A move from United Artists to Warner Brothers found
Dory Previn in fine form and with a battery of very good jokes, not least of which is a typically off-kilter take on gospel, "Did Jesus Have a Baby Sister?." Unlike other comedic songwriters, (e.g.,
Randy Newman), she never values a cheap joke or a glib cleverness over direct, heartfelt expression, as the tender "Atlantis" attests. Her musicianship was fast catching up with her wordplay, too. The sly, cinematic chord progressions of "The Empress of China" are leaps and bounds above the basic structures of her early songs. ~ Charles Donovan