The Latest Album, DVD & Book Reviews - SEPTEMBER 2008
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If her last album, A Handful Of Hurricanes, was, with its scouring sonic squalls and scalding blues, a bold challenge to folk fans seduced by her acoustic debut and the fact she’s Maddy and Rick’s daughter, then the follow up is even more so.
Her inherited heritage of darkling trad folk is still patently evident, but she’s clearly been eating a lot of spiders in the interim, not to mention soaking up drone and Black Metal influences and feeding them into her already potent mix of experimental alt rock, jazz and blistering gothic operatics.
Produced and mixed by Chris Sheldon whose impressive CV includes the Foo Fighters and Biffy Clyro, she sets out her stall from the opening track, Dirty Glow which, accompanied by plucked strings and a plangent musical mood evocative of a medieval Eastern market, sees her voice prowl across the scales with sexually feral intent.
The itchy goblin-like, cauldron bubbling Nanny’s World digs further into the skull, taking a trad folk heart and twisting it with an insidious chant beat and rasping guitar storms before fading away on an organ drone.
Bitter And Sweet, with its images of sexual violence, shrieks and swoops both vocally and musically, grinding intense guitar plastered over with devil’s fiddle to conjure an unholy marriage of Brecht and Black Sabbath. Then there’s doomy piano chords to open Flawless, a song that catches you offguard by then slipping into Kemp’s frayed nerve yet tender soprano operatics as she sings of the beauty of imperfections.
There’s a touch of Procol Harum circa A Salty Dog here, and the same air blows across the funereal waltzing Saturday Night with its despairing lines about being ‘all lairy and lost’ while the anthemic exaltation of Nature’s Hymn is what Pachabel’s Canon might be as envisaged as a Derek Jarman soundtrack.
Wholeness Sounds is probably the most conventional number, Kemp sounding like June Tabor at her deepest and darkest against a guitar figure out of Metallica’s wardrobe. But then the home stretch plunges back into the maelstrom with Vacancies’ delirious cocktail of Black Metal and demented Kate Bush and Milky White where, accompanied by just a drone, she sings as if calling the faithful to prayer from atop some Armenian mountain.
Surely owing a debt to Scandinavian Black Folk Metal, she closes on The Unholy, an intense, deliberate nine sonic minutes of soul-throbbing, head-expanding celebration of the untrammelled and enviable power of being ‘young and foolish and wreckless (sic)’. Quite frankly, astonishing.
www.rosekemp.com
www.myspace.com/rosekemp
Mike Davies September 2008
Anyone familiar with Idlewild front-man Roddy's attractive 2006 solo record My Secret Is My Silence will find much to enjoy here in this collaboration with Orcadian singer-guitarist Kris and Scottish fiddler (and much else besides) John, both major talents in their own right. Unusually, too, each of Before The Ruin's ten tracks is a true songwriting collaboration between the three men - something I'd not necessarily have countenanced perhaps, but it's a convincing and seamless set with several standout compositions, all bound together by Roddy's soulful, yearning voice and some enigmatic, gently questioning lyrics. Roddy's voice works very well with Kris's, and fans of Kris will think it a pity that he only gets to sing lead on one song (the abundantly beautiful The Poorest Company, which sounds near-traditional - and that's a big compliment!). On much of the record, folky acoustic inflections and influences are much to the fore, in tandem with what I'd term highest-quality contemporary writing, sometimes rather in the vein of Karine Polwart I thought - check out Into The Blue and Hope To See in particular. Silver And Gold is another standout that, along with Stuck In Time, exemplifies the musicians' winning way with finding just the right degree of setting for the delicate imagery of the lyrics. Then there's the album's title track, which really quite rocks in its own way, with pipes and accordion prominent in the backing. In fact, the musicianship of the support crew alone is outstanding on this release - mere mention of the names of those involved is enough to make the mouth water: Messrs McGoldrick, Carr, Cutting, Seward, Vernal, Shaw, Cunningham, Angel, Selway and (Francis) Macdonald, as well as vocal appearances by Heidi Talbot and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake... bliss! Looking forward to catching the core trio on tour this autumn - but what a busy schedule these men must have!
www.krisdrever.com
www.johnmccusker.net
www.roddywoomble.com
David Kidman September 2008
They may take their name from the Steely Dan album but that’s where any comparison ends. Built around guitarist/songwriter Duncan Hamilton and vocalist/guitarist Dan Britton (formerly of Storm Thieves and regular collaborator with Chris Conway), they hail from Up North but make music straight out of 60s California with ringing, chiming guitars, rootsy-pop melodies and close harmonies.
They’ve got some good friends too, the Nigel Stonier produced (and co-written) album featuring backing vocals from Thea Gilmore plus contributions from John Kirkpatrick (squeezing the accordion on the lovely Waltz For Beginners), Al Perkins (adding keening pedal steel to The Distance), The Little River Band’s Beeb Birtles (vocals on Every Time You Call My Name) and Cindy Bullens who lends her powerful voice to the Petty influenced funky Crash And Burn.
But they certainly don’t need anyone else’s light to shine. Opening with the janglingly catchy title track, they deliver further highlights in a harmonica led Americana of Coming Soon, the Byrdsyian twangy Waiting On The Line, the moody desert folk feel of Going Down and the Gram reminiscent Further. Having only got together two years ago, this is the duo’s first album. On this offering, more will be most welcome.
Mike Davies September 2008
Following on from debut album Shine Like It Does and the ever more impressive follow-ups Long Shot Novena and Come The Storm, the Irish-Italian American singer-songwriter returns with her fourth outing, an album of love and loss, life and death, steeped in the sound of Detroit, from Motown soul to White Stripes rock.
Those looking for her earlier country roots will be pleased to discover the Gram-like swaggering $20 Shoes, a scuffed and skittering bluegrassy Blue Mood Words, two step swayer Jeannie Steps Out and the turning train wheels rhythm of Failure To Thrive. But even these have a sharper edge while Seven Winds is pure dreamy pop, Doesn't Mean A Thing heads down a rock n soul path, Will-O-The Wisp offers a bluesy gospel country duet with Nick Lucassian while The Day Before sees the album climax with a slow building, organ-backed, heart-tearing Maria McKee meets Lucinda Williams ballad. It's taken a while for the word to spread, but this should finally get everybody talking.
www.eileenrose.com
www.myspace.com/eileenrosemusic
Mike Davies March 2008
Documenting the eight years, five albums and two EPs he recorded with the label, this dounle disc set is as good a primer as you could want if you’re coming new to the Nebraska-born singer songwriter. Disc One runs almost chronologically, opening with three cuts from his auspicious 1998 debut, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, the chiming rootsy pop title track (and probably still his best known song) joined by Invisible and Late Night Conversation.
Following these, there’s three from 2000’s sophomore release, Home, in the shape of the dreamy Laughter, a poppy Directions and the lush Paul Simonesque 100m Backstroke.
Out of sync is the slightly jazzy flavoured 65, taken from Chester, his 1999 EP collaboration with then neighbour Kurt Wagner from Lambchop. On then to Under Cold Blue Stars, his 2002 narrative concept album about the collapse of a 50s small town couple’s marriage. Despite the title track’s cocktail lounge flavours and the beats of Nothing Gives Me Pleasure, Feeling No Pain and Ugly Stories are more indicative of the album’s warmly melancholic pop.
However, come the following year’s 1972 with new producer Brad Jones at the helm, Rouse was very much into the music of the era of his birth, the album’s blend of brass shaded soul, soft funk, Latin and folksy pop conjuring echoes of Al Green, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel and the Young Rascals. From that you get four tracks, the Brian Wilson meets Randy Newman of Love Vibration, the Al Green infused Comeback (Light Therapy), the early dawn streaked title track and a Steve Robert-like Rise. Sadly there’s no inclusion of the album’s best number, the emotionally moving Sparrows Over Birmingham with its acoustic guitar and gospel finale.
A bittersweet farewell love letter to his home of ten years following a broken marriage and a run in with alcohol, his last album for the label was 2005’s Nashville, an album that positively skips and shuffles with a light West Coast breeze and makes no bones of acknowledging such influences as Eric Carmen, David Gates, Boz Scaggs and Carly Simon on representative cuts My Love Has Gone, It’s The Nighttime, and the self-accusatory Streetlights. The fourth choice throws up an unexpected musical reference, Rouse’s love of the Smiths manifesting itself on the Bigmouth Strikes Again sounding Winter In The Hamptons.
The second disc is more the one for collectors and completists, opening with all six tracks from 2001’s incredibly limited edition Bedroom Classics Vol 1, a largely guitar and keyboards affair which, on A Night In, pre-empted the cocktail flavours on the following year’s album. Best bet here though is the near a capella Sad Eyes which shows off Rouse’s warm honeyed voice to solid effect.
The remaining seven tracks are variously hitherto unreleased demos and outtakes. The former comprise Nebraska’s Suburban Sweetheart and Flair, Be On The Lookout (an early version of Home’s Little Know It All), Cold Blue’s Christmas With Jesus and Camping In Copenhagen’s formative take on Summer Kitchen Ballad. The latter consist of Cannot Talk, which never made the debut album, and Princess On The Porch which, while elbowed from 1972, did surface in a live version on The Smooth Sounds Of, the only Rykodisc album not to be represented here.
After leaving, Rouse was briefly signed to Nettwerk, for whom he recorded Subtitlo, but now releases through his own Bedroom Classics. Last year’s Country Mouse, City House album was on CD but his output is now mostly studio or live recordings downloadable from his website, recent postings including Bedroom Classics Vol 3 (which features a cover of Mother Love Bone’s Chloe Dancer) and a live set from Brazil this August.
www.joshrouse.com
www.myspace.com/joshrouse
Mike Davies September 2008
Having taken a two year sabbatical, fiddler Elana James, guitarist Whit Smith and upright bassist Jake Erwin are back in action doing their string thing with old school Western swing and the Hot Club jazz of 20s, 30s and 40s America. They’re in the process of putting a new album together, but in the interim they’ve gathered together this most self-written 20 track compilation trawled from their previous one live and three studio albums which, if you’re a new set of ears makes for a pretty succinct introduction to their charms.
Bookended by trad tunes Ida Red and bluegrass chestnut Orange Blossom Special from the live Continental Stomp, highlights have to include James taking vocals on her own Forget-Me-Nots, a gorgeous reading of Hoagey Carmichael instrumental Star Dust, the Smith-penned gypsy swing It Stops With Me, a fiddle rousing and hollering Cherokee Shuffle and, just to prove they’re not entirely rooted in the past, a tremendous Jimmie Rogers style hobo folk country rework of Aerosmith’s Chip Away The Stone. The next chapter can’t come quick enough.
