Wendy Waldman - Wendy Waldman (1975)

Faced with little public interest and virtually no label support, Waldman's self-confidence and fierce musicality seemed to falter a little here. "Sunshine in the morning/Why do I feel cold?/Feels like I'm standing still/But I'm growing so old" she sang on the baleful "Mr. Boatman," which set the tone for a largely downbeat, softly spoken recording. Stripped of the lavish orchestral arrangements of her first two releases, her usually perky songwriting was rendered understated, pensive and almost teetered over the edge and into navel-gazing territory on the murky "Constant Companion." ~by Charles Donovan