''Get Away from Me'' is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter

Nellie McKay Nell Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is a singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera'' (2006). Early life and education McKay was born in London to an English father, writer-director Malcolm McKay, and an ...

. The album was met with widespread praise from critics, and charted on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

Release

The album was released on February 10, 2004, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. McKay insisted on Columbia releasing this album as a two-disc set even though all of its content could fit on a single disc. On iTunes, a clean version was made available which removes the profanities found on some of the songs like "Sari." A

DualDisc The DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including MJJ Productions Inc., EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group an ...

version of the album was released on March 29, 2005, featuring a DVD side with a live concert, 5.1 audio, and two previously unreleased tracks, "John-John" and "Teresa." The CD side features both discs of the previous release as one continuous album. "David," the album's opening track, was released as a promotional single, with an accompanying music video. The song was included on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

's "Shortlist 2004 Nominees" compilation and on the soundtrack for the TV series '' Weeds''. McKay stated in an interview with '' ELLEgirl'' that the song was written about her neighbor, whom she has a crush on.

Critical reception

''Get Away from Me'' was met with widespread praise from music critics. On the review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album holds a score of 79 out of 100, based on 17 reviews. Heather Phares, reviewing the album for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, commenting that the album "is the kind of feverishly inventive, sprawling album that only comes from young artists," going on to praise the album's musical and lyrical eclecticism but feeling that the variety made the album sometimes feel "dizzying rather than dazzling." Phares concluded that the record "could become a cult favorite among pissed-off girl-women of McKay's age." In a rave review, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s Maddy Costa, who awarded the album 5 out of 5 stars, felt that "lyrically ..her elegance and control are irrefutable" and singled out "I Wanna Get Married" and "Won't U Please B Nice" as highlights. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'', whose review was also extremely positive, likened McKay to

Julie London Julie London (née Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch singer noted for her sultry, languid contralto vocals, London recorded over thirty albums ...

and praised her vocals and lyrics, giving the album an "A". Some critics were less enthusiastic in their assessments of the album. Chris Dahlen, writing for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'', gave the album 6.3 out of 10, calling McKay "annoying" and her music "a mess of jazz, pop, and easy listening," but praising the record's "graceful melodies, barbed hooks, and confident voice" on songs such as "Ding Dong" and "The Suitcase Song." ''The Austin Chronicle''s Matt Dentler was also more skeptical of the album, awarding the album 2 stars and criticizing some of McKay's lyrics, but feeling that McKay has "talent" and concluding that McKay will "only get better as she figures out who the real Nellie McKay is."

Commercial performance

''Get Away from Me'' debuted at number 16 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Heatseekers album chart on the chart dated March 13, 2004. The following week, the album rose to its number 7 peak on the Heatseekers chart and debuted on the

at number 181. The album remains her highest-charting album in the US, her only other album to reach the Billboard 200 being her

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

, '' Normal As Blueberry Pie''.

Track listing

All songs written by Nellie McKay.''Get Away From Me'' album booklet ;Disc 1 #"David" – 2:47 #"Manhattan Avenue" – 3:38 #"Sari" – 3:27 #"Ding Dong" – 3:11 #"Baby Watch Your Back" – 3:28 #"The Dog Song" – 3:04 #"Waiter" – 4:15 #"I Wanna Get Married" – 4:01 #"Change the World" – 3:58 ;Disc 2 #"It's a Pose" – 3:30 #"Toto Dies" – 4:02 #"Won't U Please B Nice" – 2:09 #"Inner Peace" – 2:53 #"Suitcase Song" – 2:33 #"Work Song" – 4:08 #"Clonie" – 1:56 #"Respectable" – 4:07 #"Really" – 3:56

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes of ''Get Away From Me'' and

. Instruments *

Jay Berliner Jay Berliner (born May 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist who has worked with Harry Belafonte, Ron Carter, Charles Mingus, and Van Morrison, among others. Career Berliner had his first television experience at age seven w ...

– Spanish guitar *Cenovia Cummins – violin, fiddle *Patricia Davis – violin *Joyce Hammann - violin *Paul Holderbaum - orchestra director *Jim Hynes - flugelhorn, trumpet *Birch Johnson - trombone *Billy Kaye - drums *Richard Locker - cello *Nellie McKay - chimes, glockenspiel, organ, percussion, piano, recorder, vibraphone, synthesizer, xylophone *Emily Mitchell - harp *Norman Panto - accordion *Charles Pillow - flute, alto saxophone *Carol Pool - violin *Ari Roland - upright bass *Rob Shaw - violin *Andy Snitzer - clarinet, tenor saxophone *Andy Stein - violin *Corin Stiggall - electric bass *Jade Synstelien - guitar *Belinda Whitney-Barratt - concertmaster Production *Stuart Breed - assistant engineer *Greg Calbi - mastering *Geoff Emerick - engineer, producer *Steve Genewick - assistant engineer *Nellie McKay - associate producer *Bill Airey Smith - assistant engineer Miscellaneous *Timothy Dark - rap consultant *Phillip Stewart - rhythm consultant *Elinda Whitney - contractor *Amy T. Zielenski - photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control Nellie McKay albums 2004 debut albums Albums produced by Geoff Emerick Columbia Records albums