Mike Davies September 2008
If the members of the Eagles ever settled their differences they''d sound like their Californian colleagues Venice. There are harmonies on this CD so tight that not even God could put asunder. But more than that, rarely will four musicians so clearly have left their egos at the stage and studio door. Instead of a bunfight to hog the limelight, the live performance on the DVD in particular, shows just what can be done when everyone is working towards the same end. The congratulations that they offer each other throughout are genuine and deserved.
That, no doubt, is due in a large part to the fact that this is one family, the Lennons. Pat and Kipp are bothers as are Mark and Michael, which if you follow the logic makes them all cousins. But shared genes alone cannot account for Home Grown, alongside the family ties is a shared love of the gently lapping, warm harmonies and melodies that seem to have their natural home in California.
It is little wonder that Jackson Browne is such an admirer, he can recognise kindred spirits and musical equals when he hears them and it's certainly not hyperbole when David Crosby declares Venice 'the best vocal group in the US', in fact his assessment may be only geographically inaccurate.
It's always the sign of a true band when the music travels to the stage as well as it does here. In fact the live portion, recorded during a theatre tour, somewhat overshadows the recorded, the shared emotions and deeply poignant beauty of Family Tree need to be witnessed as well as heard. If that one song alone doesn't make you fall under the spell of Venice, then it's difficult to know what will touch your soul.
Listening to the likes of The Man You Think I Am and Sweet Aloha it's impossible to not think of sunny days. Of course the simple, optimistic messages leave themselves open to cynicism but why wouldn't you want to feel better after listening to music. That's the point surely and anyway why should the cynics have all the best tunes? The sheer untamed fun of the band's live version of Stealers Wheel's Stuck In The Middle is worth the money alone.
In Kipp and Mark Lennon Venice is blessed with two vocalists to rival any of the luminaries the band has worked with including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Brian Wilson, the late Warren Zevon and Dolly Parton. Solo they play their parts perfectly, Kipp slightly hippyish and Mark the more comfortable pop and rock star but when they join forces the result is unstoppable. But this is music built on the foundations of four pillars and Michael, the driving creative force and the solid understated Pat are equally vital to the project.
The band's brand of country rock only works when it's natural, when it's forced or manufactured it becomes uncomfortably sugary but here everything flows perfectly naturally. All the principals are as comfortable with each other as they should be after 28 years as a band. And that confidence, both in themselves and each other, brings forward songs like Rivers Never Run, a song that affectionately owes at least something to the aforementioned Mr Crosby.
At its core Home Grown is an album of love songs, sung by four musicians that fit each other like a second skin. But that's only the nuts and bolts, the magic of Venice is to draw you into its world. A band that regularly plays to 30,000 in Holland, sounds just as comfortable in an intimate theatre in front of a few hundred. It may be a cliche but in this case it's true, listening to Venice makes everything seem brighter and better for an hour or two.
www.venicecentral.com
www.myspace.com/venicecentralspace
Michael Mee August 2008
Born in Scotland and raised in Ontario and Alberta, Maria Dunn is a singer and a writer of songs - for which, read storyteller in song. She combines North American folk and country styles with influences of her Celtic heritage, and does so in a natural and appealing way without a trace of artifice or fusion-forcing.
For A Song is Maria's second album, and was first released in Canada back in 2002, only now gaining a wider distribution deal (via Rounder): and not before time, for it's a very fine set indeed, one that makes me want to hear the albums either side (1998's From Where I Stand and 2004's We Were Good People) real soon. Maria's songs are generally concerned with the struggles and triumphs of historical and contemporary characters, whom she brings to life vividly and with a strong feel of intuitive or inside knowledge; several of the songs take their title from these characters' names (Annie Weaver, Nan McGowan, Maggie Thompson).
For A Song features 11 of Maria's own original songs, and backing is provided by Canadian Celtic band The McDades with Shannon Johnson (violin) and Craig Korth (banjo, guitar, dobro) and further guests including Jerusalem Ridge. That is, aside from the 12th track, which is a tremendous acappella rendition of a traditional Newfoundland song Grá Geal Mo Chroi (sung in English). Maria's an excellent singer, and has a natural clarity of expression allied to a forthright purity of tone: a most attractive combination. She can turn those vocal chords equally adeptly to Celtic and bluegrass stylings, as consecutive tracks The Lingan Strike (her energetic tale of the Cape Breton coal miners' protest of 1882) and Lonesome And Then Some show, while the contemporary narrative ballad is well within her ambit too (Maggie Thompson, Heather Down Road), and Poor Lonesome Hen finds her at home with the idiom of the Gaelic waulking song. The reflective What Did I Do? raises more than just the obvious personal question in its memorable musings, whereas Take It Easy On Me presents a beautifully controlled country-ballad setting wherein Maria takes a host of different viewpoints and finds common ground in order to make a plea for social justice. Nan McGowan may not go quite as far as the proverbial stitch in time, but she sure stands up to her drunken husband (to a disarmingly merry musical backdrop too!). And the disc ends with God Bless Us Everyone, an inspired “Parting Glass”-type chorus anthem that really should be more widely-circulated.
For A Song is an album that's crammed full of timeless music, seriously high-quality songs (many with incredibly catchy, lilting melodies to boot!) that could've been written yesterday. Its diverse musical influences could so easily have made for an aimless, unsatisfying and inconsistent brew, but through Maria's skill it all comes together to make one of the most impressive records I've heard come out of Canada in recent years, and affirms Maria as a major talent.
David Kidman August 2008
Whether your focus is drawn to the country, roots or indeed any of the myriad of delightful shades that colour Donna The Buffalo's Silverlined, you will be inevitably drawn back to one constant. This is a band that knows exactly what it wants to say and the very best way to say it.
Although Silverlined is probably one of the least self-congratulatory and bombastic albums you'll encounter, it has a certainty running through it like a steel spine. Once you've listened to the 13 tracks, you can't imagine them being done any better than they are here.
It would be a neat device to be able to say that with two vocalists - Tara Nevins and Jeb Puryear share the load equally - you get two distinct bands. In fact what you get is five hugely talented and committed musicians - Tom Gilbert, Bill Reynolds and Kathy Ziegler complete the line up - giving every ounce of effort and talent at their disposal.
What Puryear and Nevins do offer is a clever contrast, Nevins invests the album with a folk innocence, Temporary Misery in less sensitive hands would surely be nothing more than a run of the mill album track, here it flourishes and blooms, thanks to the subtle but distinct edge provided by Nevins. Puryear counters that with a rougher hewn quality.
While Silvelined is built upon an unbridled joy and passion for making music. it is also a mature and measured album. Donna The Buffalo may be able to jump styles with ease, there is aways a purpose to the shift.
It is also a body of work that has deep and solid roots, and it's that base that allows Puryear to make Tomorrow Still Knows something infiniely more interesting and layered than a standard country rock track. Silverlined may be recognizably traditional but it's not tied down by that tradition.
There is no doubt that Silverlined benefits from the fact that is a band that has been in existence for nearly two decades, it is a tight and beautifully constructed album. However instead of contempt, familiarity has bred the ability to weave magic into songs like Locket And Key and then move effortlessly on to Garden Of Eden.
After so long together, many bands find the spark of inspiration has dulled but with Silverlined, Donna The Buffalo has displayed the quirky intelligence of Biggie K, not a song you would produce from the comfort zone of simply going through the motions. It is also proof that Donna The Buffalo is unlikely to run out of ideas or steam anytime soon.
www.myspace.com/donnathebuffalo
Michael Mee August 2008
If after reading my review of the Crooked Jades' matchless 2006 opus World's On Fire you took the plunge and invested in a copy, you'll know something of what to expect here - but even so, I bet you'll think Shining Darkness a very strange record at times. Its sound-world is if anything even more tellingly spare, with every single strand of the carefully considered texture counting for an enormous amount.
Although the band's website partially indicates otherwise - and confusingly so - it would seem that for this CD the band's been trimmed down even leaner since 2006: now apparently a four-piece, it still centres round founder member Jeff Kazor, but otherwise it's been all-change, with Canadian uke/guitar player Leah Abramson now the principal co-vocalist, supported by Seth Folsom (fiddle, banjo, harmonium, guitar) and Charlie Rose (ukes, cello, bass), with cameo instrumental contributions from four extra musicians. The actual instruments used may include less in the way of real obscurities this time (just a couple of Vietnamese ones), but the vintage, antique ambience is retained through a perennially inspired use of conventional old-timey instruments (when used in conjunction with the multifarious ukes and harmonium) and the careful placing of textures and timbres on the blank studio canvas. The Crooked Jades really do take primordial mountain and old-time string band music into areas where even the most inventive of the alt- and Americana outfits don't dare to tread - and with a hell of a musicality too.
A significant proportion of the material on Shining Darkness (in common with World's On Fire) originates from Jeff: delicately poised, sharply defined, either gnomically obscure or seriously beautiful and often both at once. And as on that previous offering, every single one of the 19 tracks is utterly distinctive, whether it be an eccentric, dark-toned old-time hooley (Lost In The Woods, Sand Lake), a skewed bluesy holler (Let It Show), an insistently atmospheric instrumental sketch of Satie-esque minimalism (The Black Sun) or Partch-like microtonal weirdness (Underlings), or an extended spiritual mantra (the closing title track, which wouldn't have sounded out of place on The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter or Wee Tam). Even the totally bare-bones primeval-Faheyesque guitar piece Winnemucca communicates so much in just two pithy minutes. Elsewhere, Call It Something Else mirrors its very title, with its eerie ululating vocal (Leah has such an extraordinary voice, even more so on Sleep In The River, which the liner note says cryptically, was “inspired by Chemirocha of the Kenyan Kipsigis tradition”), and The Marrow Of A Young Girl has the timeless ambience of a prime Gillian Welch track. Jeff's lead vocal combines spinechillingly with Leah's unearthly tones on Ghost Coat and the (Swift-As-The-Wind-)swept incantation Visible Is The Night, and The Diving Bell manages to convey intense, suffocating claustrophobia with severely restricted resources.
Rustic, quaint, oddball, charming and yet often very disturbing; awe-inspiringly other-worldly - and totally unlike anything else on the dusty soil of Planet Americana at the moment: that's the Crooked Jades. Totally unmissable tho'. And utterly addictive too. Ye can't ignore 'em - and nor would I wish to!
