A to Z Album and Gig Reviews
In his previous Birmingham band incarnation as Rachel's Basement (whose excellent Quit Your Low Down Ways is included here as a hidden bonus track), Rachel found himself courted by any number of labels looking to get themselves their own Ocean Colour Scene. After all, the bands were regular gigging acquaintances and Rachel's warble didn't sound a million miles away from that of his mate Simon Fowler. However, labels being what they are, dithering took hold and when OCS began to show signs of losing a little lustre interest cooled. Rachel retrenched, disbanded and reconstructed himself as a singer-songwriter plying the acoustic circuit. A further clutch of demos and a series of London dates earned him sufficient good notices to prompt this own label solo album debut, stripping the sound back to the simple voice and guitar format.
The strangled treble of Meet Met At The Bridge and Need To Be Somebody ensure the Fowler comparisons won't die away yet awhile, but Letter To A Soldier, the yearningly wonderful Ragged Smile and The Sound of The Silence now give access to such influences as Loudon Wainwright, Dylan, early Donovan, McGuinn, and maybe even Ralph McTell, though perky domestic love song Saturday Morning, Sunday Night suggests he may also possess a Harry Nilsson album. Like all folkies, he's not averse to incorporating a few unacknowledged borrowings into the work, the Desiderata lines of Child Of The Universe or the 'keep on moving, keep a searching' phrases of Hawaiian lilting Mamma Cha Cha (a wink to ex Specials guitarist Roddy Radiation apparently) for example. But at least he nicks them to good effect. Aided and abetted by Goldfrapp drummer Rowan Oliver and Damned pianist Joe Atkinson, musically he exhibits a decent diversity within the limits of instrumentation, dropping in ska ripples, African flavours, and, on Free My Mind, psychedelia chops, and his gentle melodies are often truly beguiling. Thematically, fame, failure, rejection and ambition provide the building blocks of songs that flag up a never surrender self-belief though it has to be said that in the cold light of the lyric sheet lines like 'need to go somewhere soft where you can bathe the goose' are quite frankly barking.
Mike Davies
Like many talented young musicians in the currently-well-subscribed "rising star" category, harpist/singer Rachel Newton and flautist Lillias Kinsman-Blake met while studying for their BMus at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Both currently play in the group The Shee (whose debut album A Different Season has just arrived for review), but their work as a duo is the focus of this CD, on which they present fleet-footed, fresh-toned and clear-textured performances of songs and tunes in sensible (and roughly equal) proportion. Rachel's singing voice is pure in tone, yet also has depth, excellent diction and an impressive range, with an equally impressive supple maturity of phrasing that engages attention from the outset. Of the six songs on the disc, two were learnt from Maeve MacKinnon of Barra, and are delivered proficiently in Gaelic (Rachel's a fluent Gaelic speaker), while the remainder of the songs, sung in English, are with one exception (the Gillian Welch-penned title track) drawn from the tradition and learnt directly from recordings of source singers. These include a beguiling treatment of Young Horseman, which shares with the aforementioned Gillian Welch cover an interestingly jazz-inflected instrumental setting. As for the instrumental tracks, these include both some extremely competent self-penned tunes and a fine selection of modern and traditional items, all played with a persuasive immediacy and lively zest that you perhaps might not immediately expect to encounter from this particular instrumental combination (one that's normally beset with the tag of refined, overly genteel neo-classical preciousness). Both Rachel and Lillias exhibit in their playing a lithe and nimble quality allied to an expressiveness that their lightly-worn virtuosity can all too easily belie; they also share a feel for carefully judged use of syncopation. In that context, on five of the tracks some percussion embellishments from guest musician Paul Jennings impart deft cross-rhythms that serve to point up that very element of the lasses' playing while enhancing the demonstration of their precision of line and ensemble. Through the entirely unaffected breeziness of their playing, Rachel and Lillias display a delightfully unpretentious calm contentment and joy that proves both appealing and uplifting for the listener too, and a welcome new addition to Fellside's illustrious roster.
David Kidman September 2008
The California trio of Steve Goodfield (drums), Senon Williams (bass) and vocalist/pianist/guitarist/producer Jim Putnam finally get round to following up And the Surrounding Mountains with much of the same shimmeringly melancholic alt-country post rock psychedelia with its hints of Pink Floyd, Neil Young, the Velvets and the druggier moments of The Beatles. Dark, ruminative, dreamy soundscapes roll across the 13 tracks here, sometimes fragile like We're Not Sleeping and Faces of the Damned, sometimes gathering in sonic power as the song builds on tracks like Papillon, the carousel waltzing To Remember (with its Perfect Day borrowings), and the Brian Wilson echoing Dark Road Window.
There's not a huge degree of variation across the album, the overall effect veering on a somewhat of a trace-like drone. But, taken individually numbers such as the Neil Young like Breathing Again with its slow rush of reverb guitars, the sunny day neurosis Government Land and the nervy pulsing brooding noir and whistle of the oddly titled Like an Ant Floating In Milk that calls to mind a deranged cousin of Jellyfish, all enfold you in the cumulative cold beauty of their poetic meditations on regret and loss.
Mike Davies, February 2006
Not siblings, but the California trio of Steve Goodfield (drums), Senon Gaius Williams (bass) and vocalist/pianist/guitarist/producer Jim Putnam have a definite blood kinship when it comes to crafting simple melancholic alt-country melodies that hum with a mix of sadness and hope.
This, their third album, preceding a small UK tour supporting the reunited Breeders, still bears traces of the Neil Young and Beatles influences identified on their 1995 debut EP, but these days songs such as This Xmas Eve, Rock of the Lake, The Wake of all That's Past and Mountains would undoubtedly also draw comparisons to the post-rock country genre that serves as home to the likes of Will Oldham, the Pernice Brothers, and Sparklehorse. They could do with a little more variation on the musical moods, but otherwise this minimalist intimacy makes for an impressive landscape.
Mike Davies
David Kidman
This CD may on the face of it sound an unlikely candidate for wide acclaim, aside from within the relatively narrow specialist field of English traditional folk song. Its 28 tracks present the majority of the complete known repertoire of one particular Hampshire singer, George Blake, as collected by George B. Gardiner in 1906-07, in performances by a present-day Hampshire-born singer, Tim Radford, who, though like Blake was brought up in the New Forest region of that fair county, now happens to live in America.
The disc is enclosed within a DVD-case accompanied by an exemplary 52-page booklet containing Tim's own erudite introductory essays and detailed notes on the 48 pieces on the disc, together with full texts, melodies and notes for the remaining 21 songs in George's repertoire (excluded from the disc simply on the grounds of being already "fairly commonly found elsewhere"); there's also a Blake Family Tree and a selection of photographs of local places. The standard of the booklet is indicative of the loving care and attention to detail which Tim has lavished on the whole project, and this extends to the disc itself.
Some of the songs are mere fragments as collected, and these are given as musical interludes between Tim's own acappella renditions of the complete songs, in well-managed, idiomatic instrumental performances by guest musicians Jeff Davis and Jan Elliott. As regards Tim's own singing, he's blessed with an attractive voice, with a clear and even tone and an appealing Hampshire "burr", with a slight element of vibrato here and there. Tim's is very much a "revival" voice, with - in some of the songs - an additional florid quality, a hint of conscious "performance" that you wouldn't necessarily expect to find in a source singer of this kind of repertoire. Tim's approach works well enough, and his are admirable performances, but their very evenness sometimes engenders a kind of four-squareness or else a certain lack of dynamic contrast and a feeling that there could be a greater degree of dramatic response on occasion - particularly when you listen to a longer sequence than three or four songs.
Of course, it's not possible to ascertain how closely Tim's singing might approximate George Blake's own delivery; yet even so, the breadth of the repertoire on this disc may well suggest that a broader measure of expressive or interpretive variety is called for, certainly over the course of an evening's entertainment. Having said that, nowhere do I feel that any of Tim's renditions are at all lacking in terms of understanding of the text.
The songs themselves are an interesting bunch: some (like My Bonny Bonny Boy, George Collins and Adieu To Old England) are relatively well-known, though not necessarily quite in these variants (the item here named Maria is a version of Through The Groves, for instance). Tim also turns in a stirring performance of In A British Man O' War. But the most valuable aspect of the disc for many enthusiasts of traditional song will be the more unusual or rarely-heard items, among which there are several songs I'd not come across before (like Young Taylor, Hussa and the long ballad I Am A Sailor, which here forms a centrepiece to the collection). Finally, in truthfully representing the wide range of George Blake's repertoire, Tim also includes on the CD a whimsical moralistic recitation and a handful of brief toasts.
I hope I've managed to convey the artistic and historical importance of this release, for it's a superbly presented labour of love on Tim's part, no less (the culmination of many years of research), and richly deserves your close attention.
David Kidman January 2010
Radiotones - Bound To Ride (Scratch Records)
Scotlands self-styled alternative blues terrorists return with their third album of work hard, play hard, no nonsense urban songs. They have gone electric and added drums but the classic Radiotones sound is still there. Every track has the utmost effort put into it and the hard work is well rewarded in Bound To Ride.
The album opens with the brooding 'Troubled Mind' which, I'm sure, will become a live favourite for years to come. There are only two tracks that are not written by the band and the first is a stunning version of the Frankie Miller song, 'One More Heartache'. The other is 'Hot Muscle Jazz' and this has, quite simply, Radiotones written all over it.
It could be said that the Radiotones only have two speeds, fast and VERY FAST but they do it so well. 'Bring My Baby Back' and 'Devil Got My Woman' are cases in point. Both are played at breakneck speed with the former already a live favourite and excellent choice for a single and neither losing any quality because of the tempo.
The title track is a classic blues them in the style of Robert Johnson as is 'Good Friend Blues' which has some of the best guitar work that Dave Arcari has produced. 'Journeytime Is Over' is another that has already made it into the live set with its catchy hook and it is followed almost seamlessly by the only disappointing track 'You Oughta Know'. This is just not up to the high standards that the band has previously set.
There are a couple of re-workings (addition of drums etc) of old songs here in the shape of 'She's Gone' and 'Close To The Edge'. Both are concert favourites but the new versions have achieved different results. 'She's Gone' hasn't improved but then, there wasn't much to improve on in the first place but the addition of skins on 'Close To The Edge' has given it a more frenetic, fervent quality.
The last two tracks (actually the third last and final tracks) are 'Small World' and 'Another Chance'. The former has a driven beat much akin to Taj Mahal and the latter rounds off the album perfectly, albeit with a quirky beat, in classic Radiotones style with the National guitar firmly to the fore.
Radiotones are improving with age and long may it continue.
www.radiotones.com
www.thebuzzgroup.co.uk
David Blue
Scottish blues from Perth's finest. The opening track Don't Stop sets the scene with frontman Dave Arcari growling out the vocals with wailing harmonica, pounding bass and acoustic slide backing him. Arcari's vocal style takes a bit of getting used to but by the end of the album he won me over. Close To The Edge is a Celtic-tinged rockabilly sing-a-long and he's Gone is another that sounds like it will be a live favourite.
Slide guitar is also provided by Mr Arcari and he is complimented by Jim Harcus on harmonica and Adrian Paterson on bass. Wherever I Go is a good example of all three in full flow. Muddy Waters' Can't Be Satisfied is one of only four songs on the album not written by the band themselves. Cool It provides Harcus with a showcase for the harmonica and he comes up with some of the best playing on the album ably backed by Paterson. Arcari is back with National guitar for the first of two Willie Johnson songs Going To See The King and quickly follows it up with the other one, Nobody's Fault But Mine. The guitar work on both tracks shows how good Arcari can be.
