Michelle Shocked,
Don't Ask, Don't Tell



Label: Mighty Sound Records

(3½ out of 5)

(Note: Don't Ask, Don't Tell is Disc 2 in Michelle Shocked's 3-disc release, Threesome.)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a much richer, more fully realized album than Mexican Standoff. "Early Morning Saturday" is a gorgeous ode to lazy mornings in bed with the one you love. "Don't Ask" is a folkloric spoken-word song, with Shocked bending her voice like a schoolteacher to differentiate the predators from the victims in her story. Things get really interesting beginning with "Hardly Gonna Miss," which starts similarly to "Early Morning Saturday" but deals with darker issues of lost love. "Evacuation Route" is a powerful and haunting story of flight. "Fools Like Us" laments the difficulties of love. "Elaborate Sabotage" completes the cycle of painfully personal songs inspired by Shocked's recent divorce. Tacked on to the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a rocking little punk song, "Hi Skool," which depicts the unlikely friendship between polar opposites.

June 30, 2005