David Kidman August 2008
Ricky's impressive pre-solo career took him from Ralph Stanley sideman to Country Gentleman, also encompassing recordings with Keith Whitley and a stint in Emmylou's Hot Band, but he brought a broad-based musical virtuosity to bluegrass, gospel and country and his role as torch-bearer for this rootsier music was key to the early success of the Sugar Hill label. This sensible retrospective charts Ricky's Sugar Hill years, taking four cuts from the landmark album with pioneering band Boone Creek that formed the label's debut release, two from Ricky's first solo album Sweet Temptation, three from his duet album with Tony Rice, and a couple of less obvious but no less welcome choices drawn from more obscure releases, including Ricky's duet with Sharon White on Townes van Zandt's If I Needed You (from the Seldom Scene 15th anniversary album). This great little collection sure encourages timely reassessment of Ricky's original Sugar Hill releases.
www.sugarhillrecords.comDavid Kidman August 2008
This is an exceptional compilation - and not just due to the abundant excellence of all of the music contained within. It's a prime 79-minute showcase for Rounder Records, the imprint that stakes a justified claim to being “America's premier indie label since 1970”, which has been involved with virtually every significant development in roots music over that past 30-odd years, choosing to espouse great talents that the major labels have basically chosen to ignore or sideline. Although Sinner's Prayer totally appropriately kicks off with the classic Slaid Cleaves track of that name (from his Wishbones album), it then proceeds proudly and extensively through the label's impressive gamut, casting the net far and wide and drawing in bluegrass-driven roots (the Steeldrivers, Uncle Earl, Blue Highway, Alison Krauss) as well as the more traditional end of bluegrass (Rowan & Rice, Béla Fleck), country-gospel (The Cox Family), deep soul (Solomon Burke), country-meets-folk s/s (Kathleen Edwards), modern country-blues (Kelly Joe Phelps), country-rock (Ron Block), cajun (Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys) and contemporary indie-rock (Vienna Teng). One particular glory of this compilation is that a considerable number of its tracks were new to me too, and the albums they come from will soon be up there on my to-investigate list: Irma Thomas' wonderfully bluesy-soulful Another Train and Madeleine Peyroux's delicious Weary Blues both really captivated me. Another glory is the inclusion of three new tracks (presumably taken from forthcoming releases) - true nuggets from Dan Tyminski, Sierra Hull and Sam Roberts (whose take on modern electric rockabilly, Love At The End Of The World, I really rated). There are some unexpected discoveries too, including a Loudon Wainwright III cut (the title track from his all-but-forgotten mid-80s album I'm Alright). Good to see Linda Thompson and Cherish The Ladies here, and altho' if pushed I'd probably have tried to find room for The Magnolia Sisters or Amanda Shaw, or the recent landmark Plant & Krauss, or maybe Nanci Griffith or Si Kahn from the erstwhile Philo stable, but hey, I really reckon the compilers have done a splendid job shoehorning the cream of Rounder's massive output onto just one abundantly-generously-filled disc. I'd expect the finished product to include all the relevant discographical details, dates and credits, certainly for identifying the new or unknown items properly (the promo disc didn't!) - but that's the only thing that spoilt my own unbridled enjoyment of this brilliant collection, which would be my choice for an early Xmas cracker for your bestest friend!
David Kidman September 2008
The true measure of any sampler is just how much the appetite is whetted after listening to it and, if you're not drooling after this, then there really is little hope for you. It's the sheer breadth that this sampler covers that is the real behind it. What should be a relatively easily defined collection of country songs reaches way beyond the horizon. And whilst that's a surprise it's not a total shock. When you bring together artists of the calibre of Kris Delmhorst, Dave Carter and Tracey Grammar, Erin McKeown and the always wonderful Mark Erelli the expectations are high and all deliver.
But it's those hitherto gems that make this sampler a true box of delights, The Sacred Shakers and Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem are just two 'lesser known names' that when given the chance to shine, grab it and hold on for dear life.
It's easy to become captivated by the album's blend of pure roots, intelligent country rock and Peter Mulvey restoring your faith in music as a vehicle for storytelling all on his own. It really would be stating the obvious to say that every artist on the sampler is underrated and undervalued in the wider world, of course they are it's not a fair place.
Signature Sounds Sampler is perhaps aimed primarily at those who are already aware of the talents on show and, to that 'happy band', these musicians are loved and cherished.
Michael Mee August 2008
This is one hell of a compilation! It's being rush-released for mid-month in order to "reveal" (sorry! I mean promote) the stunning array and breadth of talent already signed to the excellent Derby-based Navigator and Reveal labels. Of its 17 tracks, eleven are taken from albums currently (or in one case, imminently) available on those two labels; of the rest, one (by Mary Hampton) is readily available through the auspices of the label while the remaining der are taken from forthcoming label releases and form a juicy incentive to buy those as soon as they appear. In category one come the “big names”, folk supergroups like Lau, Faustus, Mawkin: Causley, Spiers & Boden and Bellowhead, with tracks that ideally represent just what they're about and why they draw such huge audiences for their live gigs. Also in category one we encounter a track from the brilliant Drever/McCusker/Woomble collaboration Beyond The Ruin (recently reviewed here too), and several items (ostensibly) by solo artists: reliable names like (again) Kris Drever and John McCusker (a track from his re-released Goodnight Ginger album) and Boo Hewerdine, alongside newer, less heralded (well, at the moment that is!) talents like Heidi Talbot and Dean Owens. Mary Hampton's track is a true delight, and anyone hearing it for the first time will I'm sure be tempted to go straight out and buy the album from which it comes. The so-far-unreleased tracks attain a very high standard too, and come from forthcoming albums by Rachael McShane, Aidan O'Rourke, Alyth, Sandy Wright and the Angel Brothers: like the rest of the label's output, it's not an automatic assumption that the idiom is strictly folk as we know it, Jim, but there's a lot of good music here, plenty of stimulating ideas and consistently top-quality musicianship from all concerned. What an impressive roster! This compilation retails at a maximum price of £3.99, but according to the publicity it's absolutely free to purchasers of either the Bellowhead or Drever/McCusker/Woomble albums before the end of September (check out the label's website for exact details and qualifications).
David Kidman September 2008
Another of those you'd-be-mad-not-to buy compilations from Proper that'll have at least one track worth the super-bargain price-tag (£1.99) all on its own - and most probably several more. It collects together 15 tracks from recent Proper releases, mostly new material as opposed to back-catalogue (and even the two exceptions are from newly-released collections). Riding the rootsy gamut from country through folk and gospel to modern rock, to say you can't go wrong is an understatement when there's such classy music on offer as this selection of tracks from Joan Baez, Ruthie Foster, Diana Jones and Mary Gauthier (the women), Little Feat and The Blind Boys Of Alabama (the bands) and Tim O'Brien, Richard Thompson, Ian McLagan, Andy Fairweather-Low and Drumbo (the men). Not to mention two tracks from Nick Lowe (one from last year's At My Age, the other from the freshly resurrected and expanded Jesus Of Cool), a new Art Garfunkel track that also features James Taylor and a choice cut from Sonny Landreth's latest CD that also features Eric Clapton. The Diana Jones and Drumbo tracks, two of the best on the disc, are taken from forthcoming albums, but the rest are all now readily available. The disc's both a tasty appetiser and an equally tasty feast if taken on its own.
David Kidman September 2008
Toronto-born Annabelle, for three years a member of those wonderful Wailin' Jennys, has for the past couple of years resumed her solo career, the first direct fruit of which is Resilience. The new record continues the trend started on her previous solo outings, the EP Burned My Ass and the full-length Water, in showing her to be an impressive, if mildly idiosyncratic, songwriter and performer in her own right: a brilliantly agile vocalist and multi-skilled musician (fearsomely talented on violin, mandolin and guitar). The aptly-named Resilience portrays a tough, independent talent, capable of reflecting poignantly, often through the metaphor of relationships, on how humankind survives and deals with its own foibles. This can result in some determinedly crazy music (like the quirky junk-country of I Left My Brain), but for the most part Annabelle overlays basic acoustic textures with more subtle ornamentation, displaying influences from her earlier musical activities (including electro-acoustic composition and, even old-time). Guest musicians are brought in to supplement her own individual musical vision at key points: these include Bruce Molsky (fiddlin' on the train-ride waltzer of The Sioux), Bruce Cockburn (duet vocal and joint composition credit on Driving Away) and Mary Gauthier. Perhaps the album gets progressively weirder as it goes on its merry way, but this just makes you want to go back to listen more closely to the opening cuts (especially the deceptively indie-pop feel of the title track). Anabelle's singing has real character too, with a striking way of moulding phrases round the lyrics that's not always what you'd expect from a reading of the words. All in all, with its warm and enveloping sound and intriguing variety of diverse ambiences, this fascinating album really does live up to Annabelle's own description of "a big complicated hug".
David Kidman September 2008
Touring the UK in September. See NetRhythms LISTINGS.
This is what the phrase deluxe edition was coined for! This suitably lavish package, something of an object lesson within its field, contains two discs: the first is a straight reissue of the original ten-track 1988 gold-award-winning album Copperhead Road. This was Steve' third full-length release, on which he rose above the appalling adversities in his personal life by coming up with the goods in a spurt of white-heat creativity. The album, which won both substantial critical acclaim and rock radio airplay, was notable for its big sound and big ambitions; it included a rock radio hit (the title track) and embraced the notional inclusion of guest artists to lend particular flavours to particular tracks (the Pogues on Johnny Come Lately, and bluegrass band Telluride with Maria McKee on the aching closer Nothing But A Child). It also brought us Steve's own version of The Devil's Right Hand, which Waylon Jennings had covered three years earlier but which Steve himself hadn't hitherto recorded. There was also an early venture into drum programming on the oft-requested You Belong To Me. As it turned out, Copperhead Road was the last decent album he was to issue before a period of drug addiction forced a temporary hiatus in his career prior to returning to form so dramatically in the mid-90s). But the real glory of this reissue is likely to be the second disc, which brings us a 70+-minute parade of spunky live recordings from both shortly before (1987) and around a year after the album sessions, sensibly sandwiched between which is Steve's classic 1988 solo performance of Springsteen's Nebraska (which had previously appeared on the Collection compilation). The 1987 set comprises eleven tracks (all previously unreleased) recorded with the Exit O Band at Raleigh, North Carolina, and show Steve and band on uncompromisingly solid form running through a selection of material that included only two songs from the forthcoming album and even dragged up a cheeky medley of 2misses2 from his pre-MCA (Epic) days. The five rock'n'rollicking all-stops-out 1989 tracks with the Dukes, which include a revisit of his first hit Guitar Town and covers of Little Sister and Dead Flowers, have all previously appeared as bonus cuts and B-sides, but it's still useful to have them collected together logically.
David Kidman August 2008
Hard on the heels of Great Skiffle Volume 2, here is the Rockabilly version. Some people might find that the two genres often overlap and they would not be wrong. One came from the other and artists tended to change genres like their socks, although Rockabilly tended not to appeal so much to the mass market. There are, of course, elements of Rock N Roll and Country in here too and it is sometimes impossible to distinguish what is what. As with the other albums in this series there is a wide spectrum of artists and standards on offer but the album does show that Rockabilly holds a firm space in the music firmament.
