''Got No Shadow'' is an album by

Mary Lou Lord Mary Lou Lord (born March 1, 1965) is an indie folk musician who started out performing as a busker in Boston. Life and career Mary Lou Lord first gained attention playing acoustic guitar and singing in and around Boston's subway stations, pa ...

, released in early 1998 on

Work Records The Work Label (stylized as The WORK Group) was an American record label. Its major album releases included '' Tidal'' (1996) by Fiona Apple and '' On the 6'' (1999) by Jennifer Lopez. History In July 1999, founders Jeff Ayeroff and Jordan H ...

, a division of

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. It is Lord's only full-length release on a major label.

Song information

"His Lamest Flame" is a reference to the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

song "

(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" is a song recorded in a hit version by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music in 1961. It was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and first recorded by Del Shannon on the album '' Runaway with ...

". "She Had You" was a hit in the Philippines, and was played on FM radio in an

NU 107 DWNU, a radio station in Mega Manila, was broadcasting from 1987 to 2010 as NU 107 that played mainly rock music. It was owned by Progressive Broadcasting Corporation. The station's last studio was located at the ground floor of AIC Gold Tower, F ...

midnight countdown. "Lights Are Changing", "She Had You", "Supergun" and "Down Along the Lea" were all written by

Nick Saloman The Bevis Frond is an English rock band formed in 1986 in Walthamstow, London, England. The band is fronted by Nick Saloman and has recorded many singles and albums on various independent labels. Information Saloman was originally in a band kn ...

of British band

The Bevis Frond The Bevis Frond is an English rock band formed in 1986 in Walthamstow, London, England. The band is fronted by Nick Saloman and has recorded many singles and albums on various independent labels. Information Saloman was originally in a band kn ...

. "Lights Are Changing" first appeared on the band's 1988 album ''Triptych''. Saloman is one of several guitarists playing on this album and a creative collaborator as well; he and Lord also co-wrote "His Lamest Flame", "Two Boats" and "Subway". (Lord has recorded and performed other Saloman songs throughout her career.) "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" is a re-recording of an original song that first appeared (as "Some Jingle Jangle Morning (When I'm Straight)") in 1993 on Lord's debut 7" vinyl single for

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in February 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but it was orig ...

. The song is said to be about

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

– Mary Lou was briefly involved with Cobain in the early 1990s at the beginning of

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

's rise to fame. "Shake Sugaree" is a folk/blues song written by

Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an influential American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside do ...

, appearing on her 1967 album of the same name. "The Lucky One" is a

Freedy Johnston Freedy Johnston (born Frederic John Fatzer in 1961) is an American singer-songwriter based in New York City. Originally from Kinsley, Kansas, Johnston's songs are often about troubled loners, and cover topics like heartbreak, alienation, an ...

cover.

Reception

Following five years of independent-label singles and EPs and a self-released cassette, Lord's long-awaited debut album received positive reviews and critical acclaim in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' and other music publications, and from

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

in his ''Consumer Guide'' column in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

''.

Track listing

#"His Lamest Flame" (

, Mary Lou Lord) – 3:37 #"Western Union Desperate" (Lord) – 3:09 #"Lights Are Changing" (Saloman) – 5:23 #"Seven Sisters" (Lord) – 3:36 #"Throng of Blowtown" (Lord) – 3:25 #"The Lucky One" (

) – 3:07 #"She Had You" (Saloman) – 3:57 #"Some Jingle Jangle Morning (When I'm Straight)" (Lord) – 3:44 #"Shake Sugaree" (

) – 2:21 #"Two Boats" (Saloman, Lord) – 4:02 #"Supergun" (Saloman) – 3:34 #"Down Along the Lea" (Saloman) – 2:04 #"Subway" (Lord, Saloman) – 4:14

Personnel

- Vocals *

Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1997 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early life Colvin was born Shawna Lee Colvin in Vermillion, South Dakota, and ...

- Background vocals *

Acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, guitar *John Sprague - Bass guitar *Cait Reed -

Violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

tin whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

*Will Goldsmith -

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Gia Ciambotti Gia Ciambotti (born September 13, 1962 in Hollywood, California) is an American singer, and the daughter of John Ciambotti, bassist for the band Cloverhttps://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-john-ciambotti27-2010mar27-story.html. She first ...

- Background vocals *Joe Ramieri - Drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*Beale Dabbs -

Steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

*Rusty Anderson -

12-String guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in ...

*Stephen Silbert - 12-String guitar, acoustic guitar *

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (; born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician, best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the band. As a so ...

- Electric 12-String guitar *Paul Bushnell - Bass guitar *Nels Cline -

Baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sche ...

E-Bow The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to ...

guitar, guitar *

Jon Brion Jon Brion (born December 11, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and The Grays (band), the Grays before becoming an established pro ...

Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Robert Vincent, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, ...

- Steel guitar,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

Rob Schnapf Rob Schnapf is an American record producer. He was the co-producer (along with Tom Rothrock) of Elliott Smith's albums '' Either/Or'', '' XO'' (on which he also played guitar on the song " Baby Britain"), '' Figure 8'' and ''From a Basement o ...

- Acoustic guitar *

Money Mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...

Organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

- Acoustic guitar *Ruth Barrett -

Dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

*Joshua Freese - Drums

References

{{Authority control 1998 debut albums Mary Lou Lord albums Work Records albums Albums produced by Rob Schnapf Albums produced by Tom Rothrock