Standout Tracks: It's Over, Sandalwood, Do You Sleep, Stay, Lisa Listen, Waiting For Wednesday
Despite the mild success of her second single, "Do You Sleep?," Lisa Loeb has lived in the shadow of "Stay" ever since it was first released off of the Reality Bites soundtrack. It isn't a complicated song... just Lisa's rambly three minute retort to a lover who claims that she only hears what she wants to. If you fell in love with this song and decided that you needed to hear an entire album just like it, what could you possibly be expecting? Lots of paragraphs? An utter lack of choruses? Luckily, Lisa Loeb released the perfect album to accompany it in Tails.

On opener "It's Over" Lisa can't even decide who she's singing to: an ambiguous "Sir" or the boy that has rendered her useless through marooning her on his pedestal. It's catchy, though, from the simple opening chords to the soaring crescendo of its first chorus. "Snow Day" makes about as much sense, but is equally as catchy. "Taffy" too, and "Rose Colored Times" as well. Do you sense a trend developing?

Tails doesn't always make sense. It's a little immature, a little sappy, and it can't decide if it wants to be softspoken or to rock out. It's fun to listen to. "Do You Sleep" is all of the above. Lisa obviously needs a few things to be intact to make for a good song. It should have a decent loud to soft ratio. Simplicity should be taken advantage of in the form of catchy riffs and complex harmony. At some point there ought to be a few loud guitars to distract you from the lyrics. With this as a formula, it's easy to pass or fail the rest of the album: bassy "Taffy" passes, "Hurricane" fails. Harder rocking "Alone" & "Garden Of Delights" pass, "Lisa Listen" fails equally as hard.

Sparing you from Lisa's extended report card, barely half of the disc passes, just like "Stay" barely passes; it doesn't sound like a hit song, but it was. Tails isn't solid gold, but I usually want to go back to listen to something again after it's over. Whether Lisa's records get better or worse, to most people she will always be the "Stay" girl. Listening to her albums will prove that "Stay" just happens to be the best example of the intangible magic she can work on a simple pop song. She just hasn't figured out how to do it every time.

Yet.

Nine Stories
OK.. I'm shallow. I was watching $25,000 Pyramid when Lisa and Dweezel were guest contestants. I thought to my self, "Wo, she's really good looking." I remembered liking that video where she walks around the apartment in one long shot and wondered if she had any chops other then cool glasses. So I started pickin up used CD's when I could find them and was moving in a Lisa fan direction. This one sealed the deal. Smart musician, with a unique pocket. She just got prettier.....
Lisa Loeb can sing and she can play guitar very well, but I think she's amazing at writing. Her song's reflect what she sees and I think she does a good job of doing that. Great album, great talent.

Tails
Ooh...Lisa Loeb's first album 'Tails' is by far her best album. I love the style. Great rock with her vocals just seems unreal. I never thought I'd find someone like Lisa Loeb but I did. At first, I didn't want to give her a chance because her single 'Stay' was overplayed at the time and I wasn't into that kind of music. YEARS later I decided to give her another try. I'm so glad I did. The songs are relatively simple but hold a lot of meaning and most people can relate to the lyrics. I love 'Do You Sleep', 'Taffy' and 'Snow Day'. It's a great album.
Though Tails was her debut album, Loeb had already hit the stratosphere of the pop charts a year earlier with "Stay," a monster hit from the soundtrack of the film Reality Bites. "Stay" is also included on Tails, but the other 12 tracks demonstrate Loeb had more than one good song in her, even if none of them found similar success on the singles chart. Loeb's knack for infectious, buoyant pop shines through on such instantly catchy tunes as "Snow Day," "Rose-Colored Time" and "Waiting for Wednesday"; quieter, darker numbers such as "Hurricane," "Alone" and "Lisa Listen" reveal a more reflective side; and "Taffy" shows she's occasionally willing to let loose and rock as well. --Peter Blackstock