Some of the songs should be taken for what they are - great songs. Danny Wolfe contributes Let's Flat Get It and the good vocal harmonies and guitar work makes it a top tune. Warner Mack gives us Roc-A-Chicka and if you ignore the novelty parts and concentrate on what is essentially a rocking good song then you have it. Jimmy Lloyd gives us the mid-paced Where The Rio De Rosa Flows and although this is not like the general Rockabilly genre at all, it is very very good and Sid King gives us Good Rockin' Baby - slow and classy.
As I have said, Country music features highly in the Rockabilly make-up. Bob Luman sings on the Country side both vocally and musically on Make Your Mind Up Baby. But he also contributes Red Hot which is all Rockabilly. Dennis Herrold is heard on the Country influenced Hip Hip Baby – good chorus. Another strong song from Herrold is Make With The Lovin'. Autry Inman's It Would Be A Doggone Lie is also from the Country side and a good example. Johnny Cash is about as big a name as you can get and Mean Eyed Cat is more Country than Rockabilly. A class act however. Hey Porter is also included but again, why here? Rock N Roll is also represented and Janis Martin is one of the few women included but Drugstore Rock N Roll is, as the title suggests, more Rock N Roll than rockabilly. Jack Scott contributes Two Timin' Woman which is a Rock N Roll crossover but it has that Rockabilly essence. Mac Curtis throws in If I Had Me A Woman which is a good crossover from Rock n Roll to Rockabilly. Sleepy LaBeef is another big name and has a deep vocal on the cusp of Rock n Roll with I'm Through whereas Carl Mann is earthy and has the feel on Gonna Rock N Roll Tonight.
Rockabilly is all about energy and defiance so the sheer energy on Bobby Lee Trammell's Shirley Lee will knock you out. Johnny Carroll has Wild Wild Women which has plenty of whoops and hollers in a great rockabilly style whilst Kenny Parchman shows vitality on Tennessee Zip. Rudy Grayzell's Ducktail is more like the rockabilly that is well loved by many - a screaming vocal and manic guitar are the main components. Jimmy Edwards Love Bug Crawl is surely Jerry Lee Lewis inspired and Ray Harris gives us a version of Greenback Dollar, Watch & Chain in which he certainly has the Rockabilly warble. Curtis Johnson gives us Baby Baby and this has all of the components for a top Rockabilly song. Roz Larne also provides a fine example of the genre on Baby Take Me Back. Wayne Williams has the required energy on Red Hot Mama. Jackie Lee Cochran gives us a classic Rockabilly on Hip Shakin' Mama and Corky Jones' Hot Dog has that garage made feel to it.
Some of the biggest names of Rock N Roll and Country are here; Marty Robbins is one of those big names and Long Tall Sally is a big song to go with it. It's not as energetic as Little Richard but who was? Carl Perkins is perhaps the biggest name in Rockabilly and he shows he is the daddy on Put Your Cat Clothes On - class does show. He also contributes Dixiefried, which is a mid-paced Rockabilly classic. Gene Vincent is one of the greats and Woman Love is trademark Vincent. The voice is there on Gonna Back Up Baby and The Bluecats also start to show signs of their class. Buddy Holly gives us I'm Changing All Those Changes and this indicates what was to come from the great man. His other contribution, Rock Around With Ollie Vee is early but his class shines through. Less famous is Billy Barrix who provides a stuttering delivery, no doubt modelled on Holly, on Cool Off Baby. Charlie Feathers delivers another stuttering vocal on Everybody's Loving My Baby. Ricky Nelson gives us the blues side of Rockabilly on If You Can't Rock Me. He also has Boppin' The Blues but should this really be included on an album of Rockabilly songs? Eddie Cochran is one of the biggest names of them all and 20 Flight Rock was one song that crossed over into popular areas. He gives an understated performance here. Roy Orbison is not a name that you would expect to see here but he turns in a great performance on Mean Little Mama. He also gives us (A Cat Called) Domino but this is not so good. Elvis Presley contributes My Baby Left Me and this is pure class from the first note. He also is included with I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone and although it's not Rockabilly as such, it does show where his roots were. Johnny Burnette is one of the giants of the genre and Rockabilly Boogie is good but not any better than the best of the others. Also gives us Lonesome Train and he is back on form with just enough emotion in the voice. Billy Lee Riley is one of the best known artists and Pearley Lee has just enough defiance in the voice. One of the first Rockabilly songs that I ever heard was his Flying Saucer Rock - a classic from a master.
There is, of course, a down side and Bobby Sisco is too proper and not nearly wild enough on Go Go Go. Al Ferrier's Hey Baby is tame and Roy Moss sounds like Vic Reeves' Shooting Stars pub singer on You're My Big Baby Now. Billy Wallace is docile on Burning The Wind. Wanda Jackson was one of the few women to make the grade but I Gotta Know flits between country and Rockabilly and really there should be no place for this on this album. Hot Dog That Made Him Mad is poor. Collins Kids - Hop, Skip & Jump is not for me. George & Earl - Done Gone is not defiant enough in the vocal. Sammy Masters performs and energetic Pink Cadillac but it is too clean overall. Jay Chevalier is all over the place on Rock N Roll Angel. Narvel Felts is poor on Cry Baby Cry. Buzz Busby puts it all in for the performance on Rock N Roll Fever but he still doesn't come up to the standards of some of the others. However, the biggest crime of all is Curtis Gordon's take on Sitting On Top Of The World and shame on him for taking this blues classic and turning it into a circus.
All things considered there are more plus' than minus' and it will be a good addition to the audiophile library.
David Blue September 2008
Every time North Carolina-based Jonathan releases a new record, he seems to be taking his music into a new direction too, and The Law And The Lonesome (great title!) evokes the very milieu into which he's moved: that of the sweeping and spare Texas landscape. The title track kicks off with a gloomy, bleak slice of dusty “you took the wrong way home” Americana, with Jonathan's pained vocal line and gentle, uncomplicated guitar picking punctuated by dark chordings from a five-string violin and a deep twang guitar. Epic yet claustrophobic, and grand yet intimate; much like Jeffrey Foucault, I was minded to think at times during this set of ten songs, most of which have a terrific sense of atmosphere, dealing as they do with desperate people and their dark familiars (crows, coyotes and sudden storms). Standouts include May The River Run Dry, the classic tale of Diana Jones, the desolate Cohenesque The Fifth Wheel, the tender Soldier's Lullaby and the laconic desperation of Clean. Only Houston Window Blues seems a bit of a throwaway by comparison with the deeper resonances of the rest of the songs. Intimacy is a key quality of this record, with Jonathan's own undersold musicianship augmented only by that of co-producer/sound engineer Chris Bartos.
David Kidman August 2008
A distinct case of a WYSIWYG, “what it says on the tin” release, about which there will be no qualms in recommending for the Brodsky devotee. It presents close on two hours of typical Brodsky live act, recorded at three different locations (North Carolina, Georgia and Dublin); not quite sure how three dates divide up into two sets, but there you go... Anyway, Chuck plays solo, with Don Porterfield's fretless bass in tow, and by and large you couldn't find a more persuasive combination to get across the message of the songs. The catch, as with all live records, is that you just had to be there, for there's plenty of evident banter with the audience and some of the more in-joke side of Chuck's sense of humour is bound to be lost in translation to audio disc. Equally inevitably, then, unless you were actually there (or at one of Chuck's recent gigs), you may well find the experience palls after around three-quarters-way through the first of the two discs. Or even earlier if you've never entirely connected with some of Chuck's trademark baseball tall-stories. This is not meant to sound ungrateful for Waterbug's enterprise, but the hard truth is that nobody but a diehard Chuck Brodsky fan would put the release of a Brodsky live set above one of any other artist. And this does form a perfectly reasonable sampler, a way-in to Chuck's world, with many of Chuck's finest creations represented here, and with the carrot of two brand new songs (Lili's Braids and the break-inducing fun of Armitage Shanks) to tempt us further. With the bottom line that Chuck is a very talented storyteller in song, a gifted raconteur whose ability to hold his audience is never in question, and so there will always be a place for the issue of a live set such as this, particularly when it's presented to Waterbug's usual high standard. Quality of recording itself is excellent, but on the latter half of disc one there's a slight (but disconcerting) aura to Chuck's voice which makes me wonder whether those particular tracks had been mastered at too low a pitch.
David Kidman August 2008
It's unfortunate, but the title of this CD is just a bit offputting. I cringe at mere mention of that Louis Armstrong song, and always have done. If it weren't for the fact that the record's released by that excellent label Waterbug, I'd have been tempted to give up and pass it on to another reviewer. Even so, the opening cut - a rendition of When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along, another of my non-favourite songs - didn't exactly put me in a good mood. But thereafter, Mark presents us with a collection of songs that (with one or two exceptions) no-one would be embarrassed to teach to the kids, and certainly plenty of songs that are worth an airing. Fans of Mark Dvorak will need to know that all but four of the tracks have already been available on his previous records (which are all currently out of print, more's the pity): one comes from 1992's Use It Up, Wear It Out, eleven from 1995's Old Songs And New People, and three apiece from 1996'sJust Something My Grandma Used To Sing and 2000's Weavermania Live. Mark's simple and accessible performances are charming without being twee, and above all refreshingly unpatronising, while his selection of songs enterprisingly embraces several that we don't hear often enough, like fun songs by Woody Guthrie (Put Your Finger In The Air, Lay Down Little Dogies, My Daddy Flies That Ship In The Sky) and Dave Williams (Little Pink Pig), and that brilliantly intelligent piece of hokum I'm My Own Grandpa. These are unashamedly placed alongside Malvina Reynolds' thoughtful God Bless The Grass and established classics like Oh Susanna and This Land Is Your Land, with Brownie McGhee's Jump Little Children and two intriguing Leadbelly-associated items providing further roots interest. Mark gets suitably spirited (but not over-cooked) support from a host of Chicago's finest folk musicians, and The Sons Of The Never Wrong help him out on the four newly-recorded cuts. Shame about the bookending tracks (even tho' they're tastefully and unsentimentally done - but that's personal preference for ya)! The rest is unpretentious magic for kids of all ages: oh yes!
