I have been listening to Amanda Palmer’s solo album so that I’ll be able to sound vaguely intelligent should I happen to get to talk to her next week. Wow.

I bought the album from Amazon’s MP3 store, and immediately I realized that this was something I actually needed the sleeve notes for, at least so that I could study the lyrics. Fortunately Palmer has helpfully put the whole lot online here. Actually the whole album is there. You can listen to it for free. And watch videos. It is well worth checking out.

The track that has been causing all of the fuss, “Oasis”, turns out to be a poppy little number – the sort of thing that Kirsty MacColl might have penned, but even more biting. If anyone thinks that Palmer is trivializing feminist issues all they have to do is check out what Palmer has done with a supposedly sweet and harmless little ditty by Rogers & Hammerstein, “What’s the use of wond’rin’?”. Or in the lyrics for “Ampersand”. In the context of the album, “Oasis” is very obviously a slap in the face for the ladette lifestyle. Unfortunately on its own it is sufficiently ironic to allow self-important and self-righteous people to take it entirely at face value and use that as an excuse to throw their weight around.

My favorite track from the album is “Blake says”, but that’s because I’m a sad old Velvet Underground fan who happens to think that Berlin is the best thing that Lou Reed ever did, and consequently I got all of the references the first time through. For those of you who are a little younger, Palmer helpfully provides a YouTube video of Lou playing “Caroline Says II” on the web site.

I also really like “The point of it all”, which is a beautiful song and deeply creepy as well. I’m not exactly surprised that Palmer has ended up hanging out with someone who has made a career of writing scary fiction, though actually I think that much of the album is more Joe Hill than Neil Gaiman – especially “Guitar Hero” and “Strength through music”.

On a more general note, I don’t think that tracks from Who Killed Amanda Palmer are going to be appearing on karaoke machines in the near future. I know I can’t sing, but I figure that I would be able to make a reasonable stab at most Abba songs if only I could stay in key. I do not think that I have much chance of matching the power and flexibility of Palmer’s voice.

The production on the album is generally fascinating (with credits mostly shared between Ben Folds and Palmer). However, this is not one of those perfect studio masterpieces that can never be reproduced on stage. Indeed, I think quite the opposite is true. The thing that comes over most strongly about the album is the sheer physical presence of Palmer’s performances. This is an album that demands that you go see the songs performed live. RyanAir and the snow permitting, that’s what I hope to do.