Three more self-penned offerings follow, No More Mr Nice Guy, One Side Blind and Day Job. The first two are blues through and through whilst the last of the three goes back to the rockabilly style. The album finishes with a nine minute version of Robert Johnson's Preachin Blues' with trademark guitar licks and Arcari's twist on the vocal all done in the best possible taste. The Radiotones certainly don't hide their lights under a bushel and I'm sure that we'll be hearing more from this trio in the future, maybe even with the addition of a drummer.
www.thebuzzgroup.co.uk
www.radiotones.com
David Blue
Joel Rafael Band - Woodbye: Songs of Woody Guthrie (And Tales Worth Telling) Volume 2 (Appleseed)
Singer and songwriter Joel Rafael has at last managed to get to pay tribute to one of his formative inspirations, Woody Guthrie. First by releasing an album (Woodeye) on Jackson Browne's Inside Recordings label back in 2003. I never even got to hear about that one, let alone hear it, but if it's as good as the sequel, Woodyboye, it'll be worth seeking out. Woodeye contained twelve of Guthrie's compositions, both familiar and rare, but Woodyboye goes a stage further in incorporating, alongside five complete original Guthrie songs, four songs (out of literally thousands) which Guthrie didn't get to publish which now have tunes by Joel Rafael himself, then one further unpublished song with a tune by Billy Bragg (inevitably perhaps, it's Way Down Yonder In The Minor Key) and one Joel Rafael original very much in the spirit of Guthrie which could almost pass for authentic Woody (Sierra Blanca Massacre). Joel calls upon a few illustrious guests to flesh out the backings of his small band (just a trio), including Van Dyke Parks (who plays piano or accordion on several tracks) and Matt Cartsonis (on occasional banjo or mandolin). In addition, Joel's fellow-Guthriephiles Jackson Browne and Jimmy LaFave trade verses on Stepstone, the Burns Sisters contribute to the gospel-inflected Heaven My Home and Jennifer Warnes sings and arranges the extra vocal parts on Love Thyself. The musical settings are for the most part admirably simple and unaffected, though I also really liked the slightly fuller string arrangement (by Joel's daughter Jamaica) on Your Sandal String. OK, I could've done without the "nature noises" on Way Down Yonder…, and maybe Joel should've avoided doing a retread of the extremely well-trodden This Train (do we really need another? - there's not much new can be said about it, surely?), otherwise Joel really hasn't put a foot wrong in his delightful, affectionate and accurate evocation of the essence of Guthrie - the writer, songsmith and balladeer, the man and the legend.
David Kidman
A legend in his own lifetime, formerly of The Humblebums (with Billy Connolly), Stealers Wheel (with Joe Egan) and then a major 70s solo artist in his own right (nobody could forget the iconic Baker Street!), Gerry continued to record new material right up to the millennium, but disappeared from the scene entirely for eight years thereafter. His gift for writing melodic and memorably catchy observational songs remained with him throughout that 30-year span, ensuring him a place among the pop giants.
To everyone's surprise, Gerry's now emerged from the shadows again with the release of Life Goes On, a comeback of sorts on which he presents an expansive 18-track collection that intersperses half-a-dozen brand new recordings with various tracks taken from his last three albums (six from 1993's On A Wing And A Prayer, two from 1994's Over My Head and four from 2000's Another World), six of these in personally re-mastered versions.
You might know what to expect, then, and I'd imagine you'll be neither disappointed nor surprised – it all sounds exactly like you want it to. Gerry's distinctive (if stylised), smooth-textured and passionate voice is strongly in evidence on every track, and it sounds just like he's never been away since y2k, right down to the glossy, polished, programming-rich and often decidedly over-lush arrangements that surround that voice, some naturally featuring that trademark swooning saxophone riding high in the texture. The best of these have an undeniable attraction, but it's also indicative that time appears not to have moved on much in Gerry's universe, and several of these tracks are now simply too much, too overbearing, too syrupy and/or bland for us roots-conscious souls.
The new recordings are a strange mixture indeed: a prefatory tolling, chiming take on a Mozart Kyrie Eleison, two passably pleasing, if slightly sugary arrangements of Christmas carols (Adeste Fidelis, Silent Night), a harmony-rich homage to the Beatles' Because, an over-cultured version of the traditional Maid Of Culmore and a self-questioning new composition Your Heart's Desire. The latter's a standout cut for me, and as a bonus it features some excellent playing from a bunch of "real musicians" (as opposed to just programmed sounds) including Jerry Donahue, Mel Collins, Ken Craddock and Alan Clark. On the whole, the album tends to leave a bit of an impression that awareness of mortality might now be a burning issue for Gerry.
The disc's impeccably packaged, with full lyrics and production credits within the lavish booklet. If you're incurably addicted to Gerry's voice (and I can understand why!), and you're comfortable with this kind of polished produced pop sound, then you'll be able to accommodate this disc on your shelves, where it will "sleep in heavenly peace" no problem.
David Kidman January 2010
There's a history to Another World, Gerry (Stealer's Wheel) Rafferty's first studio album since 1994's Over My Head. In 2000 Rafferty decided to bypass the industry Label schtick and sell his CD via the internet on his own Icon label. Having been a fan of the excellent Mr Rafferty since the 70s, it was from there, after whispers on the grapevine and some serious searching, that I found and purchased it. But I can't think that many did - so a rethink, a new running order for the tracks, a deal with prestigious German label Hypertension and a relaunch in March 2003.
Gerry Rafferty is one of this country's most masterful songwriters and the album has been recorded and produced with equal care and attention. It was at least a couple of years in the making - in Barbados, Scotland, France, Italy and London - and produced by Rafferty himself, with guest musicians including guitarists Mark Knopfler, Bryn Haworth and Julian Littman, and bass players Mo Foster and Pino Palladino. Like a sculptor Rafferty crafts his songs in the studio - bringing in musicians to add rich layers of colour to the tracks as he creates them.
It's a smooth collection with hidden depths and secrets. Lyrics reflect his interest in poetry, arts and things spiritual. (Rafferty collects Icons and he comments tellingly on his website "For me, Icons are representations and reminders of the unseen".) More obviously there's that immediately recognisably 'Gerry Rafferty' voice - and there's a contemporary dance feel this time with keyboards and organ (Kenny Craddock), a touch of saxophone, programmed percussion and (at times) bass. I'm sad that he's dropped the rootsy, cajun-influenced foot-tapper La Fenetre from the 2000 release and replaced it with the less memorable Keep It To Yourself. Opening and closing the album are spoken words from 13th century Sufi poet Rumi. And there's a hidden track Goodnight Mrs Grinch (sp.?)
The stand-out song (and forthcoming single) is the rocking All Souls with guitar work from Mark Knopfler and (uncredited in the liner notes) slide guitar by Bryn Haworth. The wonderful, soulful, 70's written (Egan/Rafferty) You Put Something Better Inside of Me is a joy to hear again and although there is nothing quite as outstanding as Baker Street or Stuck In The Middle With You, the album is a mature collection from an artist still very much in his prime.
Sue Cavendish
If you like the live sound of Tom Pacheco, John Prine or Tom Russell there's a good chance you'll love these 12 road tested & refined regulars from Rafkin's live set. Stripped back to just voice & acoustic guitar, the deceptively simple & casually accomplished songs have space to breathe & hint at jazz, ragtime, blues, country rock & folk rather than beating you about the ears with full band arrangements.
Rafkin's nimble & sweet toned finger picking is much in evidence. The arrangements make original and subtle yet powerful settings for the endearing mid-pitch, time burred voice with a some nasal tones & vibrato reminiscent (in a good way!) of a young Billy Joel.
Many of the characters in the songs could have stepped straight out of Norman Rockwell painting to look you in the eye & deliver their monologues, dreams, life stories & wry observations of everyday life. The album could be an object lesson in the craft of the understated American singer-songwriter.
Of course, none of this is more than would be expected from a mature player who features on work by Tim Buckley, Arlo Guthrie & The Everly Brothers to pick just a few names from Bob Rafkin's astonishing CV.
James Hibbins, October 2006
www.acoustiCity.co.uk
Subtitled "traditional Irish music on concertina", but such a relatively bald, bland tag belies the richness of invention and marvellous playing to be found therein. Actually, now that I come to think of it, there haven't been terribly many decent concertina records of specifically Irish repertoire (Mary MacNamara comes to mind as one of the latest), so this new release would be welcomed for its relative rarity value in any case. But the quality is so utterly excellent that it deserves the widest possible currency outside the squeezebox specialist market. Michael O'Reilly (to use his anglicised name for convenience) has recently been acclaimed as the driving force behind the band Providence, who have released two extremely fine albums so far. But copious thanks must go to those "confused souls" (Michael's own words!) who suggested he produce a solo effort, for this is simply one of the most consistently listenable concertina-based albums I've had the pleasure of encountering.
The focus is fairly and squarely on Mícheál's superbly musical, articulate, fluid, confident and infectiously animated playing (nervous? – no way!), but the sensitive and understated accompaniments from guitarist Eoghan O'Brien (formerly of Déanta), Michael Rooney (harp) and Frank McGann (bodhrán) are absolutely masterly in their own right. Having said that, Mícheál's matchless solo interpretation of Lone Shanakyle (An Páistin Fionn) is a highlight of the album for me, with its inspirationally wild feel and rhythmic flexibility lending the tune a fresh poignancy. The faster selections are taken at a speed that's invariably very sensible, letting the contours of the tune carry the message, and although there are always plenty of notes being played you never get to feel that the tunes are being rushed through their paces; this must be largely down to Mícheál's innovative approach to parallel fingering and his perennially subtle but highly inventive ornamentation. There's so much going on in Mícheál's playing, it's truly breathtaking (in a relaxed kind of way), and this extraordinarily fine release will undoubtedly repay ample repeated listenings for many years to come.
And by the way, Mícheál's insert notes purvey that ideal combination of model informativeness as regards the sources of the tunes and an enthusiastic and witty advocacy of the music. This release is a total delight throughout its 48 minutes.
www.providence-trad.com/morconcertina
www.copperplatedistribution.com
David Kidman
Skiffle's long been regarded as something of a poor relation, almost not worthy of serious attention (at least compared to blues or jazz), and invariably tarred with the unfortunate brush of novelty-only appeal. It's always been scoffed as being not the province of "proper musicians" - but hey, that's where so many "proper musicians" started out, after all!… And I'd prefer to view skiffle as a kind of punk precursor of rock'n'roll: a rowdy, often ramshackle anything-can-happen music that's raw, fast and gutsy. So in all those respects, Cardiff's Railroad Bill Skiffle Group are the real deal, authentic as they come. They do what the tin says, to the manner born and with every ounce of energy they can muster in their right-in-yer-face, upfront delivery. Rough and very much ready, this CD was recorded in a two-day studio session, and has an admirably spontaneous live edge. They've been described as "Lonnie Donegan on speed", and there's more than a grain of truth in that - often pretty fast and furious, breakneck, a bit like the Hayseed-Dixie of skiffle but not so hectic that they're in danger of getting carried away. Also very obviously damn good fun (for them and for us) with an occasional zany, madcap Brett-Marvin-meets-the-Bonzos feel. The drawback of that is that some of the singing (or shouting) and musical effects can feel a bit over-the-top (I'd guess they're done that way for maximum live impact) and one or two gimmicks can wear thin on disc (I'm thinking especially of the over-use of the train whistles on a couple of the numbers and some wilfully over-exaggerated vocal gestures that exceed just plain good-time horsing about). That said, there's much to enjoy about the RBSG's cheerfully managed skiffling, with their adept full-steam-ahead prowess on those iconic instruments of the genre like washboard, tea-chest bass, twang guitar and mandolin. We don't quite get Rock Island Line here, but there's plenty of railroad-related songs (Streamline Train, Old Train, Workin' On The Railroad), alongside tales of gambling, drinking and prison, all done in the approved manner with gruff, authentic feeling (they even turn in a superb 6-5 Special). So by and large, Railroad Bill are on the right track… so let the train take the strain!