David Kidman August 2008
Ten Thousand of whatever currency seems a low value to put on this release, the third album from this uncompromising Canadian four-piece. If you got to hear their Fighting And Onions album last year, you'll know what to expect, and its definitive sound is pretty much unaltered, even tho' they've changed percussionists in the meantime (Jason Woolley's been replaced by Peter Balkwill). That means primitive Delta blues forced into an unholy marriage with gutbucket old-time mountain music, with layers of primordial worksong and gospel showing through the cracks. Right from the opening Go Back Home, the Agnostics crank up that there aural sandpaper as they were born to, with wiry, gawky, clunking banjos and clattery percussion surrounding the upfront chain-gang vocals on the following track The Boig. Mean'n'dirty lowdown blues is the nature of the game on Dumb It Down, with growling trombone adding weight to the grinding slide work and thudding bass on Taking It Out. On the proto-weather-chant of Rainstorms In My Knees, a primitive drumbeat provides the rumblin' rollin' thunder. You Got It Wrong takes the pell-mell Hayseed Dixie punk thrash at approved tempo but tones it down to a finer-graded breakdown, with more delicate detail in the picking, scraping and banging. Some cuts are almost more Beefheart than Beefheart, with that aspect of the band's sound arguably even more strongly in focus than on albums one and two - Never Be Dead and Life Is Long could almost have found a home on Mirror Man for instance. In addition to the original compositions, The Agnostics tackle three covers: Sleepy John Estes' Stop That Thing and Son House's Empire State Express come off best, while Dewey Balfa's La Valse De Balfa doesn't quite get into the basic Cajun root. But the album's still a roaring success - for, supremely raw and in-yer-face, this is music that takes no prisoners (and if it did, they'd be out there workin' in that there gang!).
David Kidman August 2008
It feels like Putumayo has scanned the four corners of the earth to make world music truly accessible. In doing so they have opened the imagination, eyes and more importantly the ears, of those lucky enough to have come across the ‘Presents’ series.
The rod they have made is that it was always going to be impossible to keep raising the bar and while Putumayo Presents Quebec does what sets out to do, it’s not one of the best in the collection.
Perhaps it’s the narrowing of the focus. With Quebec being a French Canadian province it’s natural for the music to be heavily influenced by that country. It makes it difficult for the uninitiated to latch on to and appreciate the subtle shades that undoubtedly lie within.
At the core of the album is a mix of latin rhythms and cool sophistication . It’s hard not to think in pastel shades while listening to the likes of Myreille Bedard singing Il Fait Dimanche.
Albums whose lyrics are entirely foreign language, rely heavily on the spirit they can create and to its credit, ‘Quebec’ manages to create a sense of freedom and life but stripped of any lyrical emotional reference points, listening eventually becomes hard work.
Notable highlights include La Bottine Souriante with La Brunette Est La which proves that great folk music is universal and travels beautifully.
It feels almost churlish to criticize a collection that is as enjoyable as Putumayo Presents Quebec and in truth it’s a million miles away from being a poor album. It’s just that it’s a little overshadowed by the inspiration provided by some of the earlier compilations.
Michael Mee August 2008
Folkus Pocus is a duo comprising Caroline and Dan Hollingshurst, two young instrumentalists who met while studying music at university. Caroline has a lifelong love of folk dance music, whereas Dan's background lies in improvised jazz and classical music, and the cross-fertilisation of these approaches brings some felicitous and fresh-sounding musical adventures. It's probably a drawback (and probably not) that with their necessarily restricted palette of available timbres (fiddle, flute or recorder with just a piano for accompaniment), opportunities for experimentation without resorting to multitracking are limited. Even so, Caroline and Dan are to be congratulated for not succumbing to the temptation of over-arranging their tunes, and they coax a commendable vitality out of what they have to hand and they obviously enormously enjoy playing. It amounts to a very competent, always sparkling collection of music for dancing, and covers an admirably wide range of tunes, from traditional pieces (Morpeth Rant, April Storm) to several Playford selections (including some less usual fare), a dance by Handel, some vigorous American contradance reels to a handful of more recently penned items (even including a dash of Bert Kaempfert!) and closing with Ashokan Farewell. I do like the vibrant way the duo respond to each other's playing, especially on those tunes which set a cracking pace from the outset and particularly on the Pipe On The Hob jig-set (track 8) where you sometimes feel Dan's hand is about to run off the keyboard! But there are also times when the total effect is a tad polite, and Caroline's use of vibrato tone on some tunes (eg White Wheat) can be a mite distracting. Although the duo's performances are abundantly committed, fiery and fresh-sounding, some less-than-perfect intonation lets the side down at times. But I realise that this can be tricky music to negotiate, and Caroline and Dan are clearly under no illusion that magic tricks (especially of the musical kind) will always need more practice if they are to wholly convince, so maybe that's all they need in order to penetrate to the inner sanctum of folk's magic circle.
David Kidman August 2008
This master melodeonist from Norfolk is a real character with a quirky and individual style and a determinedly uncompromising outlook on life. And a brilliant cartoonist, by the by (see the album's cover!). Stubbornly but entirely legitimately, Tony revels in the sound of his antique Hohner melodeons with their noisy key-clicking - which as far as I'm concerned gives his recordings a special appeal, and my ears at any rate soon grow accustomed to it! And yes, it's true, there is no instrumental multitracking whatsoever on this disc, for one of the features of Tony's playing is his ability to sound like two people are each playing a melody line at the same time. This is but one element of the wide appeal of his performances: another is his enthusiastic embracing of an eclectic range of material, all of which he carries off with acute flair. Tony shares with Brian Peters and John Kirkpatrick (to name but two) the distinction of being an able-fingered squeezer who can credibly sequence The Abbotts Bromley Horn Dance, waltzes both lovely and lively, some ragtime, a Jimmy Shand piece, a Howard Keel showtune and even a bizarrely soulful rendition of Strange Fruit (yes, the very song Billie Holliday made famous) - and do them all justice. Not to mention that inimitable Norfolk accent and ripe sense of humour on his own Down On The Hard (careful!), The Haddock Song (the finest - and that's of-fishial!) and the quite touching Binder Twyne, and, purely instrumentally - probably best of all (or should I say “hall”?!) - his own Beccles Stomp, a deliciously bluesy New Orleans-style number. Only one puzzle remains: Tony's defiant but slightly self-deprecating booklet notes term his Enigma Of The Southwold Tide “the most boring song ever written” - no way! This whole CD is a totally honest, proud and immensely enjoyable little gem full of goonishly-delightful moments, to whom no-one in their right mind should fitfully admonish “Shut up Beccles!”
David Kidman August 2008
This Sheffield-based fab-foursome has made giant strides since its (even then, pretty accomplished) WildGoose debut Changeling five years ago, and they continue to play to their strengths (and they have so many!) while demonstrating a strong ongoing sense of musical and artistic development without compromising their ideals or principles. In that sense it's not an easy album to review, for Crucible still have so much going for them that it's tempting to just become overwhelmed (in the nicest possible way) by their individual and collective musicianship. This time round they open proceedings with a persuasive parade of their talents, reflecting their prominent role in the local traditional dance scene: an acappella calling-on song for the Grenoside Sword Dancers, leading straight into a tune-set beginning with one of the dances they use (Roxburgh Castle). As ever, the band's rhythmic impetus is both unerring and brilliantly coordinated, never forgetting credibility of expression as an integral element. Every successive track has something special to marvel at, though - instrumentally, there's Gav's bold guitar riffing (check out the strident Old Mrs. Wilson set) and ever-imaginative fills and rhythmic tricks (ibid.), Helena's increasing use of the border bagpipes to stirringly complement Jess's intuitive and masterful fiddle and viola playing, Rich's ever-imaginative melodeon work which manages to combine rhythmic panache and expressive élan, and not least the majestic nature of the complete group sound when gainfully employed. As if that's not enough, there's Crucible's utterly enviable vocal prowess, not only individually but in those tremendous vocal harmonies and their thorough grasp of forms and techniques - their intricate treatment of the traveller song True Love is both challenging and inspirational. Then there's the band's immensely thoughtful approach to their chosen material, and Gav's ability to write original songs within the spirit of the tradition - and now Jess too! for her composition, Pilgrimage, is a stunner, a definite album highlight. Other standouts include a potently sombre setting of Dancing At Whitsun (complete with atmospheric pipes on the postlude), an epic Three Maidens (Helena excels here at holding our attention through its six-minute span), a sparky Collier Lad, and a rich-textured (yet almost drained in its impact) acappella reworking of Gav's unsettling Under The Leaves. The disc's finale (Walkley Anthem) possesses a warm brass-chorale arrangement courtesy of Jim Moray which ideally suits the Sheffield-carol-like ambience of the tune. Have I missed anything else? Well, you simply must get yourself a copy of this excellent CD to find out!
David Kidman August 2008
Although Edwina's a well-regarded singer-songwriter with a wealth of experience (and travel!) under her belt, this is, amazingly, only her second solo record. Although it's markedly different from the first it's still recognisably Edwina's own - and not just in the literal sense that her singing voice is so breathtakingly distinctive. While, interestingly, her debut CD didn't quite reflect its title (Out On My Own), at any rate in terms of its expert and slick production (courtesy of Clive Gregson and John Wood), Pour Me A Drink is an altogether more intimate collection that places the focus even more squarely on Edwina herself, her voice and guitar (no other musicians appear, excepting Jake McKeague on dobro or guitar on the album's bookend-cuts). This minimalist gambit pays off handsomely, allowing for maximum concentration on the songs themselves via Edwina's fabulously expressive delivery and her thoroughly musical and delicately judged fingerpicking (no boring s/s strumminess here). She really puts everything into communicating the message of a song: that's only to be expected in the case of her own compositions (even so, not all singer-songwriters are able to convey their own meaning as effectively!), but Edwina also brings something quite special to a cover version that you feel you're understanding its nuances of meaning for the first time - quite a gift that! (Just hear what she does with Richard Thompson's Waltzing's For Dreamers and Randy Newman's Feels Like Home... and she even makes playful capital out of the hoary old Froggie Went A-Courting!) Of the self-penned songs, standouts must embrace the yearning melancholy of Leave A Light On For You, the urgent, desperate Run (co-written with Carissa Broadwater, who also contributes harmony vocals), and the exquisite closer Irish Waltz. And the classic-sounding title track (a co-write with Clive Gregson), is the absolute epitome of resigned-heartbreak-lonesome. Albeit writ from personal experience, each song is both a masterpiece of introspection and an outward projection of encouragement and hope. In conclusion: well, Out On My Own was pretty good, and a well-produced calling-card for a way-more-than-promising singer-songwriter; but, placed alongside Pour Me A Drink, there's almost no contest, for it's the latter that, simply stunning in its immediacy (and so closely approximating the pindrop atmosphere of her live appearances) truly convinces as the real-deal Edwina.
