She was also even more playful in the sexy “Ragdoll” and even more desperately sad in the torchy “My Purple Heart.”

The only non-album track done in the show was a sultry take on Jace Everett’s “Bad Things” (a.k.a. the theme song to the HBO series True Blood.) The version smoldered and simmered with passion and Woodward should rush back into the studio like yesterday to record this tune.

Jay S. Jacobs