Review: Christine Lavin—Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch

A little dog stares sublimely from the cover of Christine Lavin’s new release, Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch. Its pug nose and bug eyes dare you to antagonize it…an apt cover for a CD with such a title.

Lavin was appropriately awarded the title of "the funniest woman in folk" by writer Scott Alarick in the Boston Globe. Nobody does funny better than Christine Lavin and this recording is a testament to that.

For those who have attended one of Lavin’s concerts recently, Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch will be a deja vous experience. Selections from performances in five cities (including one at the legendary Cafe Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York) were worked into this twenty-track disc. It really is like being there—the humor, the music and the commentary—it’s a Christine Lavin happening!

The album features eight new songs, plus four new versions of old favorites. (Check out "What Was I Thinking in ‘99?"—Lavin has included Bill and Monica in this version—has she no mercy!?) On this her twelfth solo album, Lavin has added a new dimension to her work with the help of a Boomerang digital phrase sampler. It allows her to sing with herself. Songs like "Harrison Ford," "You Look Pretty Good For Your Age," and "The Piranha Women of the Avocado Jungle of Death" show off her effervescent melodramatic theatrics and her love of performing. Like a lot of funny-song albums, this one may not be one you play over and over; however, it is Lavin at her best. The only thing missing is the twirling baton finale!—Sara Barss