David Kidman August 2008
The Lark Rise Band was formed in May 2007 by Ashley Hutchings as a direct result of his being asked to perform at the event commemorating the 60th anniversary of Flora Thompson's death. Since then it has performed, all over the UK, Ashley's music from the original Keith Dewhurst plays (based on Flora's Lark Rise To Candleford trilogy) as well as some new pieces written especially by Ashley. Lark Rise Revisited (this album) includes several of the latter - including a cover of the theme tune from the BBC drama production of the trilogy - plus some unpublished songs from the original productions. Also interpolated are half a dozen evocative passages from the book, read by Judy or Ashley, but it's the music that is the key to the feel of the whole enterprise, the music that (as Ashley says in his booklet note) “continues to inspire us, uplift us and raise our spirits”. The Lark Rise Band consists of Simon Care, Judy Dunlop, Ruth Angell, Mark Hutchinson and Guy Fletcher, who are clearly inspired under Ashley's leadership and turn in some very fine performances here. High points are Ruth's Queenie's Bees (a lovely portrait of one of the book's special characters), a wonderfully bleak rendition of Richard Thompson's Bad News Is All The Wind Can Carry by guest (and fellow Rainbow Chaser) Jo Hamilton, a touching 'Til The Time We Meet Again (originally written by Ashley for a 1985 Leicester theatre production of Lark Rise), and Issy Emeney's poignant Lark Rise (Alf's Tune) - written for, but not used in, the recent BBC serial. Even the kids' chorus acquit themselves credibly on the May Song. And Laura's Song (written by Ashley with Cathy LeSurf for the late-80s eco-series The Wild Side Of Town) gets a timely revisit, relevant as ever. My only reservation is with the setting of Bonny Labouring Boy, a tad too lush for my taste. Inevitably there's a certain episodic quality to this album, in spite of the unifying concept, and it's hard to escape a final impression of mild bittiness, so I'd recommend judicious use of the skip or programme buttons. But it's still a worthy addition to the ever-expanding canon of Ashley Hutchings' concept projects.
www.myspace.com/thelarkriseband
www.talkingelephant.com
David Kidman August 2008
Masterly. Nigh faultless. Bliss. Thereafter, I am fair lost for words to describe this beautiful CD, without having to resort to critical clichés. So I need to distance myself and give you the straight biog... Sketch is a trio comprising Maggie Boyle (yes!), Gary Boyle (no relation!) and Dave Bowie (and before you jump, no!), in a totally natural musical confluence of one of the folk scene's finest singers, an excellent guitarist and an excellent double bass player, both of the latter having serious cred in jazz and acoustic circles. And yes, the combination does work! And how! So maybe I'll just provide some word-sketches then. The music of Sketch is relaxed, easy and intimate in demeanour, belying the intense artistry and accomplishment within and exuding a consummate classiness. Soothing but stimulating, and gently compelling. Truly cool, yet also red-hot spine-tingling.
It's not folk, it's not jazz - well, not really, but it's got the best of both worlds. Should you think Pentangle? Ship Of Fools? John Martyn? OK; all and yet none exactly. Take a look at the source-material Sketch perform: of the album's nine tracks, five are arrangements of traditional songs, one a set of traditional reels. Hearing these song arrangements for the first time, one's struck by the freshness of execution that stands outwith the practical need to provide a conscious framework - in one respect you know what you're going to get, and yet you're constantly surprised and delighted by Gary and Dave's fluid, supple playing, responding to and answering (and yes, these can mean different things) Maggie's own fluid and supple responses to the texts. Her own exemplary phrasing, her use of restraint in decoration and nuance, her skilful use of dynamic shading, all these elements are mirrored in the brilliant counterpoint of her fellow-musicians (to use the word accompanists is to undervalue their contribution). Moreover, the three players have a miraculously acute sense of internal balance, clearly born of a deep respect for each other's talents, which is conveyed unerringly by the clear-toned, jewel-like recording.
Sketch have produced what is very much a less is more record, a miracle that so ostensibly restricted a palette (which could all too easily be sterile) can conjure such a varied emotional landscape. One packed with enchanting incidental details, yet never feeling cramped or constrained by the need to engage the listener. Gary's inventiveness as a soloist knows no bounds, yet he knows instinctively when to rein in and support or step out into the spotlight; Dave's organic approach to the role of the bassist perfectly complements Gary's intricate playing while both creating and allowing space within the texture supporting Maggie's own melodic lines and ornamentations. But if the Sketch renditions of the traditional songs are fabulous, then what they do with the three more recent compositions is nothing short of revelatory, with an extra dimension of contemporary empathy imparted to God Bless The Child in particular, while Maggie turns in an intensely sympathetic version of Steve Tilston's Anthony Believes and Bert Jansch's Bird Song also comes off unexpectedly well. And the cover and booklet design, in its simple pastel minimalism, ideally reflects the deft brushstrokes of the artistic musical gestures within. Perfection. Bliss. Aaah...sublime...
David Kidman August 2008
The youthful, hirsute Hartlepool threesome The Young'uns need no introduction to folk audiences in the north-east, and they're getting an increasing number of plaudits in more southern climes for their vigorous performance style and wall-of-sound presence (imagine half of the mighty Wilson Family for starters!), garnering plenty of bookings at UK festivals now. I've been enthusing about these awesomely talented guys for a while now, and I'm glad to have finally caught up with their two available CDs, for it's high time they were reviewed somewhere (the first, To Hell With Pirate John!, came out last autumn, and the second, Plastic Cod'eads, a mere couple of months ago). And as it turns out, while the two discs are pretty much complementary, in terms of production especially the second is streets ahead (naturally, for they have a greatly talented sound engineer within their ranks: the amazing David Eagle).
The lads didn't consider it worth my while bothering to review To Hell With Pirate John!, “as it was recorded in one day and with no control over the production”, but I really ought to do more than just mention its existence in passing, simply because it does still form a straight-down-the-line, tiny-warts-and-all-but-so-what! representation of the trio's overwhelming acappella live presence, gutsy and tremendously upfront. Three intense and hefty individual voices, yes, but when they're combined in harmony they fair set the spine tingling. Over the course of their two CDs thus far, Michael Hughes, Sean Cooney and Dave Eagle have shown themselves to be masters of all kinds of material: on that first disc alone there's shanties (appropriately-paced and lustily delivered), folk standards (Jolly Wagoners, Pace-Egging Song) and contemporary folk classics (John Ball, I Can Hew, and, most notably of all, Graeme Miles' Sea Coal, of which the Young'uns' brilliantly considered interpretation has just got to be the finest you'll ever hear). Occasionally, some of the choice of repertoire, as well as the aforementioned wall-of-sound delivery, betrays a distinct Wilson Family inspiration - but hey, that's a great place to learn from and the Young'uns always rise above their influences to give us renditions that are truly their own and full of their own distinctive character. This CD may have its rough-and-ready moments, with the odd duff note or harmony or the occasional distractingly over-dominant harmony line – but it so perfectly conveys the in-yer-face, almost visceral excitement, the sense of danger and “singing on the edge”, the unbridled passion and commitment that the Young'uns bring to each and every performance (it had been said that never once do you feel they're just “going through the motions” – even if they do occasionally resort to singing in the Gents'!). Whatever, I wouldn't want to be without this CD!
These qualities carry over into the second CD too, despite its being for the most part a markedly different kettle of fish'eads (so to speak), a rather gentler affair (I can't really use the word “quieter”!) that prominently features some recent original-compositions by Young'un Sean. Pirate John had begun to hint at the songwriting talents within the group, by incorporating two strong local-based songs, but those presented on Cod'eads are even more remarkable for their well-crafted expression and their display of real and deep insight into aspects of Hartlepool's heritage and local history. And, lest you be tempted to write the Young'uns off as just a loud bawl-it-out combo, you'll encounter considerable vocal sensitivity on this record - notably in Sean's powerful and lyrical re-telling of elements in the life-story of Sancta Bega (who was said to have founded the monastery at Hartlepool in the 7th century) and the tragic ballad of Mary Farding. The “Another Side Of The Young'uns” demeanour of much of Cod'eads comes from the use of a modicum of instrumentation as an integral part of the sound-picture, here including a generally intelligent (and not overfacing) use of keyboard textures and some well-considered guitar lines. But five of Codheads' 12 tracks play to the lads' special vocal strengths, being done acappella. These embrace many of the album standouts: best of all is Sean's outstanding, eerily atmospheric One December Morn, which commemorates the German bombardment of Hartlepool in 1914 (and Sean's mum Jean provides a cameo-vocal on this track to great effect).
Other highlights include The Legend Of Holy Hilda, from the pen of the late Dick Smales of Stockton, and The Fisherman's Daughter, an excellent local-tradition song from the pen of Mike Stephenson. There's also a stirring version of the traditional The Pressgang, and a shanty (Santiana) provides rousing ballast. Interestingly, although the lads are always great fun live, I find it's the lighter, more flippant items, where that irrepressible quality (and a “jolly, rollicking” pub-piano) threatens to run amok just a little, that feel like crowd-pleasing makeweights (tho' only in comparison, I'd stress). But even so, any CD worth its sea-coal needs, and thrives on, such contrast, and this new record is stronger for its embracing of the whole emotional gamut of a Young'uns club or festival set. I'll also warn you: you gotta leave each CD playing for its cheeky “secret track” (the epic one on Pirate John is specially cool!!)... Brill, lads - so keep takin' the Podcasts!
www.myspace.com/theyounguns
www.theyounguns.co.uk
David Kidman August 2008
Jon's is one of those names that will be only peripherally familiar: he was a founder member of Epona alongside Nancy Kerr and siblings Kate and Colin (the latter now works with Van Eyken), and he's now with Magpie Lane, but as this neat little disc shows, he's become an attractive, if quietly-spoken, singer songwriter in his own right. He draws his imagery from the natural world, and he possesses a craftsman-storyteller's instinct, while allowing his intricately moulded guitar traceries to stay close to centre-stage. With the help of Kate Garrett (harmonium, flute, whistles), brother Colin (bass), Tom Hooper (drums), and melodious strings from Giles Lewin, Kathy Whitaker, Jane Griffiths and Barney Morse-Brown, Jon has created an atmospheric, if understated sound-world that's ideally evocative of what he wryly describes as “the perfect English summertime I never had either”. After a rather undistinguished opening track, the disc really gets to cast its gentle spell, highlights coming with the chamber-Pentangle mode of Willow Song, the delicate poetry of Windfall, the luminous Stole The Ground and the migratory vision of Swallows (previously covered by Abbie Lathe). Perhaps the exceedingly languid, lazy Sleepy Nothing Kind Of Day is just a little too tongue-in-cheek, but on the other hand I really liked the swinging, jazzy insouciance of Hold My Breath, the wistful closer Hold Back The Tide has much of the air of Forever Changes, and Jon's treatment of The Cuckoo (the only non-original on the disc) is neatly judged. This is rather an appealing album, even if I did sometimes wonder whether the proverbial curate's egg fell out of its nest just a little too soon.