David Kidman January 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, will you please be upstanding for the first great album of 2008. Of Irish-Nordic extraction, Rainbird cut his teeth playing the London clubs, the coffee houses of LA and San Francisco and any number of dispiriting venues on tours across the UK, Ireland and Canada. Recorded with Bob Lanois (brother of Daniel), his debut release, the four track Dust EP, picked up BBC radio play but failed to generate much interest. Undaunted, Rainbird bid London farewell and returned to Toronto to work on a full length album. Recruiting musicians that, among others, included legendary bassist Tony Levin, percussionist and tabla player Pete Lockett and drummer Paul Brennan, he set to work crafting the material that now appears here, two songs recurring from the EP, two reworked from the Instinct Overides EP sold during the early tours, with six previously unavailable numbers.
Often evocative of Bruce Cockburn in his warm folk-tinged soaring vocals and the textured arrangements of the songs, but also with atmospheric hints of Peter Gabriel and Daniel Lanois, the album's imbued with a burnished spirituality, sensuous physical images, a sense of those wide open Canadian spaces and a deep, soulful yearning.
There's two non-originals. Waiting For A Miracle is Rainbird's new seven minute setting of Cohen's lyrics, the chiming guitars conjuring an atmosphere that can best be described as the musical equivalent of the aurora borealis. The second is a dark, plangent guitar and percussive rumbling treatment of the traditional She Moved Through The Fair, a heady brew given deeper intoxication courtesy of Lori Anna Reid's harmony duet. Her voice figures too on Burn, a song of swirling sexual desire with lyrics by Sharon Lewis.
Everything else is pure Rainbird, opening with the magnificent, widescreen chiming soulful folk rock of Circling taking supplicant's wings to the heavens with its vivid images of beads of sweat on exposed skin before moving on through the tumbling melodies and aching chorus of the spine-shivering Stand In Beauties Way and the Eastern-shaded musical palette of Wings & Weapons with its mantra rhythms, throaty guitar and tabla.
Completing the picture with tenderly bruised swaying ballad Opium Mouth, the shimmering night sky patterns and lullabying crescendos of When We Arrive, a bluesily, muscular folk rock Altogether Elsewhere and the climactic, open heart and welcome hands minor key anthemics of Come In, this persuasively claims its place in the debut albums hall of fame and fully deserves to earn Rainbird the international acclaim that is his due.
Mike Davies January 2008
Rainbow Chasers - Some Colours Fly (Talking Elephant)
Back to Hutchings the Enabler and Talent-spotter for this latest offering, on which the remarkable sexagenarian has surrounded himself with fresh talent for his new band venture.
Clearly his three chosen young musicians have had the desired effect of reinvigorating Ashley in the group context (many had remarked on the tired-sounding nature of much of the latter-day output of the final Albion Band lineups), indeed possibly given him a further new lease of life. Certainly Some Colours Fly is a rather fine disc, heaps better than I'd expected, which communicates a tangible excitement on a neat range of material which almost incidentally provides the perfect link to the contemporary-folk-inspired strand of the Albion days.
Let's forget the needless gimmick of titling the album in lower case and concentrate on the music, shall we? Good. Who are these bright-eyed and bushy-tailed newcomers then? Ruth Angell (violin, guitar, vocals) and Jo Hamilton (viola, guitar, keyboard, vocals), both graduates of the Birmingham Conservatoire (though since then Jo was involved with the final Albion Band tour and Ruth has worked with Jim Moray) and Mark Hutchinson (guitars, mandolin, keyboards, vocals), who's currently playing within that "so much more than a ceilidh band" Tickled Pink. There I can't resist immediate reference to one of the true Albion pinnacles, the classy (and classic) Albion Heart lineup with both Chris While and Julie Matthews – and hell, as others have already remarked, there's a marked similarity and ready-made sound comparison on several of the tracks (notably Brambles On A Hill, Knitting Song, Those Broad Shoulders and About Dawn). Ashley's mature vocals and important bass underlay impart an air of authority to the record which I'm not for a moment suggesting wouldn't otherwise be there - but his contribution is vital nonetheless, anyone can recognise that. He's also taken a compositional hand in almost all of the album's twelve tracks, and yes they bear the Hutchings stamp of assurance in spades.
But let's not underestimate the virtues of the young musicians as co-composers, for Ashley has evidently brought out the best in them - new songs like The First Europeans and When I Jumped Ship stand more than favourable comparison with the best of the Albion Band material, and there aren't really any tracks that I could call "Hutchings-in-disposable-mode" on this disc (though I'm not playing New Blue Stockings or Under Surveillance as much as the rest of the tracks). At the risk of underselling Mark's vocal abilities (which I don't intend), both lasses have enviably fine voices, with contrasting timbres and individual qualities that make them clearly ones to watch. There's a mesmerising quality to songs like Ghosts In The Rain that hits the mark right away for me. The instrumental complement allows for some really sensitive arrangements, particularly of the stringed variety - and Given Time is even blessed with an arrangement by Robert Kirby (so fittingly, for a song dedicated to the memory of Nick Drake, to whose LPs he'd so memorably contributed).
Two little (non-musical) complaints regarding the actual package though - wot, no track listing on the back box cover? And having the lyrics in the booklet would've been nice…
David Kidman
10 years after his death, Rainer still has a great affect on those who listen to his music. This album, made from tapes recorded 20 years ago and recently discovered in Tucson, sounds as fresh as music being made today. It can be safely assumed that some of these songs were to be included in a follow up to the 1984 album, Barefoot Rock but they were presumably put away somewhere safe and forgotten about when he finally did release his next album in 1992.
The opener, Voodoo Music, confirms that Rainer had his own style but this is just guitar and voice. He does produce a full sound, however, on this straightforward start. Mellow Down Easy has him moving onto electric and with a full band. This has a rockabilly feel to it and all of his eccentricity is here. Wayfaring Stranger is a blues rock with a wailing vocal. It builds well and he keeps his guitar understated as he was not one for big solos. Backwater Blues is so energetic and has great slide guitar whereas Mush Mind Blues is the complete opposite of the preceding track. This is a slow, throbbing blues with the only constant being the high standard of slide guitar. It begs the question - was Rainer the inventor of Alt.blues?
All Done In sees a return to acoustic and a bit of Alt.country this time. He plays it pretty straight on this and produces a great song. He funks it up big style on Fear and it comes out as Talking Heads with slide guitar - very catchy. The very short Just A Little Bit is a shuffling blues version of the famous song covered by many. This is better than most of the versions that I have heard. There is no doubting his feelings on the very atmospheric Zealots Serve Dogmas (acoustic) although it is instrumental only. Every Body Wants To Go To Heaven is an amalgam of David Byrne, Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan in the vocal delivery and is an excellent song, well executed. Zealots Serve Dogmas is electric this time and is with a full band. Bruce Halper's drums add that extra dimension. He saves the best for last and I Am A Sinner is a spiritual, powerful blues that demonstrates a certain vulnerability before his guitar comes more and more to the fore.
I can't wait for Volume 2!!
www.owomrecords.com
www.myspace.com/rainerptacek
David Blue September 2008
10 years after his death, Rainer still has a great affect on those who listen to his music. This album, made from tapes recorded 20 years ago and recently discovered in Tucson, sounds as fresh as music being made today. It can be safely assumed that some of these songs were to be included in a follow up to the 1984 album, Barefoot Rock but they were presumably put away somewhere safe and forgotten about when he finally did release his next album in 1992.
The opener, Voodoo Music, confirms that Rainer had his own style but this is just guitar and voice. He does produce a full sound, however, on this straightforward start. Mellow Down Easy has him moving onto electric and with a full band. This has a rockabilly feel to it and all of his eccentricity is here. Wayfaring Stranger is a blues rock with a wailing vocal. It builds well and he keeps his guitar understated as he was not one for big solos. Backwater Blues is so energetic and has great slide guitar whereas Mush Mind Blues is the complete opposite of the preceding track. This is a slow, throbbing blues with the only constant being the high standard of slide guitar. It begs the question - was Rainer the inventor of Alt.blues?
All Done In sees a return to acoustic and a bit of Alt.country this time. He plays it pretty straight on this and produces a great song. He funks it up big style on Fear and it comes out as Talking Heads with slide guitar - very catchy. The very short Just A Little Bit is a shuffling blues version of the famous song covered by many. This is better than most of the versions that I have heard. There is no doubting his feelings on the very atmospheric Zealots Serve Dogmas (acoustic) although it is instrumental only. Every Body Wants To Go To Heaven is an amalgam of David Byrne, Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan in the vocal delivery and is an excellent song, well executed. Zealots Serve Dogmas is electric this time and is with a full band. Bruce Halper's drums add that extra dimension. He saves the best for last and I Am A Sinner is a spiritual, powerful blues that demonstrates a certain vulnerability before his guitar comes more and more to the fore.
I can't wait for Volume 2!!
www.owomrecords.com
www.myspace.com/rainerptacek
David Blue September 2008
Rainer - The Farm (Glitterhouse)
On Nov 12, 1997, German born, Chicago raised roots-blues guitarist Rainer Ptacek died of brain cancer. It had been thought that the tumour was in remission and he'd worked hard to overcome his problems, teaching himself to play again and making some of the best music of his career. But earlier that year it had returned and it was clear there wasn't long left. To help ease the pain and take his mind off things, his friend Howe Gelb (who had organised the tribute album * featuring Robert Plant, Emmy Lou Harris and PJ Harvey) persuaded him to relearn his guitar again and return to the studios. Over a couple of weeks he spent four days recordings before it became impossible for him to make sense of what he was doing. These tracks are the result.
You'd expect it to be morose, downbeat stuff but while reflective melancholy is present and things like Where We Are's meditation on mortality and Hard To Remember takes on a fierce poignancy, there's no woe is me here. Rather there's a joy in life and the simple fact of playing his slide guitar, obviously so on the various instrumentals they laid down in that short time. Let's Pretend To Be Happy he sings on the final track. Death or not, there's no pretending here.
www.myspace.com/rainerptacekmusic
http://www.glitterhouse.com/
Mike Davies
[Ed: * The rather wonderful The Inner Flame (Atlantic 1997)]
Rainer - Alpaca Lips, The Texas Tapes, Worried Spirits (Glitterhouse)
'Alpaca Lips': to get things in order, this was the follow-up to the hauntingly beautiful 'Nocturnes'. It's Rainer stripped down to the bare essentials and it sounds great. That voice, with just a touch of 'Time Out of Mind' Dylan in it, confident slide on his beloved National, a little bit of bass. All the songs written by Rainer apart from Greg Brown's 'One Wrong Turn', his pal Howe Gelb's 'All Done In' and Stevie Wonder's 'Pastime Paradise' which is as much an experience as a song. 'Rude World' is here and 'Rudy With a Flashlight', Evan Dando covers it on 'The Inner Flame' (produced by Robert Plant and Howe Gelb) tribute. I could go through this album track by track but it's such an emotional experience to listen to Rainer, he really demands all your attention, much in the same way as Ramsay Midwood, rough-hewn, chugging along relentlessly, that voice, the stinging National, the slight middle Eastern influence and the songs, yes, the songs.
