Two decades and a couple years ago, a much-younger version of singer-songwriter Nellie McKay showed up for a New York recording session with the late sound engineer and producer Geoff Emerick. McKay was a little known 21-year-old who performed to small audiences in Manhattan night clubs. Emerick’s resume already included work on such Beatles albums as Revolver , Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road .

The 18 cuts recorded in that session would become Get Away from Me, McKay’s sardonically titled debut CD, which suddenly put her on the musical map. Critics swooned, or at least some of them did. The New York Times called Get Away from Me “a tour de force.” The Guardian said it was “dizzying in its scope and ambition, fizzing with energy as McKay hurtles from one

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