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You're going to love McCall Bennett's Have An S&M Christmas, or you're going to hate it (before it was over I did both), but you're not going to forget it.

Upon first listening, I walked away thinking the McCallGirl should put a warning label on the shrink wrap, something like "Caution, Males! CD may include stuff you can't handle."

That was a first reaction, and listening conditions were not in the record's favor because I had lost both my Parakeets just before I first put on Ms. Bennett's disc, in an unfortunate cage-dropping incident on the patio. I was alternately feeling sorry for myself and just a little happy for their flight to freedom: they were such majestic birds when they flew away -- they saw their opportunity and made for the trees while I was standing slack-jawed, flatfooted, and chagrined even as they executed their long-contemplated jailbreak.

But when I listened to S&M Christmas a week later, I heard the McCall Bennett who writes with an edge, plays with precision, and sings with a wry ebullience. Such ironic energy is needed to keep up the LA pace because it is a wacky and wicked place whose streets are strewn with the remains of many young entertainers such as she. Her lyrics indicate she has gained at least a passing familiarity with some of that wickedness: the unforgettable imagery of her holiday ode has all of the right predicates, which are better indicators than nouns that she may know what she's talking about.

Have An S&M Christmas is a funny song, well-written and elegantly arranged. That the McCallGirl's subject is not exactly my cup of latte may have detracted slightly from my total enjoyment of the song, still I can appreciate the talent she has and her artful presentation.

The EP's other two cuts are the elegies of young women. I can understand, after a fashion, what these songs are about, and I can understand her putting them on a disc she uses for a demo, but I wonder what drove her to write and record them in the first place. It would be glib to say the entire CD begs some questions, but the listener is inevitably led to ponder how such poignant and personal messages could make their way onto someone's Christmas record.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2003)

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From the liner notes:

Singer/songwriter McCall Bennett was born in Ithaca, New York. She grew up mostly in Cleveland, Ohio, where she spent the bulk of her formative years pursuing such interests as musical theater (extending to a vocal performance with the Cleveland Orchestra at age eleven) and dramatic acting, culminating in her BFA from Ohio University. Her interest in understanding human behavior through the study of psychology and anthropology eventually led her to pursue a Master's degree in Sex and Gender Studies from the same institution.

McCall Bennett

Have an S&M Christmas

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