One thing about Rainer's albums is that you can put it on and forget about it because you don't get crap tracks, it's all from the heart. Be careful, you'll get drawn in and want all the CDs! Featuring two out of three from ZZ Top and produced by Billy Gibbons, 'The Texas Tapes' is Rainer Ptacek all wired up and ready to rock; oh yeah, and does he rock. This is an album that really has some 'snap' about it and Rainer in 'full on', volumed up to '11' on the Marshall/Richter scale. The collaboration breeds a heady mix that has elements of ZZ, Rainer and Chuck Prophet. Listen to 'One Man Crusade' and melt, it's monumental in the world of rock. If guitar blues/rock is your poison then this is right up your street, that nagging, riff-laden slide is ideal over the ZZ rhythm section; yet in a moment he can be playing the most sophisticated instrumental, like 'Merciful God'. On the opening track, 'Power of Delight', two bars in and Rainer says 'oh yeah', like he's recognised what's going on, it's like a lightbulb in your head and you immediately know he's one of those musicians whose pleasure it is to take you on a musical journey, he wants you along with him because he feels sure you would love the experience - Hendrix was the same. Just take the brakes off your brain and boogie with '(Making the) Trains (Run on Time)', chug along with Rainer and ZZ Top, can't be bad. Nothing spare here. Finally, in this trio of Rainer albums - don't worry there's more to come - 'Worried Spirits', recorded in the Arizona Desert in 1992, made in two days, just Rainer and his trusted National. He had the strength to believe in his own material and no wonder, it is THAT good. When he covers other songwriters then he chooses his material carefully, Greg Brown is represented here again with his 'Poor Backslider', Roosevelt Sykes' 'New World', 'Long Way To the Top of the World' is unknown and in the public domain, 'Life is Fine' and 'Waves of Sorrow' are adapted from Langston Hughes poems.
The word 'genius' always seems to be bandied around the 'musos' circle far too often, but I'll ask you something - find me something better. Most of all you get the feeling that you want to know the man who made such beautiful music and since he's passed on you'll have to wait a while. In the meantime all three albums are 'must haves'.
www.myspace.com/rainerptacekmusic
cj holley, Get Rhythm magazine
Rainer - Live At The Performance Centre (Glitterhouse)
Ah! the deceptive simplicity of it all. One man, his National steel guitar and the blues played live. Rainer imparted throughout his musical life how much more can be brought to the blues; that feeling of raw danger and vulnerability; that 'twang', using every colour in the musical palette to build layers of strum and slide. Seldom has one white man immersed himself in the dark and dirty depths of the blues and made it his own personal statement. He's 'sitting on a powder keg, lighting up cigarette'. Sparks fly. No classic blues covers here, all freshly pressed to make a fashion statement, this is seminal and essential.
'Live At The Performance Centre' can be appreciated on several levels. There's the technical fluency of his playing, the mesmerising originality of his songs, the deeply moving fact that this was a musician in his prime in remission from the cancer which killed him soon after, and, for those lovers of the 'live' recording, the intimate moment captured with all its dynamic power in infinity.
His own songs and those of J.B Lenoir, Billie Holiday, George Harrison, Greg Brown and Willie Nelson are performed here, individually interpreted, using those looped riffs of his which haunt the listener.
Although we weren't privileged to be at The Performance Centre in Tucson in 1997, this 75 minute/20 song album will take us there. The spirit of Rainer lives on. Spine-tingling and wonderful. Buy it.
www.myspace.com/rainerptacekmusic
http://www.glitterhouse.com/
Sue Cavendish
Rainer Ptácèk - Haunting Blues
It is with gratitude to Glitterhouse, who are reissuing his back catalogue and three previously unreleased albums, that I write this for those who will learn of his music for the first time. He has long been a secret, but mention the name 'Rainer' to an obsessive lover of original contemporary blues or National Steel guitars and there will be an awed silence.
Rainer was loved and revered. Rainer died aged 46 of an inoperable brain tumour on November 12, 1997 in Tucson, Arizona. He released four albums during his lifetime: Barefoot Rock (first released by Making Waves), Worried Spirits, Texas Tapes (originally available on Demon) and Nocturnes (Glitterhouse). His musician friends, including Howe Gelb, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Emmylou Harris and Jonathan Richman, released a benefit album of his songs, The Inner Flame (Atlantic), recorded whilst his illness was in remission and he was able to participate. As an all-star testament to their friend it is exceptional and as a tribute to his songwriting it is unique. All are treasures in my collection. The wonderful news is that three previously unreleased albums of Rainer's work will be available in 2000, the first of which, Alpaca Lips, is out now.
Rainer was influential in that way that quiet, special people with music in their bones so often are. His blues are as raw and intense as you can hack it. Listening to his repertoire is as personal an experience as you can have with another's music without living it. With no pretensions, he sculpts his songs with steel as keen as a new blade. It's so hauntingly distinctive that vibrations linger on in a nerve-tingling after-shock. That National Steel guitar soars up as hot, dry desert rockers, then plunges into the dark, screaming places of the soul. Scary. It's blues beyond 'colour' and Rainer's voice, weary with a certain mumbled hesitancy, is idiosyncratic and perfect for his songs.
Searching for information about Rainer's life has not been easy. Of Czech origin, Rainer was born in Berlin, brought up in Chicago, moved to Tucson, Arizona where he lived modestly, working in a store repairing guitars. He was happily married to his wife Patti, had three children. One can't talk of Rainer without mention of his good friend Howe Gelb who first met him in the '70s. The Giant Sandworms were formed in Tucson, Arizona in 1980 by Gelb, with Rainer, Billy Sed on drums and Dave Seger on bass, but moved to New York, where Gelb later disbanded the project in 1984. Returning to Arizona, he formed the Band of Blacky Ranchette and eventually Giant Sand. Rainer collaborated with him on many occasions up until his death. Gelb assembled the benefit album The Inner Flame, which was co-produced by Robert Plant who had noticed him playing years earlier in a London pub and invited him to record on Fate Of Nations and later write with him.
Of Rainer's own recordings, the earliest are on Barefoot Rock, Rainer And Das Combo; Rainer is accompanied by Nick Augustine on bass and Ralph Gilmore on drums on tracks 1-3, recorded in 1992. Tracks 4-14 were recorded in 1985 with Augustine on bass, Will Clipman on drums and produced by Howe Gelb. This is rough-rocking band blues with tracks as diverse as the opening Mellow Down Easy (Willie Dixon), Around and Around (J.B. Lenoir), The Last Fair Deal (Robert Johnson). Rainer's funky blues groove on his The Unseen Enemy previews what was to come in his later work. It's moodily unsettling and sparse. In Around and Around and That's How Things Get Done, his National Steel guitar is at its most vibrant; meanwhile all through the album the chugging rhythm section punches it forward.
Worried Spirits was produced in 1992. Rainer, eyes down and alone on the album cover, with National Steel guitar and wide blue-sky desert backdrop, are all the sleeve notes needed. As a primer of delta blues, original and old, this album has it all. Just one man and his guitar and songs of lean beauty, "... Spare, sad and at the end of his tether, this album showcases someone who has really got under the skin of the blues." (Matt Snow, Q)
The Texas Tapes, Rainer And Das Combo, was recorded prior to Worried Spirits and features a certain two-thirds-bearded boogie combo from the Lone Star State. It was released in 1993. The opening "Oh Yeah!" and mighty-force slide work, with that unmistakable ZZ vibe, take you through nine tracks, followed by three solo pared-down, deep-delta blues numbers, including Big Joe Williams' Another Man.
Nocturnes, 1995, was recorded without overdubs with a portable DAT-machine during seven days in 1994 in the abandoned Sonoran Desert's San Pedro Chapel (fittingly also the place for his memorial service). Rainer recorded alone with just his battered 1933 National Steel guitar, Dobro and tape loops. Thirty hours of material was edited down to six instrumental tracks of ambient and haunting purity. Ode To N2O, is given a 12-minute trance/dance remix by The Grid!
Alpaca Lips: Rainer was working on this material before his first seizure in early '96. Musicians John Convertino and Joey Burns (both of Calexico) join him on a cover of Stevie Wonder's Pastime Paradise, but the rest of the album is just Rainer and his Dobro. Included are his own rendering of songs which appear on The Inner Flame. Unseen Enemy, previously included on Barefoot with Das Combo, is also given the solo treatment. The final track, ll Done In, tears you apart. "His skillful playing and intimate singing make for a set of evocative, emotional desert-baked blues."
The other posthumous releases are Live At The Performance Center. "An intense live concert. Just a battered, battle-scarred National Steel metal-bodied six string guitar, a tin of stones, and his haunted, intense vocals. That's all you need." And finally, The Farm, "the very last recordings done days before his death. There is something in there that allows us all a glimpse of the brink. And with no better guide than Rainer the pathfinder. Chilling and sweet". (His friend Howe Gelb of Giant Sand.)
As Rainer's albums are re-released and reviewers discover his work or look at it with the perspective of time, much more will be written. As one who was captured by his music without having met him, it is with no apologies I look to Howe Gelb for a last word, "Him being gone is not good." That's how it is.
www.myspace.com/rainerptacek
www.giantsand.com
www.glitterhouse.com
Sue Cavendish
Me an' Bonnie go back a long way. We first met back in '71 and we've been tight ever since. It's been an odd relationship, she's hooked up with all kinda other folks over the years, whilst I took solace in her regular communications via the nearest record store. And yet by and by it's been a cool relationship, there have been moments when what she was doing didn't quite hit the spot and for a while after she hit the big time with Nick Of Time it seemed like she might have selected the easy life in the middle of the road. Thankfully on her last couple of albums songs like Hear Me Lord and God Was In The Water have demonstrated that she's still got her musical curiosity and the fire to ignite it. Her one great constant is her bottleneck playing which is simply superb,surely on a par with her one time mentor Lowell George.
This new album makes clear the long strange trip that Raitt has taken over the past three and a half decades. Her debut album was recorded in an off season summer camp on a four track machine to capture the spontaneous nature of the performance. Her guests on that occasion were blues veterans (and now legends) Junior Wells and A.C. Reed. For this new live album and DVD package Bonnie set up camp at Donald Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey (and let's take a moment to contemplate the grand conceit of building a hotel and casino complex in New Jersey and calling it not just the Taj Mahal which would have been pretty risible, but Trump Taj Mahal! I wonder if the Don knows how trump translates in Brit schoolboy slang!). There's a lot more than four tracks in use this time as the DVD comes in pristine 5.1 surround sound and the guests come not just from roots respectability but the top of the tree. Welcome Norah Jones, Ben Harper, Alison Krauss and Keb'Mo'.
The final thing you need to know is that the package represents the commercial release of a VH1 TV special from their Decades Rock Live (which accounts for the dreadful logo ridden packaging that blights this release). Sadly the decades in question are largely ignored as the performance is more new Bonnie than old flame. That's no complaint, the band is hot with Jon Cleary's New Orleans flavoured keyboards, a fabulous rhythm section of bassist Hutch Hutchinson and one time Beach Boy Ricky Fataar and guitarist George Marinelli offering both bombproof support to and a fine foil for Raitt's assured vocals and guitar work. And what a voice she has; it's possibly a dodgy comparison to make given the lady's well documented past indulgences but it really is like the best of single malts matured to perfection in the finest of woods whilst her guitar playing as previously noted is exquisite. Up against Harper, Keb'Mo' and the excellent Marinelli she more than holds her own with simple grace and buckets of soul.
Indeed whilst the guests are not redundant, it's Raitt that holds both eye and interest, the main impression I get being that Jones, Krauss et al are here to praise and enjoy rather than hoping to make any mark of their own.
And if this praise seems a bit lavish (can you be too lavish for Trump's Taj Mahal!!) let me just say that I really thought that the combination of an old hero, a great old folk blueser from Cambridge Mass. that hung out with Junior Wells and covered Sippie Wallace tunes, playing the up market gambling den supper club for A TV special was going to be breaking point for me an' Bonnie. Instead I'm happy to tell that we' seem to have a few good years ahead of us yet.
