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Mandy Moore is more known now as an actress, but way back when, she was one of the pop princesses together with (but not quite at the stature of) Britney and Christina. I never really listened to her music, so I was a bit surprised to get a copy of her latest album ‘Amanda Leigh‘ this Christmas from a friend. But not as surprised when I eventually listened to the album!

The vibe is very 70s-throwback singer-songwriter – even country-ish – not a whiff of synth or dance or whatever’s “current” at all. It’s not a great album by any means (and I don’t particularly love it); there are a couple of clunkers in there – like the unfortunate Disney-esque pop track ‘I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week‘.

But there are some gems in there, too. I really really like Mandy Moore’s duet with Mike Viola for the opening track ‘Merrimack River‘. The song opens with a gentle waltz and I love how Mandy Moore and Mike Viola harmonize quietly on it. I appreciate how the guitar and the string accompaniment sort of harmonize quietly in the background too. There’s a folksy turn to this song that I really dig. Why on earth did this song never enter my radar before?

If I’d known that ‘Merrimack River‘ existed, I’d have downloaded that song way before, maybe together with two other playful tracks on the album ‘Pocket Philosopher‘ (really like the vaudeville-showtune-effect of the toy piano sound in this song!) and ‘Love to Love Me Back‘ (which references Mandy’s pretty well-publicized love life?).

Amanda Leigh by Mandy Moore is available on Amazon as an Audio CD ($10.99) or as an MP3 album ($5.00 only! Amazon is running a $5 promo for a couple hundred songs so you might want to check it out). It’s also available on iTunes for $9.99.

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