David Kidman August 2008
Low culture, in case you're wondering, is what folk music (music of the people) is - as opposed to “high art”, ostensibly. So Jim's album-full of low culture is accessible to the people? Well, yes - although it also happens to be a distinctly personal artistic statement. It comes on the heels of two fairly iconoclastic releases (Sweet England and Jim Moray, both albums which set the sabres of folkdom rattling ominously and garnered some unfairly hostile reviews - though not from this quarter, I hasten to add, albeit I did have some specific reservations); and it actually makes for a comparatively orthodox listening experience (I stress the word “comparatively”) - though that's not to say totally comfortable (which again is a Good Thing!).
For it's still a brave and challenging album; it's just that it doesn't seem either as unacceptably wilful or as deliberately confrontational as parts of those previous two discs did – and there's nothing on Low Culture which I'd class as even bordering on unlistenable. Of course, the passage of time may be a factor in this latter observation, and it may also simply be due to the fact that listeners have got used to quite a lot of radical (and horse-frightening) cutting-edge experimentation in the past five years, in elements at least of the releases from The Imagined Village and Broadcaster to the Winterset, and even Eliza Carthy's latest.
Notwithstanding the above considerations, the can be no dispute that as before, Jim and his fellow-players have excelled themselves on this new album too with a display of expert musicianship that stays on the right side of technical and expressive proficiency without ramming its expertise down your orifices. The actual arrangements this time rely not on the overkill features, the unfortunate flowery piano accompaniments, sometimes-misguided electronica and pomp-prog exploits of parts of albums one and two, but instead on rather more restrained, and genuinely and unobtrusively creative, embellishments of basic but flavoursome folk-rock and even chamber-folk stylings.
Jim's own tonally faultless singing seems to have both become stronger and settled into its own style, persuasive in its own way and full of feeling; happily, too, Jim's now largely jettisoned the previously-noted pop-mannered trappings and adopted a more natural approach to phrasing. He's telling his tales honestly, and by and large he convinces. Also, Jim's choice of material is both inspired and worthwhile, and his real aptitude for arrangements both creative and sensitive is similarly commendable, a skill that rather invites the riposte that he's turning low culture into the despised higher art-form (but not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, to my mind!).
All the positive elements come together with unerring accuracy on (in particular) Fanny Blair (eerily spare-textured, and all the more supremely dramatic and effective for it), Henry's Downfall (more florid, as befitting the stately gravity of its warning), and Leaving Australia (where the use of mbira and kora lend an intriguing sense of musical adventure to complement that expressed in the text). And the striking unity of Jim's own vision of these English folk tales is given a further layer of corporate identity by the presence of guest musicians on hurdy gurdy (Martin Keates), border bagpipes (Fiona Bradshaw), melodeon (Nick Cooke) and a clutch of excellent young string players including Mawkin's Jamie Delarre and Jim's sister Jackie Oates. Perhaps the Morris-On rockery of I'll Go List For A Sailor provides too obvious a stylistic homage, but Jim and his crew do a solid enough job here; on the other hand, the rather wistful nature of Across The Western Ocean is, I feel, somewhat underplayed in Jim's even-textured and ultra-accessible musical setting. The “wild card” in the album's traditional pack is Jim's provocative treatment of Lucy Wan, which quite unexpectedly dovetails a rap by grime MC Bubbz into the episodic setting; this at first unavoidably invokes a ready-made comparison with Benjamin Zephaniah's contribution to The Imagined Village's Tam Lyn, and I'm not yet sure whether I find either venture, with its slight suspicion of posturing, entirely convincing - but there's certainly potential for further exploration within such a collaboration.
Fitting hand-in-glove with the traditional songs given the Jim Moray treatment, we find some real gems too. Valentine, which sets words by Adrian Shaw to a morris tune, is both compellingly beautiful and full of crossover spirit, with Jim's ingenious multi-layered arrangement incorporating “an air-organ with a very folk-centric history”! And the irrepressible, irresistible bounce of Andy Partridge's All You Pretty Girls gives Jim the chance to credibly display his propensity for Beatle-esque vocal tactics in a jaunty, brassy quasi-Bellowhead arena.
OK, I was initially a little unsure about Jim's approach to Bella Hardy's powerful Three Black Feathers, finding the gentle newgrass vibe and string-soaked backing a tad too placid (dare I say mildly Rusby-esque?), but eventually with deeper listening it comes to make sense on its own uneasy terms outwith Bella's stark original rendition. Finally, there's the hidden track, Jim's own curiously poignant composition Adam Ant Alone In His Padded Cell: based on fact, this has been part of his live set for a while, but also now works surprisingly well in the overall context of this album of “low culture”.
Like any notable artistic statement, Jim's “difficult third album” is not without its mildly debatable moments, but I'm sure that - more so than either of its predecessors - it's destined to become an essential item in any serious folk fan's collection, and one which will more readily convince the erstwhile-unbeliever that Jim's no mere point-scoring agent-provocateur pulling the woolly jumper over the eyes of the folk fraternity, but instead a rapidly maturing artist of integrity, imagination and vision.
David Kidman September 2008
Happy Daze was the second (and final) release by the Mk. 2 lineup of Lindisfarne (for Warners - following the expiry of the contract with Charisma, with whom Roll On Ruby had been recorded a year earlier, in 1973). Original members Alan Hull and Ray Jackson were joined by four newcomers: bassist Tommy Duffy (ex-Bell & Arc), guitarist Charlie Harcourt (ex-Jackson Heights), keyboardist Kenny Craddock (ex-Airforce) and Paul Nichols. Happy Daze was a critical and commercial failure in this country, but the States open-mindedly embraced it for what it was: a well-produced, clean-sounding and bravely eclectic record. To fans of the Mk. 1 band, however, it all seemed too mid-Atlantic and ballsy-commercial, even a bit of a mish-mash, for to their ears the Mk. 2 band's sound bore little resemblance to that of Mk. 1 for much of the album's length - all of which may explain why Happy Daze has never been reissued on CD until now. The latter observation has more than a grain of truth, sure, but that's not to say it's a bad album by any means, and taken on its own terms it provides some very pleasurable listening generally that well stands up to any comparisons.
Inevitably perhaps, the five tracks penned by Alan Hull provide some of the album standouts, notably the beautiful pastoral River (which would not have sounded out of place with the Mk. 1 lineup - in fact, its composition dates from the late 60s), which features some gorgeous harmony work and has a great sense of repose (it was recorded in the garden!). The catchy Dealer's Choice has a hint of Fog On The Tyne amongst its goodtime Band vibe, whereas You Put The Laff On Me takes things into the then-fashionable white-soul territory (and quite credibly too). Kenny's compositions also shine: the folky Nellie features some neat bass and mandolin amongst its faux-Blondel recorder setting, and the closing track Tomorrow is almost too deceptively simple and bears repeated scrutiny. Tommy was responsible for some good moments too, notably the catchy The Man Down There (another song that wouldn't have disgraced the Mk. 1 band) and on the rockier opener Tonight (a would-be-hit-single). And the playing is very fine throughout, with some particularly appealing fretless bass contributions from Tommy.
The jewel in the crown of this reissue, though, is the seven bonus tracks: priceless Alan Hull solo demos made at Wallsend in the late 60s, pre-Lindisfarne. Of these, only Where Is My Sixpence? has been available before (on the now-deleted We Can Swing Together compilation); but to say that all six of the other demos are worth hearing is an understatement. Dingly Dell and Alright On The Night were to appear on Lindisfarne albums, of course, and Alan later revisited (reworked) Picture A Little Girl on his Squire album, but the remaining songs may at first seem curious coming from Alan's pen (the Harperesque rant Doctor Of Love especially); whatever, the stunning quality of these songs is undeniable. It's hoped that further gems from David Wood's archive will be made available for a future collection.
As always, Market Square have done us proud with this welcome reissue, with excellently authoritative booklet notes from Lindisfarne specialist Jim Henderson and track annotation from Tommy Duffy. Complete lyrics for the Happy Daze album are provided - the only thing missing is the lyrics for the bonus tracks!
David Kidman September 2008
Back in 1994, well-respected Lindisfarne guitarist and songwriter Rod took a break from band duties to record a solo album; the resulting One Track Mind was released only in limited-edition cassette format. It was a superb set, eleven songs in all, that included some timeless blues and folk standards that had inspired him alongside solo versions of some of his own well-loved classics like Road To Kingdom Come, Train In G Major and (of course!) Meet Me On The Corner. Just under half of the album was Rod solo, demonstrating in particular just how masterly a guitarist (especially slide) he is as well as an easygoing vocalist skilled in expressive understatement: these tracks included a really impressive take on Ain't No More Cane (On The Brazos), while the stripped-bare versions of the aforementioned classics work brilliantly. On the rest of the cuts, which included powerful takes on Evil Hearted Woman and Bourgeois Blues, Rod was more than ably backed by what was then Lindisfarne's rhythm section - Steve Cunningham (bass) and Ray Laidlaw (drums). In 2001, the album was reissued on CD, and the opportunity was taken to add three extra (instrumental) tracks; these pitted Rod's guitar wizardry against his own programmed percussion, with (on occasion) judicious additional bass, harmonica and keyboard. These elegantly bluesy adventures formed a useful adjunct to the original cassette album, and made the CD an essential purchase - but glory be, this 2008 expanded reissue of the earlier CD is even more desirable, for it contains also the original home recording of No Turning Back as well as two more tracks (bringing the total up to 17), these last recorded only this year by that most sympathetic of engineers, Ron Angus. These are solo performances by Rod of songs resurrected from a very early stage of his career: Blues For A Dying Season was originally recorded around 1969 for the unreleased Downtown Faction album, whereas A Dream Within A Dream (written in 1968/69) was performed just the once by Lindisfarne for a 1971 radio broadcast. This wonderfully fresh-sounding and supremely coherent (and excellent-value) 70-minute collection just has to be one of the year's key reissues.
David Kidman September 2008
Poster boys for 80s blue eyed soul and funk dance grooves, they hit big with 1986's Digging Your Scene but, save for It Doesn't Have To Be This Way the following year, never really persuaded the British public to take them to their heart. They called it a day in 1990 with Robert Howard aka Dr Robert - going on to work with Paul Weller and carve a low key solo career. However, the original four members reunited last year and, with financial funding from fans, put together this comeback album.
There is, as you'd imagine, a bit of that old jazzy soul, best exemplified by the sax swaggering I Don't Mind, Save Me (very Style Council) and the staccato swamp funky Only Joking. But, what makes it worth exploring for none Monkey devotees are the tracks that steer away from their old template. The opening The World Can Wait, for example, which, splicing West Coast vibe and spooked folk, sounds much more like a vintage Zombies number. Or there's the folk-country inflections to the shuffling Travellin' Soul, a gentle Scottish-Occidental lilted When Love's In Bloom, the 60s psychedelic pop of I Dream Of You and the urgent rhythmic drive of The Bullet Train, a number that along with Frontline, suggest our Bob may have been listening to a few Alabama 3 albums in the past year or so. Unlikely to see any major - or even middling - revival of fortunes, but certainly worth bending the ear.