Steve Morris December 2006
www.roots-and-branches.com
WCR1350am
The Beat
Bonnie Raitt - Souls Alike (Capitol)
These things are all subjective but for me Bonnie Raitt nailed the love song once and for all with I Can't Make You Love Me, anything you need to feel is right there in that song.
But even great words and music need something almost indefinable to make the magic and that is Bonnie Raitt's real talent. Like a master sculptor with a piece of marble, she takes the formless and chips away until she creates something beautiful, something only she could initially see.
Acknowledged as one of the finest singers of country blues now, with Souls Alike, she has added jazz and soul to the long list of things she does very well.
But it's her willingness and even eagerness to seek out new challenges that keeps her music fresh after 18 albums. Indeed the Souls Alike of the title must refer to the partnership of Raitt, her band and the songwriters whose work she has taken, cossetted, nurtured and brought to fruition.
You'd half expect that after 18 albums - 9 of which have won Grammys - and a host of star collaborations, a creeping reliance of going with whatever works would develop. However, while the core of the album is pure Bonnie Raitt she has woven new treasures around her talent.
So, while I Will Not Be Broken is, on the surface, trademark Raitt, soulful and enchanting, dig a little deeper and you find that the spirit of adventure burns bright, the flames of that spirit are fanned by God Was In the Water, which has a deep, dark groove sweeping everything along. But, with these two opening tracks Raitt was merely getting into her stride for the steamy, heavy sensuality of Love On One Condition (only the one?) and Trinkets.
As anyone who's heard Bonnie Raitt before will know, an equal partner to the blues singer is the musician who can take a love song and rip your heart out through the speakers, that moment on Souls Alike arrives with So Close. Any doubts that Bonnie Raitt is not pushing ahead on Souls Alike, are shattered by Crooked Crown and Deep Water, the angular funk of both songs play nicely with the narrative lyrics, the one igniting the other.
And although Bonnie Raitt is forever pushing and probing, she hasn't completely forgotten the building blocks that brought her to this lofty position and such an experienced performer knows the value of a certain amount of continuity. The aptly-titled I Don't Want Anything To Change could slip easily between the covers of any of her previous 18 albums and nestle there quite happily.
It should come as no surprise that Bonnie Raitt has come up with an energetic and fresh album, nor should it be a shock that she can fit comfortably into whichever genre she chooses, the truly great singers always can and do.
However, at the heart of Souls Alike is the same thing that has always been the driving force, the almost immeasurable singing talent of Bonnie Raitt.
Michael Mee
Waltzers And Wonders is a linked suite of 17 songs celebrating the special English experience of The Fairground: originating in the Muckram Wakes' show The Wakes Is In Town written in the early 1980s by Chesterfield-born Ian Carter, which was shelved when the group disbanded and Ian emigrated. More recently, on Keith Kendrick's initiative, a new band was assembled, and when Ian returned to the UK it was agreed the songs would make ideal material for this ensemble to work up and tour, as the first in a series of locally-themed stage shows. Last year's Derby Traditional Music & Arts Festival was the venue for the world première performance of the newly-expanded suite, and now here's the "almost-soundtrack" album (omitting only the recitations and spoken links and – less logically – one song, The Dancing Booth, which is downloadable from the Ram Company's website). Although the suite has something of the feel of one of Ashley Hutchings' concept shows in live performance (lasting over 75 minutes in its stage incarnation), the CD is necessarily more of an episodic experience, one's progress through which is rather like taking a leisurely perambulation through the various booths, each "attraction" having its own story to tell. Led by Ian the proud "fairground owner", The Ram Company (comprising Keith Kendrick, Sylvia Needham, Alan Squires, Howard Mitchell and all four members of Derbyshire's excellent Cross O'Th Hands) performs with evident affection, musical and vocal accomplishment, and keen commitment to Ian's vision. Instrumental colours (concertinas, melodeon, violin, viola, hurdy gurdy, mandolin, guitar, brass, double-bass, keyboard and drumkit) are imaginatively deployed, while the individual "sideshow" cameo character-sketches are nicely turned: particularly, I thought, Sarah Matthews' poignant portrayal of Mary Ann The Tattooed Lady, Keith's lusty Helter Skelter merchant with his Barker's Shanty, Sylvia's wistful depiction of Madame Zaza (a lady Looking For Love), and Michelle Short's sad, lilting waltz for the forlorn House Of Wax. Sarah's heart-rending tale of Julie's Chance (her own composition, and one of the show's three songs not actually penned by Ian) forms another outstanding contribution, while the epic tale of Hackett's Golden Gallopers captivates (more so on CD than on stage), and John Tams' Pulling-Down Song (a key inspiration for Ian's original show) is performed with the ideal combination of respect and fresh paint. There are moments when one's attention mildly drifts, but by and large this beguiling and evocative disc succeeds in bringing you, in the best of traditions, all the fun of the (folky) fair.
David Kidman January 2009
Still best known maybe for his excellent axe-work on Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album and his playing on records by Greg Brown, Bo's a brilliant and imaginative solo artist in his own right. Although he proved beyond a shadow of doubt on his last album Stranger Blues that he's much more than a session guitarist and "hired gun", he takes all that into another dimension with Fragile, his first album of new original songs (all self-penned or else co-written) in ten years. Now if ever any album title was a misnomer! for it's a strong set by any standards, one that bears testament to Bo's personal journey. Bo's Mid-West-based support crew includes drummer Steve Hayes, bassist Jon Penner, and keyboardist Ricky Peterson, who all do him proud. Rising star Pieta Brown repays Bo's loyalty by co-producing the album as well as co-writing six of the tracks, and its signature sound bears a glistening slowburning bluesiness that ideally couches Bo's moody, smoky, restless vocal. A bit Knopfleresque at times perhaps, it's one of those records that's consistently good but with no specific highs and lows, which makes it hard to say much about it other than it's well worth your time. The nine new songs are complemented by two brief instrumental sketches (Away and In The Woods). My personal preferences lie with the more atmospheric cuts like Dreamland, Burn It Down, Can't Sleep and the coolly droning title track, but as I said its artistic consistency is its strength.
David Kidman May 2008
No stranger to the blues, Mr Ramsey! Robert Franklin "Bo" Ramsey's much in demand as a session guitarist and "hired gun" for touring bands, also contributing significantly to albums by Lucinda Williams, Kate Campbell, Pete Seeger and Iris DeMent and latterly in a fruitful long-term collaborative partnership with Greg Brown. Stranger Blues, however, shows him to be a vibrant solo performer in his own right who's more than capable of delivering a whole album full of vital personal takes on even the most well-worn of blues material alongside inspired arrangements on choices of less often heard pieces. Although Bo takes his inspiration from a variety of classic blues sources and templates, and is as likely to be heard purveying downhome dirty funk-blues as moody swamp-blues (the title track), Willie Dixon crawl (Crazy Mixed-up World) and John Lee Hooker stride (Hate To See You Go), he also turns in some extremely tasty slowburners which here prove album highlights: a lazy-glistening Sitting On Top Of The World, Muddy Waters' Little Geneva, and the world-weary closer When The Sun Never Goes Down (a fine adaptation of a traditional lyric). And Bo's gently shuffling take on Freight Train is both supremely deft and wholly delightful. In more uptempo mode, Bo still delivers the goods tho', and how - getting restless on Jesse Mae Hemphill's Jump, Baby, Jump and Chester Burnett's No Place To Go for instance. Along with Bo, featured support comes from Greg Brown, Ricky Peterson, Pieta Brown and Alex Ramsey - what a team, complementing Bo's musical vision perfectly. This is a robust and uncompromising collection, and well worth both the long wait and your investment.
David Kidman March 2007
Southern California country with a tweak of Bakersfield and Nashville are the order of the day for the duo's latest offering, among whose guest musicians numbers Gram Parsons steel alumni Jaydee Maness.
Sitting somewhere between the Burritos and the Eagles with a goodly supply of twang, familiar Nashville country guitar and the occasional bluegrass flourish, it's sturdy rather than inspired and doesn't nudge any envelopes but nor does it prompt any urge to reach for the skip button.
A tale of a friend's death, Too Late opens proceedings in southern bluesy country rock mood with a chugging riff while Maintenance Man sees Maness let rip while Greg Harris brings his banjo to the party for the final breakdown stretch. But to these ears it really hits its stride on the keening, close harmonies of Valley Of The Bears, a trucking tale of a family heading West with Megan Lynch supplying yearning fiddle, building the momentum with the Bakersfield rebel rock n rolling Ghost Town and the regret stained Semi-Cool Cube with its lines about selling your soul to make a little more money.
A couple of kick up the dust instrumentals, Templeton Gap and Bone Rock Breakdown let them show off their fiddle, banjo, and slide in frenzied fashion, while I'd direct your ears to the major chord anthemics of True Freedom's five minutes of facing up to letting go. I'm a little less eager though about recommending the similarly lengthy closing song, the slow lurching marriage screw up of Whiskey And Saturday Nights which sounds like it's trying too hard to demo for a Willie Nelson album. But, self-produced by guitarist Jesse Jay Harris, as a whole it's going to sound well enough with a bowl of corn chips and some cold Buds.
Mike Davies January 2009
Jon Randall - Walking Among The Living (Epic)
If Jon Randall's legacy to music were to be only one song, then the gift of Whiskey Lullaby is quite something to leave behind. Most notably performed by Alison Krauss (who guests here on Southern Comfort) and Brad Paisley, Whiskey Lullaby wasn't just deservedly song of the year, it has queered the pitch for country love songs for some time.
But Walking Among The Living shows that Randall is more than a one-trick pony. It may well feature Whiskey Lullaby (would you leave it out?) however it also contains a whole lot more.
Born into a family where his policeman father played in a bluegrass band and mum played the Dobro, Randall got his first guitar aged six and began writing songs from then on.
Quite naturally he was drawn to Nashville and became the only 'unknown' to play in Emmylou Harris's band The Nash Ramblers, on the 1992 album The Ryman. A series of frustrating studio experiences made him a reluctant recording artist, preferring to become a session singer and guitarist.
His reticence is made all the more difficult to understand when you listen To Walking Among The Liuving. Who better to get the most out of the songs than the man who wrote them?
Like Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell, Randall shows the difference between an artist moulding and tailoring a song into a performance, and the author setting it out as it was conceived. The songs are more basic and simple, and the contrast shows the development process of a song from pen to, hopefully, CMA award.
It's impossible to avoid being captivated by Randall's songs and, reluctant a performer he may be, Walking Among the Living shows him to be far more than simply a country singer and songwriter. In fact the early part of the album has far more in common with James Taylor than anyone else, there's a relaxed intelligence about In the Country and North Carolina Moon. It's not until the aptly titled Austin that there is anything definitively country.
But Walking Among The Living shows the art and appeal of a songwriter bringing his own songs to fruition, it's not glitzy and the songs are not 'arranged', here they are presented almost as written and it's a joy.
But the last word has to go to Whiskey Lullaby, if there is a better opening than 'She put him out like the burning end of a midnight cigarette', then answers on a postcard please.
