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	Amanda Marshalls in her musical influences Bluesy singer samples Joni Mitchell, The Staple Singers By ERROL NAZARETH -- Toronto Sun TORONTO - Joni Mitchell's been busy. She was at Seal's concert at the Molson Amphitheatre Sunday night and she popped up at Amanda Marshall's sold-out show at Massey Hall last night. Truth be told, the venerated songwriter was at Massey in spirit and song. Marshall concluded Last Exit by seguing into Mitchell's Yellow Taxi, singing the chorus -- "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've lost 'til it's gone? -- that was brilliantly sampled by Janet Jackson on her Velvet Rope disc last year. Marshall's penchant for mixing and matching songs -- she dropped Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror and Jimi Hendrix's Castles Made Of Sand into the mix at her '97 show at the Amphitheatre -- is still alive. Sly & The Family Stone showed up during Right Here, and The Staple Singers slipped into her hit, Birmingham. Then there was the cute intro to Shades Of Grey. Accompanied by her acoustic guitarist, Marshall recited the Mother Goose poem -- "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace" -- before her five-man band launched into a song which articulates the thoughts of a child of an interracial marriage. The song, off her second album, Tuesday's Child, contains these lines: "You can't change a stubborn mind, you can't see the world if you eyes are blind, what does it matter anyway? In our darkest hour we're all shades of grey." "Dont' give a damn what they say," she raged toward the end of the song. "We're all just shades of grey." For Marshall's fans, her return to a local stage was nothing less than triumphant. And the diminutive singer was clearly hyped -- imagine that! -- to be performing here. "It's always a thrill to play your hometown," she said, before relating some of her most memorable musical moments -- seeing The Pointer Sisters and Melissa Etheridge -- at Massey Hall since she was nine years old. The sold-out crowd got what they paid for: A non-stop parade of formulaic pop-rock songs from Marshall's two albums, all delivered in her big, bluesy voice. But you gotta wonder about her lyrics. Consider these samples -- bland, cliched and tired at worst -- and the cold reception Tuesday's Child has received from critics makes sense: "Somewhere there's a river looking for a stream, somewhere there's a dreamer looking for a dream" (from Believe In You); "I don't know what I was thinking 'til I was thinking of you, I don't know what I was doing when there was nothing to do" (from If I Didn't Have You); or "What am I looking for that just isn't there? I need to feel you need me like a river needs an ocean" (from Why Don't You Love Me). As a friend, who's a walking musical encyclopedia, said to me, "As a songwriter, she's a great singer." Whole lot of respect Marshall shows off Girl Next Door Power By IAN NATHANSON Ottawa Sun OTTAWA -- All Amanda Marshall asked for was a little respect. From roughly 9,000 last night at the Civic Centre, she got a whole lot in return. Ranking somewhere in between Sheryl Crow and Janis Joplin, the Toronto singer was in fine voice during the second stop on her cross-country tour backing her sophomore album, Tuesday's Child. Whether she was crooning a ballad like Beautiful Goodbye or the Stones-esque Best of Me, both from the new CD, Marshall flawlessly worked her magical voice, never quavering from the moment she set foot on stage until the show's end. If Girl Power is still alive and well, then Marshall, 25, has probably redefined her role in it -- call it Girl Next Door Power. Safety net She bookended Shades of Grey, her ode to her parents' interracial marriage, with a familiar nursery rhyme -- "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace ..." while middle-aged couples felt a strong safety net listening to Marshall's words and music with their children within eye's reach. And in case anyone missed the point, a baby-faced photo of Marshall flashed on the backdrop. That safety net, however, tends to make for songs with little substance. Most of Marshall's material sticks to a well-rehearsed formulaic approach that lacks any emotion unless she flashes her trademark big hair flying, arms flailing, stage pacing and backward bends to signal an oncoming diva belt. If not for the exposure of TV (show opener Believe In You appeared on the series Touched By An Angel) and radio (current single Love Lift Me, Dark Horse and her signature Let It Rain from her eponymous debut), hummable tunes would be few and far between. Ovations That didn't seem to matter to the crowd, who clapped along, applauding loudly after every song, even louder when she filled in refrains with some classic gems: Birmingham had The Jeffersons theme, Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi capped Last Exit to Eden and Right Here All Along threw in Sly and the Family Stone's Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again). There were even a few standing ovations to boot. Credit her five-piece band for keeping the proceedings running smoothly and allowing Marshall to have a bit of fun onstage. That's how she commands R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Saturday, May 17, 1997 Great voice in search of material Middle-of-the-road rock By PAUL CANTIN Ottawa Sun What a difference six years make. Last night, Amanda Marshall played before a sold-out crowd at the NAC -- the same venue that saw her make her touring debut as an acoustic opening act for the Jeff Healey Band around 1991. Now a platinum artist around the world, and a name dropped by the likes of Elton John, Marshall has rightly succeeded by virtue of a singing style that has to be experienced to be believed. Put it this way: Her voice is as big as her hair. Marshall was bright and energetic, showing none of the fatigue one might expect after two years of touring. And truly, even after a show that built from one frantic climax to another without pause, Marshall seemed fresh and ready to roar at the end of the set. Late in the evening, her vocal onslaught at the end of Beautiful Goodbye was so intense and so straining, you couldn't help but wonder if Mandy wasn't risking physical injury. There's a vibrancy and a soulfulness here that her recorded output barely hints at. With only one album under her belt, Marshall had a narrow pool of songs to draw from, but stretched them out in interesting ways. Her anthemic Let It Rain was prefixed by a version of Ann Peebles' Hi Records hit, I Can't Stand The Rain. Sitting On Top Of The World was given an acoustic prelude that was so charming and understated, the bombastic rock version that followed couldn't help but seem like a letdown. And there's part of the problem. In almost every case, the songs rarely are worthy of the singer. Marshall exhibits a weakness for middle-of-the-road rock that is only partially remedied by the grit of her live performance. When she does latch onto a worthy song -- her cover of Jimi Hendrix's sublime Castles Made Of Sand, for example -- the effect is mesmerizing. For now, Marshall remains a fine performer, with a great voice, in search of great songs. Opening act Chantal Kreviazuk has no such worries. The young Winnipegger is blessed with a real talent for composing soul-baring songs, as she demonstrated on her fine debut LP, Under These Rocks And Stones. The real testament to the power of that material, though, came last night. Armed with nothing more than a grand piano and her own sweet voice, Kreviazuk conveyed the sly humor of God Made Me, the elegantly wasted feel of the Stones' Wild Horses, the bitterness of Surrounded, and the desperate yearning of her best song, Wayne. Like everything else about her too-short set, what lingered was Kreviazuk's sincerity and passion.