Mike Davies September 2008
This turns out to be the fifth release from Carolina bluesman Coen, who bases his music on a spicy mixture of New Orleans swamp, southern-fried Americana and soulful acoustic blues - all of which he takes on with authentically gritty demeanour and a real-deal feel. Coen's emotionally convincing vocal delivery shows traces of Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins, but he's very much his own man as his own compositions demonstrate. This time, highspots come with the voodoo on the bayou (Mambo Jumbo) and a Rory-Gallagheresque late-night-Hooker tribute Accelerated Woman, alongside a whole clutch of fine covers, including the driving bottleneck Jack Of Diamonds, a glorious rockabilly-style take on gospel (Since I Laid My Burden Down), a slice of casual ragtime-country-blues (Don't Let The Deal Go Down), and a rolling take on Professor Longhair's Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand. While his solo cut C.C. Rider shows considerable depth of artistry in stripped-down (yet admirably full-toned) mode, other key tracks also make a virtue of adding tasty Hammond organ to the basic blues-combo setting to really good effect, notably the opening Basement With The Blue Light and the vaudeville-inflected New Shoes Blues. Indeed, right on through this album, Coen's ever-developing mastery of a wide range of blues stylings is here increasingly impressive.
David Kidman September 2008
As implied by the title, this is sortof an album of two sides, sure, but unified by Mason's own strong musical personality: as Colorado-born Mason himself puts it, “an album that was true to life, just like me and my live show”. Town And Country is a genuinely solo effort, where Mason plays National style O guitar on the “country” tracks and electric guitar, Lowebow cigar-box guitar and foot drums on the “town” cuts. Infused with Mason's passion for creating a personal brand of electrified country-blues (out of the key influences of Robert Johnson, Taj Mahal and Alvin Youngblood Hart in particular), the whole record has an attractively rough-hewn vibe. Yep, this guy really understands the blues, its musical and emotional language. Johnson's Terraplane Blues gets a richly persuasive reading, and yet Mason's own compositions (like the opener Steel Pony Blues, a kinda tribute to Charley Patton, whose Boll Weevil he covers so vitally later on in the disc) turn out to be no less distinguished. I specially rate Strange Things, which says some deep things in a simple but effective way. The “Town” tracks are good too, especially Mason's primitive yet infectiously funky cover of Bukka White's Jitterbug Swing and his “electrified Skip James” revisit of the moody Cypress Grove. The early-Chicago groove of Shake Your Moneymaker translates really well to the one-man-band rig setup too. Whatever he's singing about, Mason's keening vocals really do get into your brain and make their lyric point. OK, in the end, if forced to choose, I'd say the “Country” side wins over the “Town” side for me, but it's marginal and I reckon the two facets of John-Alex Mason are pretty much complementary in a way you don't get with many bluesmen: his respect for the blues tradition is total and unwavering, and his artistry and musicianship stunning in both milieus.
David Kidman September 2008
It's only a few months since the brilliant female quartet Waking The Witch “quit while they were ahead”, but founder member Patsy has wasted no time in getting back to making music, returning to the studio with a bunch of great new songs that she's assembled to form her first solo release since 1997's Breathe Me. Her brace of late-90s albums was always going to be a hard act to follow (I still play tracks from them regularly), and more especially now after the heightened expectations of WTW, but A Little Piece Of England is an admirably assured offering that both consolidates Patsy's proven songwriting talent and takes her into an arguably more considered musical direction – albeit still rooted in the contemporary-acoustic-with-folk-sensibilities mode.
The actual title of this new CD might however perhaps mislead some of the more folky-inclined listeners into expecting either a fairly hard-hitting commentary on the state of our nation (à-la-Maggie Holland or Steve Knightley) or a more idyllic celebration of pastoral pursuits. All of which would be too simplistic an expectation, for although several of Patsy's songs undeniably incorporate an element of protest, they also form quite personal accounts of, or observations on, universal relationship conundrums and romantic dilemmas. These are self-evidently related or discussed from the angle of direct experience (rather than just being rehashed second-hand), but there's never any sense of intrusion on Patsy's privacy, instead more a feeling of somehow being included within the difficult thought processes and the situation, its history and its consequences.
As for the “little piece of England” in Patsy's songs: well, although it occurs in a literal sense through her referencing of specific locations for three of the songs here, Englishness is probably more of an undercurrent, in the sense that the imagery used, together with the often quite wistful tone and acute sense of place, are elements that seem quintessentially English in songwriting terms. Patsy cements our involvement with her songs through her ability to recount - with an enviable economy of expression - experiences and feelings common to all of us, which may have formed the basis of countless songs over time, but which are rarely voiced with such percipient sensitivity and simple, painful (yet in some ways almost detached) honesty as here.
The consciously stripped-down musical settings employed reflect the intimacy of the lyrics too: Patsy's solo (mostly acoustic, sometimes electric) guitar is sparingly and tellingly augmented by that of her producer Sam Bartholomew, with only a very occasional accordion or percussion part to mildly thicken the texture. All of which produces a gently intricate sound-world which is (perhaps surprisingly) very direct in its impact. There are some really imaginative touches too, including an eerie electronic treatment to the electric guitar part on This New Song, excitingly reflecting the unearthly, even scary synergy of personal connection between two musicians that's expressed through the lyric - you feel the pull of the magnet as you're drawn in.
The character of Patsy's own singing ranges, entirely believably, from world-weary and knowing - as in Addiction To Love - to emotionally vulnerable - as in Precious Little Soldier. The writing of the latter, a deceptively simple anti-war song, one of the album's standout tracks, was inspired by Martyn Joseph's impressive gift for combining political issues with personal feelings in song; it features some delicate chiming electric guitar figures counterpointing both Patsy's own delivery and Gina Dootson's precise and heartfelt backing vocal, and shares a certain kinship with Dylan's Visions Of Johanna in terms of structure. While each of the album's ten songs is distinctive, they're also unified by virtue of Patsy's writing having a keen sense of structure and good use of hooks both musical and lyrical (note the latter especially in Play The Game, Precious Little Soldier, Ulverston Gypsy and Sunday Morning Song - it's intelligence rather than contrivance that's on display here).
Patsy's trademark guitar figure provides the signature hesitant, ominous riff for Lamb To Slaughter, a powerful commentary on the paparazzi culture (with some seriously tasty, edgy electric guitar from Sam setting off Patsy's unsettling, bluesy vocal). At the other end of the scale, the full-toned modal-folk-guitar backdrop for Ulverston Gypsy complements both the song's nods to the tradition of Gypsy Davey and the inevitable resonances of contemporary parables by Bob Pegg (The Gypsy) and Richard Thompson (Bee's Wing). Whereas the desperation and comparative monotony of the melody of Treading Water Town mirrors the rut which the song's creative protagonist is stuck in. But there are so many incidental delights in these songs, and I'll leave you to discover the rest yourself (I'm still finding extra nuances after several plays). I need additionally to praise the clear-toned recording, and the artful (in both senses!) presentation of the whole package, with its provision of full lyrics and credits and its attractive nu-folk design and graphics that really complement the music within - another persuasive selling-point. Well done Pats - so here's to the next project!
David Kidman September 2008
Here's a wonderful record of two experienced musicians enjoying themselves thoroughly in bringing to our attention a host of rarely-heard compositions taken from a collection of manuscript tune books from North Shropshire, dating from the early-to-mid-19th-century. No dry dusty note-precise academic-style renditions here, just good honest committed playing from musicians who are steeped in the performance of music for dancing and adept at conveying its listenable qualities too. Neil's an excellent fiddle and flute player, an English dance music specialist who's also worked with Roy Clinging on Cheshire's musical heritage, while melodeonist Tony has been a mainstay of the British cajun scene for some years and is currently a member of the Boat Band. They work well together, and their sense of joy in the discovery and execution of these tunes is palpable: listening to them is like being present at a classy session with everyone enjoying every minute. The sense of momentum they generate (and importantly, maintain) is both natural and impressive, as is their use of instrumental texture; in particular, Neil's use of the octave fiddle to augment and thicken the basic melodic lines. And although there's necessarily an amount of sensible double-tracking of fiddle and flute parts, the effect is never one of over-decoration and I really appreciated the sheer variety of texture which Neil and Tony bring to their scoring of these pieces. The tunes themselves are a delightful mixture of hornpipes, waltzes, reels and polkas, with a good helping of military marches too (ranging from the grand to the elegant to the stirring). I particularly enjoyed the Nineteenth Century/Hanley's Hornpipe set and the following morris-like tune The Flock's In A Cluster, also The Kerry March (even if one debates its geographical reference!) and the wonderfully lyrical Albert Hughes' Waltz. And I'm intrigued by Neil's claim that the disc's title tune has a Welsh flavour. But whatever, this is a stimulating disc that should encourage more owners of obscure old manuscripts to make the music public.
David Kidman September 2008
The intimate ethereality of Nina's presence captivated me greatly on her 2006 album On Leaving, and her latest offering pits her tenderly expressive voice against a quite stark yet tremendously busy musical backdrop consisting exclusively of Jim White's tumbling drumming and insistent (yet equally often elusive) interjections from Nina's own fingerpicked guitar. (By the way, in case you're wondering, this is the Jim White from the Australian trio Dirty Three, not the maverick singer-songwriter). It proves to be quite an extraordinary combination, one which - if you're already acquainted with Nina's songs and singing - you might not expect to work, but it does! Described as somewhere between a duel and a dance, the music takes on a life of its own as a vital, organic dialogue between two creative minds (and bodies), in which Jim's fresh, raw and often experimental style and unpredictable rhythmic impulses (one minute dapper shimmering, the next explosive flurries of activity) serve to impart Nina's quaint and fragile musings with a new toughness of expression, while emphasising the volatile nature of her vocal talent. On songs like Late Night, Nina can turn almost at a whim from langorous, soft and breathy melodic lines to intense, howling outpouring, whereas I Write Down Lists makes a virtue out of its almost onomatopoeic jitteriness. The feel of the recordings is quasi-improvisatory, almost as if the music's being made up and reacted to as it progresses, yet the looseness of the approach conceals curiously open, special perspectives between the words. Nina's is a genuinely cathartic performance, emotions are laid bare and yet... it's all oddly sensual, while inwardly satisfying in a more quiet-spoken sort of way. Apparent contradictions are rife, but I still say you gotta hear this collaboration.
David Kidman September 2008
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