Michael Mee
[ED: This album has a little piece of spyware which Sony/BMG have sneakily inserted on 52 of their recent 2005 US releases. If you have this album as a US Import, don't play it on your computer)
Random - Toadstone (WildGoose Studios)
"Electric ceilidh music with guts" quoth the back cover... so, if by "electric" we mean a backbeat from bass and drums, and by "guts" we mean a growling trombone rasping its way through a small forest of melodeons, then that's wot ya got mate! But Random have more intelligence than that bland generalisation implies - even if it's not always obviously being used for the benefit of the non-dancing listener. And lest that sound like a back-handed compliment, what I mean is that Random seem to decide on a sound and stick to it without bothering much to change its basic envelope. And that uniformity doesn't always profitably last the course of a whole CD. But there are still positive elements in Random's favour - notably the spirited box playing, courtesy of the twin-melodeon front-line of Saul Rose and Paul Nye, whose joyous weaving harmony and counterpoint is pretty amazing when allowed free rein. Set against the squeezers, there's the guitar of Ian Woledge (which doesn't seem to be terribly audible I'm afraid) and the aforementioned three "raspers and thumpers" all plying their merry trade quite infectiously thankyou, on a sequence of tracks that happily mix traditional tunes with ones composed by the likes of Nigel Eaton and Tim Van Eyken, in the by now approved manner. Tracks like Rose Of Liseaux, though, bring in the aspect of Random that I'm less happy with as a mere listener (as opposed to a ceilidh-goer): the jarring harmonica interjections on several of the tracks, which don't seem to belong to the arrangement of the dance (and sometimes appear to have been drafted in from a Dylan song!). And "fun" gimmicks like the scratchy repro-wax-cylinder on Waiting For A Partner pall on repetition, I find. All in all, in spite of the great joy that Random evidently derive from their music-making, I do get the feeling that something's lost in the transition to CD and that Random are at their best live, as 55+ minutes of their music (which includes a "hidden" reverb-dub-style mix track, to hear which you have to fast-forward, or else sit through, four minutes of silence), however entertaining, can all too easily wear a bit thin on the ears after four or five tracks executed with broadly similar method. The pair of waltzes at track 6, where the two melodeons take centre stage for solo playing, come at an appropriate moment in the scheme of things and thus provide a delectable album highlight.
www.randombandagnesfountain.com
www.wildgoose.co.uk
David Kidman
The stovepipe is well and truly rattled here by this versatile and spiritful trio comprising Dave Arthur (guitar, banjo, vocals) and his compadres Pete Cooper (fiddle and vocal) and Dan Stewart (banjo and guitar), the latter having now taken the place that guitarist Chris Moreton filled on the previous ROTS CD Eight More Miles.
Like its predecessor, No Use In Cryin' proudly presents a wide-ranging collection of tunes and songs that through history have crossed back and forth, here given appealingly and refreshingly in versions from either or both sides of the pond. In healthy juxtaposition, we encounter fiddle tunes from Kentucky, West Virginia and Seattle nestling companionably under the same roof as that good ol' O'Carolan morris tune Princess Royal and a fun medley that bestows a "transatlantic melodic overlap" on D'Ye Ken John Peel, all played in the easily-expert, deft-yet-passionate manner of the genuine old-time enthusiast eager to share his discovery of a good rousing tune.
The instrumental items on the disc (six out of the 14 tracks) are neatly balanced by a satisfyingly varied complement of songs that includes country/jugband standard Red Apple Juice, ballads both broadside and Child in origin (Willie Moore and The Two Brothers respectively), and an unusually upbeat, genially swinging treatment of the shanty-crew classic Roll Alabama Roll. There's also a couple of items of more recent provenance: the Carter Family's mid-30s classic You've Been A Friend and Dick Connette's affectionate tribute to North Carolina singer Dillard Chandler (which, interestingly, Dave acquired from a Roy Bailey recording).
As on Eight More Miles, Dave and Pete each take roughly equal turns with the singing, and both (albeit in contrasted vocal styles) invariably prove themselves well up to the task of authentically and enthusiastically conveying the essence of the texts without any sense of contrivance. The winning formula of the earlier disc is reprised with the approach taken to the provision of the liner notes, for once again these are both succinct and splendidly informative.
This disc possesses a winning combination of erudition and informality in its delightful music-making; in doing so, it proves a real treat for lovers of that fertile territory where old-time traditions from both sides of the Atlantic collide.
David Kidman January 2010
This release is a kindof followup to an earlier WildGoose release Return Journey (which was at the time billed as a Dave Arthur album but actually featured the same three musicians: on 8 More Miles, we get Dave on banjo, guitar and, on some of the "band" tracks, melodeon; Pete Cooper on fiddle; and Chris Moreton on guitar and a touch of mandolin). Like Return Journey, it presents an English (though I hasten to add not "Anglicised"!) take on good ol' string-band music, with authentic versions (culled from both sides of the pond!) of tunes and songs that crossed the Atlantic and became old-time staples. These include some classic balladry and songs (yes, even including some that "everyone and their dog has recorded!") as well as some suitably vigorous dance tunes. The latter include not only the joyful swing of The New Rigged Ship/Green Willis and the proud strut of Fred Pidgeon's No. 1/Jenny Lind Polka, but also the transatlantic twist to Northumbrian piper Tom Clough's Nancy. Over the range of tunes presented, each of the three musicians displays an amazing degree of stylistic versatility, one you wouldn't necessarily expect to find in performers in this field. With the songs, the highlight for many listeners will be Dave's totally solo outing at the heart of the CD - an absolutely compelling 8½-minute rendition of Willie's Ghost that never for a moment palls. But the RotS treatment of various other songs also gives rise to many more delights: there's a spirited Sail Away Ladies as a finale, for instance, and Chris turns in a fine rendition of the Bill Monroe classic Footmarks In The Snow, while I also liked the deliciously relaxed pace of The Light Dragoon (here, such a change from the flippant "tongue-tripping excuse to show off" that the song normally gets saddled with), with a lyrical fiddle line in counterpoint - pity about that rather swift fade on the appended reel, though... Perhaps Pete's interpretation of The Lakes Of Pontchartrain won't quite silence those who say they never want to hear another version of that over-travelled tale of uncertain origin, but it's still a respectable reading that comes near the top of the list of available recordings. Finally, the presentation is exemplary, with Dave's incredible degree of knowledge and depth of understanding on full display in his supremely informative insert notes, which tell you everything you need to know about the pieces and their sources - and much more besides (at least three of the selections are blessed with around a whole page's worth of mini-essay, and believe me, you won't want to skip a word of it!). And even within a product crammed full of excellence (for here am I leaving the best observation till last!), the CD has a splendid feel of immediacy, of the three musicians right there in the room performing for you, communicating so very well the music in which they clearly believe 150-percent.
David Kidman, July 2006
Rattle The Boards is a foursome formed by ace young box player Benny McCarthy (of that remarkable Irish supergroup Danú) and local Tipperary musicians Pat Ryan (fiddle, mandolin, banjo) and John Nugent (guitar), along with vocalist John T. Egan, expressly to play music for dancing (and for fun, to be sure!). Rattle The Boards have been playing together since 1992, yet there's been a gap of a whole decade since their debut CD – probably due as much to Benny's own touring commitments with Danú as their involvement in artist Des Dillon's popular TV show Teac A Bloc. This new CD is an unashamed attempt to get the listener dancing ("reviving the days of parish platform dancing") with a series of totally unpretentious and gimmick-free performances of familiar Irish traditional tunes (with a couple of songs thrown in for good measure). The lads are clearly having great fun making this record, as much fun as you'll have listening to it – for it includes thoroughly infectious renditions of old favourites like Off To California, The Mason's Apron and Irish Washerwoman as well as a generously whirling set of polkas, a splendidly chucklesome set of two hornpipes and a glorious showband-meets-ceili-band take on the quickstep Whistling Rufus which is also given an unexpected kind of lift by Decky O'Dwyer's swaggering Dixieland trumpet. RTB also invite a few more guests along to the party: Benny's Danú colleague Donnchadh Gough brings his bodhrán onstage for the majority of the album, and there are spiritful contributions from Paul Ryan and the aforementioned Des Dillon (harmonica), while Jon Kenny sings his party-piece St. Patrick Was A Gentleman (a quirky Cork stage-Irish song) with all due abandon. And a moment of thoughtful repose is provided by the delectable air The Autumn Sky (written by Quebec fiddle maestro André Brunet). But for the rest of the disc's 39 minutes, that grin remains firmly planted on your visage; so shake away those cobwebs, step it out Mary and rattle those boards indeed! (Available from Copperplate Distribution.)
David Kidman July 2008
It's very much a song-based record, with little in the way of opportunity to specifically spotlight David's matchless instrumental prowess, and although that signature exquisite and beautifully economic guitar picking appears somewhere on every track, it's not generally allowed to become a key feature in the mix. Neither is the voice of Gillian Welch herself always prominently audible, although she bestows backing vocals on virtually every track and her presence is (naturally) felt everywhere: additional contributors (whether they can be termed DRM band members or not isn't clear) include Ketch Secor and other members of OCMS, Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench and Bright Eyes' Nate Walcott. The general feel is of a fairly informal Basement Tapes kind of drop-in session, although at the same time it's evident that care has been taken with a certain level of instrumental arrangement.
The album's songs are mostly Rawlings originals (five are co-writes with Gillian), albeit of varying vintage. Some are revisits of songs David had already recorded with other artists on their own albums: for instance there's To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High) from Ryan's Heartbreaker debut, here turned into a scratchy-fiddle-ridden string-band hoedown, prefacing I Hear Them All, which receives a tender reading worlds away from the OCMS setting (Big Iron World) which it originally graced. The familiar stripped-down Rawlings-Welch soundscape makes its first appearance on the record with the fourth track, a stretched-out ten-minute medley of Conor Oberst's Method Acting and Neil Young's Cortez The Killer, the latter segueing very naturally from the former and Neil's lyric being especially effectively conveyed in this sparser setting. The playfully wry Sweet Tooth resonates staple oldtimey addiction songs, while the rueful How's About You reflects on hard times just like one of those timeless Jimmie Rodgers/Hank Williams honkytonkers and It's Too Easy brings back the rough-house combo for some double-edged uptempo bluegrass, a mood which extends into David's back-to-basics yet careful cover of Jesse Fuller's Monkey And The Engineer.
The album's bookended by a pair of tracks featuring a string section (sensitively arranged by none other than Jimmie Haskell): the opener Ruby comes over like Gram Parsons meeting up with Sam Cooke, Burritos turning country-soul (the melody even resembles that of the old Chi-Lites hit Oh Girl), while the closer Bells Of Harlem (with its initial uncanny resonances of What A Wonderful World) is a dreamy, almost contented reverie that drifts into an autumnal chamber-textured coda. On first hearing, the album seems to present quite a disparate stylistic mix, but once over the initial shock I found it gelled together.
David's distinctive, slightly reedy vocal style, with its sure grasp of phrasing, together with the legendary symbiotic teamwork of David and Gillian, and the standard of musicianship, all typically refuse to get in the way of the lyrics, which may explain why the individual songs don't always tend to make their mark on early playthroughs in the way that, say, those on Gillian's albums do. Having said that, by four or five plays the record gains a healthy cumulative stature as the set as a whole starts to make more sense: with each successive acquaintance the disc grows closer to you than the remoter "friend of a friend" of its title, I'd say.
www.daverawlingsmachine.com
www.gillianwelch.com
David Kidman December 2009
The Rawmarsh Mashers - Deliberate Mistake (Own Label)
Who on earth? What on earth? What the hell? Answers to all these and many other burning questions are available on the below-mentioned link, but as for the basics, The Rawmarsh Mashers are (is) best described as a good-time folk (-ish) duo based near Rotherham (deep in the Republic Of South Yorkshire), whose totally admirable credo is to play live, to entertain and to have fun. No fancy arrangements, no pretensions to great art or deep philosophical statement: just good honest old-fashioned fun-folk - supremely raw, loud, lively and above all ultra-enthusiastic - and yet not without a certain level of right-on political stance that appeals greatly to my own nature and sensibilities. Together, the redoubtable Mashers - Richard (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Myke (lead guitar and backing vocals) - provide the necessary antidote to the sides of folk that continually threaten to become over-serious. They've a distinct kinship with groups like the (Liverpool) Spinners or Fivepenny Piece, or at any rate how they were before they got too "popular" (and too polished and too sentimental). And although based in Rotherham, they're both exiles from further south (the Gosport and Portsmouth area being Richard's early stamping-ground, whereas Myke hails from Cheshire) and clearly they love the North (sensible fellas!). You might say the Mashers' choice of material is unashamedly populist, but in the nicest possible way. Aside from a host of 60s pop classics (not represented on this CD), they trade mostly in songs irreverently reflecting the vagaries and idiosyncracies of life itself, whether directly comedic or genially wistful, and generally of the pub-singalong variety, with a smattering of crowd-pleasers (traditional fare like Two Recruiting Sergeants and Whip Jamboree, and the Dambuskers' Drink Down The Moon) nestling in amongst a deceptively canny selection of modern-day works loosely in the folk-satire category, from the pens of often underrated writers like Matt McGinn (Three Nights And A Sunday Double Time), Jon Isherwood (My Health Dear), Robb Johnson (Be Reasonable) and Tony Miles (Bloody Rotten Audience). The Mashers even have a theme song that sets out their stall pretty directly and persuasively (perhaps that should've been placed first on the CD?)! They also creditably exhume the traditional tale of Jessie Munroe and do a nice line in justified righteous anger with a passionate take on Peter Hames' Ordinary Man, while on the other hand who can possibly resist their customised "slight corruption" of Bernard Wrigley's The Martians Have Landed In Rawmarsh?! And so what if some of the jokes are at times toe-curlingly predictable?! This CD, a totally WYSIWYG affair, although "produced" by Brian Bedford, is unadulterated Mashers – by which I don't mean it's childish, but that it's utterly devoid of any studio enhancements. It's exactly as the Mashers sound live, down to every last "deliberate mistake". Actually (and the Mashers probably won't like me for saying this!), there's a bigger degree of accomplishment here than I've heard in some "professional" recordings, it's just that it's unassumedly worn and kept under wraps somewhat, for the Mashers' overriding concern is that both they and their audience enjoy themselves. They're good at what they do, they have their niche, they stick to it – and good for them! So any critical review that might castigate them for a few wrong words here or a duff chord-change there, an off-key vocal or a crap entry, is just not appropriate – and in any case, anything in the first-mentioned category (most likely mis-hearings or mondegreens!) is all part of the time-honoured folk process in the end, right? And anyone who through the Mashers' brazenly brash and purposely no-frills presentation gets the impression that they're just taking the p*** and have no respect for their material or their audience, well they're missing the point entirely: they do care, and to a perhaps surprising extent. Don't expect jaw-dropping instrumental technique, cutting-edge musical adventures or sensitive expression - instead, just go with the flow (yes, there is one!) and you'll have a great time. Just like I did. And nowt wrong wi' that, guv!
www.myspace.com/therawmarshmashers
David Kidman December 2008
Those coming to the third album by the London-based four-piece led by brothers Nev and Mark Bradford expecting to find more of the Blue Nile, Aztec Camera and folk echoes of the previous releases are in for a surprise. A pleasant one though, to be sure.
The big music, widescreen canvas is still there, but these days they're painting it with cranked up swirly psychedelic rock that more recalls a cocktail of The Doors, Nick Cave, Echo and the Bunnymen and, often, The Dream Syndicate.
They parade their new colours from the opening track, the surgingly black veined Five Miles Cursed where the guitars circle the skies like brooding eagles surveying a desert landscape and Nev sounds like Scott Walker fronting the Bad Seeds. It's an immediate shock to the system but once you've recovered your breath, you'll find it's already embedded itself in your mind and you're lusting to hear more.
Described by the band as "a true-life birth to death tale of a luckless hedonist who rejoices in all things fictional at the expense of living his own life", as you might imagine, it's steeped into dark lyrical colours to match the music's gathering clouds.
The foreboding themed Days To Come billows with Doors reference points while the title track with its swellingly melodic chorus couches Nev's Pete Atkinish intonation and the songs folky bedrock within guitar work that recalls both Steve Wynn and Quicksilver Messenger Service's John Cipollina.
There's more vintage Scott Walker touchstones to This Is A Wave and A Little Joy (where they conjure his interpretations of Brel) while the five minute Roulette Sun unfolds like a Pink Floyd epic written in the heat of Death Valley with images of bleached out skies and long dead highs. Elsewhere the majestic Great Strange Dream utilises Bunnymen-esque phased guitars while Nev's voice reaches out to grab the shards of a fragmenting universe, Sound Of The End pulls it back to a slower, melancholic psychedelic blues rock ballad and the album builds to Cut Out's tumultuous climax of death, catharsis and rebirth. Quite frankly, awesome.
www.raytheband.com
www.myspace.com/raytheband
Mike Davies May 2008
A swift follow up to 2005's Deep Blue Happy finds brothers Nev and Mark Bradford both consolidating their melodic melancholic 80s pop and reaching out across new musical landscapes. There's even a couple of numbers where they pitch straight in on the vocals rather than laying down lengthy instrumental intros.
There's a swirly folk darkness to the opening Here Is The Night that suggests Nick Cave fronting Aztec Camera, a mood sustained on Mountain Song and Greatest Race For The Sun where Nev takes on an almost Neil Diamond timbre as his brother's liquid guitar paints a tapestry of sound upon which to stitch the words.
As before, this is big, music but never bombastic, the guitars etching lush cinematic backdrops that bring light to contrast with the often darkly downcast lyrics of numbers such as the enigmatic Fall On Your Dagger, the sorrowed war-weary Dead Eyed Angels and Gold Magnolia's dankly bucolic portrait of a six month old girl's grave.
But while broken eyes, broken hearts, and the death of summer may vein the songs, there's a spark of light and hope here too. Mountain Song finds Bradford thawing in the warmth of love while Highlight talks of bright eyes flickering 'the highlight of this day' and the closing languidly burnished Silence Returns (where Nev sports his Pete Atkin voice) finds peace in silence and 'the beginning of something new'.
I'm not sure it's going to suddenly open the doors to a flood of commercial success, but anyone who treasures The Blue Nile will find life incomplete until it's nestling in their collection.
Mike Davies, July 2006
James Raynard - Strange Histories (Unearthed)
So who's this James Raynard then? Well he's a folk singer based in Sheffield, and his debut CD, which has been produced by Jim Moray, appears on the new folk imprint of the cool indie record label One Little Indian. That information might for some signal a degree of caution in approaching James, since Jim Moray's own debut was greeted with some distinctly hostile press (I found it a bit of a curate's egg too); however, such doubters need have no such worries, for James brings us an altogether more orthodox view of folk music.
James's singing, in particular his approach to phrasing and rhythm, is it must be said heavily influenced by his hero Martin Carthy - no bad thing, sure, and he's not exactly a slavish imitator, but it's very noticeable nonetheless on some of the songs on the album. For instance, hearing James's rendition of the obscure Child ballad The Loathsome Worm And The Mackerel Of The Sea, I was surprised when I checked back to find it's one that Mr Carthy himself hasn't tackled! Leaving aside that obvious influence then, what James also possesses in his singing is a confidence that might only a few years back have been unusual in someone so young but which is now becoming the norm in the new wave of revival singers (many of whom like James are steeped in folklore degrees and suchlike and clearly appreciate the rich legacy of traditional sources).
His is an attractive baritone, and he sings in a refreshingly direct and uncomplicated style which heard to best advantage perhaps on the long-breathed lines of such songs as We Be Soldiers Three, but his considered rendition of The Grand Conversation On Napoleon has much to say in its mere four-minute span (providing an interesting contrast with - if unfortunately not serious competition for - Barry Dransfield's recent epic reading on his Unruly album). James also turns in a simple yet appealing "Anglicisation" of Jock O' Hazeldean, though this suffers a bit from a somewhat leaden piano accompaniment; closing the CD, that song follows on well from James's version of The Outlandish Knight, which - unlike many one hears - really does compel you to listen through to the end. Here, James's undistracting guitar accompaniment has a sparse demeanour (rather like a lute-song?) which seems to reverberate in and reflect the antiquity of the ballad.
That brings me to remark that James is also a more than reasonable guitar player and fiddler, with an approach to rhythm that owes much to his experience of accompanying dance. The weightier items on the menu are tempered with a sprinkling of pieces drawn from what one might term the "early music" repertoire - for instance, a multi-voice catch (Yonder He Goes), two songs set to Playford tunes (Begone Dull Care, Cuckolds All Of A Row) - and, towards the end of the CD, an attractive little tune (The Cat With The Cream) written by James himself and inspired by the musicianship of gifted (and criminally underappreciated) fiddle player Gina LeFaux.
Strange Histories is a definite harbinger of greater things to come for James, but, dare I say it, first he needs to shake off the over-obvious Carthyisms and develop his own voice if he's to succeed in the folk arena he so clearly intends to espouse.
David Kidman
Chris Rea - The Blue Jukebox (Navybeck)
Having lost much of the MOR audience who gave him such hits as Stainsby Girls, The Road To Hell and Let's Dance when he released his post cancer treatment Delta blues double album Dancing Down The Stony Road, Rea's remained true to his rediscovered roots. Last year saw the jazzy Blue Street last and now he continues the mood. letting his slide guitar and gravelly voice loose over another world weary jazzy blues collection of self-penned numbers. Occasionally reminiscent of Tom Waits and Mark Knopfler, this is what he should have been doing all along instead of wasting his time recording things like Driving Home For Christmas, throwing away his money producing and starring in vanity project movies and making an arse of himself for the camera with Michael Winner. If you're still locked into the image of Rea performing On The Beach, then lend an ear to the jazz soaked duskiness of Steel River Blues, the barrelhousing sax wailing blues boogie The Beat Goes On, the early hours whisky soaked Paint My Jukebox Blue and throbbing shuffle of Speed and grab an earful of revelation.
Mike Davies
This accomplished Midlands-based duo deserve wider recognition for their work, which with the release of this CD will hopefully be faster in coming. However, unless you've frequented the festivals further south, you're unlikely yet to have encountered Ann and Dave, although you may well have heard at a quality singaround the occasional song penned by either of them, for over the past few years they've written some fine ones. Ann (née Mathews) and Dave Reader teamed up after meeting at the Banbury Festival in 2001; prior to that, Ann (originally of Priory Hard, Southampton) and Dave (formerly of the celebrated West Midlands group The Laners) were both beavering away writing and performing their own songs. Now a permanent (and happily married) team, their individual writing and performing styles both contrast with and complement each other. Each is an interesting solo singer, yet their voices harmonise together uncannily well too (although their choice of harmonies is often strikingly imaginative and may sometimes sound more tentative than it in fact is). A significant proportion of this CD is acappella, but the value and effect of their skilled yet unfussy accompaniments (guitar and mandola), when used, should not be underestimated. All 21 of the songs here are self-penned (nine apiece and three jointly), and the idiom is predominantly folk-traditional rather than contemporary. Ann and Dave both clearly have a strong feel for folk tradition and many of their songs feel genuinely traditional (however that may be interpreted). Although each writer covers a broad spectrum of subject-matter and styling you could say that generally speaking Ann writes potently of folk traditions, customs, the seasons, nature and suchlike, whereas Dave deals in magic and mystery, gently humorous fable and cutting commentaries (in the latter category, Walsall – which uses the form of a street-seller's cry to reflect on so-called "progress" – and the cryptically-titled Muesli are especially persuasive). A couple of tongue-in-cheek bluesy meditations and a pastiche shanty form the exceptions to the above rule. The opening round Join Us In The Dance is a celebration of midsummer, whereas Ann's Keep The Dark Away is an exhortation to the spirit of the Hallowe'en time of autumn and Take A Little Drop To Keep The Winter Out is a delightful (and self-recommending!) piece of advice. Banbury Town is another of those catchy little broadside-style pieces you feel you've known for ages (and just a bit reminiscent of Graeme Miles' Yarm Fair too). There are no less than three songs about scarecrows (an unhealthy obsession? Nah! they just make for good songs!); these range from the eerie, haunting title-song to Scare-D-Crow, which is described as "a true story told to Dave by a crow", and the briefer Another Scarecrow Song which patters along more wistfully. The CD's highlight for me, though, is the enigmatic Lullaby, which considers the notion of being able to choose one's dreams; this song, together with Lonewolf in particular, reminded me strongly of the beautiful writing of Anne Lister. But Ann and Dave both have the knack of writing straightforwardly well-constructed songs couched in simple folk imagery (no tricky rhythms or complex metaphorical statements), and they're the more powerful for all that. Two of the jointly-penned songs (Scarecrow and Witches), representing the earliest (indeed, the very first) and the most recent of their writing collaborations respectively, serve to demonstrate their consistency of vision over time. Performance-wise, there are occasional instances of slightly insecure vocal intonation, but these don't get in the way of appreciating the high standard of the songwriting, and indeed (as with Ann's earlier solo CD Stolen Kisses) I'm left feeling really puzzled as to why many of these songs aren't more widely known within the folk corpus. Do try to hear this one, you'll not regret it.
www.sabrinaflu.co.uk/adrweb/index.htm
David Kidman July 2008
When the majority of this collection first appeared, in 2003, I was more than pleasantly surprised by its freshness, both in terms of Eddi's own interpretative insights and in terms of the tasteful, if quite fulsome and romantically-inclined, musical settings employed. I'd kind-of expected an incongruous cash-in, but the excellent playing (from the likes of Messrs Carr, Cunningham, McCusker, Hewerdine and Vernal) and some really skilled arranging definitely really set the seal on Eddi's accessible yet sensibly expressive treatments of the oft-travelled texts. Perhaps unexpectedly, Eddi's charming and well-considered performances on this disc justified her claim to penetrate naturally to the "ordinary humanity" of Burns' poetry, and in that context I've returned often to the CD in the intervening years.
The occasion of Burns' 250th birthday this very year has provided Rough Trade with a good opportunity to reappraise the disc and to add to its already generous measure a few extra drams in the shape of seven more tracks of "Burns treasure" which Eddi has recorded since the original release. Of these, three are taken from Eddi's lovely 2005 CD Peacetime, whereas a further three (Green Grow The Rashes O, Dainty Davie and Of A' The Airts), all previously unreleased, would appear to emanate from the same sessions as the original 2003 album (listed personnel being identical). Finally, the set's most let-the-hair-down contribution Comin' Through The Rye, also previously unreleased, employs a spirited ensemble comprising accordionist Mairearad Green (the composer of the tune that interleaves the song here), also Jen Butterworth, Anna Massie, Hamish Napier, and John & Stephen Douglas. No doubt the initial run of Eddi's Burns collection will have been long deleted, so it's worth acquiring this deluxe edition before it too disappears - but at over 75 minutes it's an abundantly generous and thoroughly recommendable disc on grounds of value-for-money irrespective of its strong claims on purely artistic grounds.
David Kidman July 2009
Having re-issued her celebration of Scottish poet Robbie Burns with a further seven numbers to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. Reader's next project was to record a couple of new original numbers for a proposed Best Of set. However, the sessions went so well and the songs emerging were so strong, she decided to press ahead with a complete new album.
Good news all round then, given that with three self or co-written numbers and further clutch of glittering nuggets from the pen of Boo Hewardine, this is a yearningly lovely follow up to 2007's Peacetime, full of understatedly lilting folksy pop love songs and accordion laced melodies that evoke 50s Parisian cafes on the banks of the Seine.
Hewardine's airly waltzing Dragonflies opens the album in light as a father style, floating its way into the heart to be followed closely behind by his second contribution, the equally swayingly sublime, ukulele strummed Silent Bells. Hewardine's also the author of Dandelion, another stand-out track with a bubbling arrangement and piano parts that harks to the elegant big band ballroom romances of the 30s and 40s, and co-writer with Reader of the similarly period flavoured kiss me quick playfulness of Over it Now.
Ukulele player Jack Douglas provides three numbers, among them tumbling co-write Roses (which has Heidi Talbot on harmonies and John McCusker on cittern) and, soaring like balloons over city skyline rooftops, New York City, a waltzing love song to the Big Apple that can stand comparison to Billy Joel's finest odes to Manhattan.
It's an album stuffed with highlights, Declan O'Rourke's title track and guitarist Jack Maher's Fallen Twice both worthy of honourable mentions, but it would be remiss not to draw particular attention to two covers. With a lyrical rewrite to mention Kilmarnock, Never Going Back Again (Queen Of Scots) puts a musical piano jogging oom pah spin on the Fleetwood Mac classic and the title of It's Magic pretty much sums up her dreamy cocktail lounge woozy reading of the Sammy Cahn evergreen. Looks like, she ended up making a best of album after all.
www.eddireader.co.uk
www.myspace.com/eddireader
Mike Davies April 2009
Though Eddi's new album is being marketed as a followup to her acclaimed disc of Songs Of Robert Burns, this time only three of its 14 tracks are actually Burns settings. But even so, on the third of those, Lezzie Lindsay, it's only the chorus that was actually written by Burns; the verses are Eddi's own, co-written with Boo Hewerdine (and they're a considerable improvement on the dreadful "Ronald MacDonald" text we normally hear!). As for the two "real" Burns songs here, Aye Waukin-O and Ye Banks And Braes, these are nicely done, and prove worthy companions to the earlier disc. Throughout, Peacetime benefits from some attractive, sympathetic and involving musical arrangements courtesy of John McCusker and various permutations of his "usual suspects" (Messrs McGoldrick, Carr, Cutting, Vernal, Mackintosh et al.). Peacetime's a unified set that echoes the sentiments and sensibilities of the Burns songs, reflecting Eddi's own life-journey, her peace within herself and the finding of faith and hope amidst all the heartaches of the contemporary world. This emotional climate is represented by a clutch of fine songs including Johnny Dillon's The Afton, the title track and Muddy Water (both by Boo), Safe As Houses (co-written with Boo) and two beautifully simple compositions by John Douglas. Eddi also turns in thoughtful settings of the traditional Baron's Heir and Mary And The Soldier, while her fun version of The Calton Weaver (Nancy Whisky) forms the album's bonus track. The mood of comfort and promise is well conveyed by Eddi's assuredly passionate singing and the sensitive backdrops, my only reservation concerning the brass-choir on The Shepherd's Song (the effect of which I find slightly mawkish, in contrast to the gorgeous string arrangement she brings to Declan O'Rourke's Galileo later on the disc).
David Kidman January 2007
Having recently published his third novel, here's further evidence that Willy Valutin is one of the most accomplished storyteller in contemporary American music, his writing well deserving of the regular comparisons to that of Raymond Carver.
Born out of mourning for the sudden passing of his mother, two years ago, the band's eighth album turns its homespun, dusty Americana to thoughts of love and loss, viewed through the respective prisms of regret and celebration.
Like all great writers, it's not easy to tell where autobiography ends and storytelling begins, but when, on the title track he recalls an abandoned house where he and childhood friends would play and of coming home to find their home robbed, the particulars of the personal shade away into a pithy image about loss of innocence.
That sense of losing something intangible but vital informs several of the tales here. The Pull is a melancholic story of a gave up drinking and quit talking because "when he was sober he didn't know nothing". Forced to give up a boxing career because of injuries, he now runs to keep from thinking.
Then there's the middle-aged divorcee of 43, with his mom in a home, his ex wife being abused by her new cop husband and the sense of the world crushing down, Lonnie, about whom all the horrible things they say are true, and, in The Boyfriends, all the no good guys you promise yourself you'll never turn in to. Or, in the case of Two Of Us, not running out on commitments 'just like your dad.'
By the time you get to Ruby & Lou's snapshot of two losers who thought they'd found escape in each other only to have life turn to crap when a homeless youngster accidentally blows his brains out with Lou's gun, you might feel like slitting the wrists. Yet, oddly, there's a glimmer of light in the couple's determination not to sink, while Valutin's inner bruised romantic peeks through the cracks on the pedal steel keening country rock swagger of Maybe We Were Born Blue and the closing A Letter To The Patron Saint Of Nurses, a spoken account of a loving relationship that finds salvation and joy in the small moments and the awareness that the lives of others can be so much more lonely.
Punctuated by short instrumentals bearing titles like Sitting Outside My Dad's Old House and Walking Back To Our Place At 3am, it's a moodily atmospheric late night wander through the darker shadows of life's fears and alienations, but, at the end of the day, however wrecked and broken that house by the freeway may be, Valutin reminds us that somewhere, someone misses and needs you and, as the song says, You Can Move Back Here.
Mike Davies August 2009
Those who bought the Thirteen Cities album will recognise the title track (or to give its full wack, $87 And A Guilty Conscience That Gets Worse The Longer I Go) as one of the highlights. And here it is again, as the lead track on a mini-album of previously unreleased material recorded at the same sessions. Well, save for Kid From Belmont St. Ends Up On Colfax Ave, Denver, Co, which is pretty much a jazzy late neon night instrumental take on The Kid From Belmont St while $87 A Week With A Girl Named Bonnie Sparks is an instrumental variation on,,, well, you get the idea. .
So, with The Gits have been included on a Hurricane Katrina benefit compilation, there's essentially just four new numbers for the money. The good news is that Song For James Welch and the jogging The Water Song are classic Willie Vlautin's melancholic loser storysongs and Wilson Dunlap a parched voice memoir of a small town cranky wife abuser that unfolds into a pleading love song.
Annoyingly, the talking blues Moving Back Home #1, an autobiographical tale of Vlautin's first girlfriend and first heartbreak, cuts the story short just as it gets to the wallowing in drunken misery bit. Maybe #2 continues the story. Good then, but really just for the completists.
www.richmondfontaine.com
www.myspace.com/richmondfontaine
Mike Davies October 2007
Having concluded their trilogy with 2005's The Fitzgerald, Willy Valutin and the boys return for their seventh album, relocating from Oregon to record amid the desert landscapes of Tucson, Arizona, producing a conceptual set of thirteen songs, each set in a different city and following the aimless, lost drifting of the various characters involved.
After the last album's stripped back minimalism, it's a change to hear the band, augmented by Howe Gelb and assorted Calexicos, with a fuller sound and more diverse instrumentation and arrangements that variously embrace horns, mandolins, glockenspiels and accordions. There's a more upbeat musical mood to several of the numbers too; the scuffle along cantina country of Moving Back Home #2, the slow swaggering alt-country drawling beat that kicks along Capsized and the spacey rock sensibility underpinning Four Walls.
But all share the same atmosphere of dry deserts and star-flecked night skies, a perfect setting for Valutin's noirish storytelling and haunting and haunted songs such as I Fell Into Painting Houses In Phoenix, Arizona, A Ghost I Became, $87 and a Guilty Conscience That Gets Worse The Loner I Go or the short, spoken St Ides, Parked Cars And Other People's Homes about blue collar men lost in rusted dreams, bent with rueful regrets, forever reaching out to connections they can't make, consumed by anger and resentments eating away at their soul.
Pushed to pin down standouts, they'd likely have to be the early hours shivers of The Kid From Belmont Street where an old man tries to stop the kid not to make the same mistakes, the closing piano and trumpet call for salvation of Lost In This World and The Disappearance of Ray Norton, a spoken narrative childhood memoir about a man whose racist attitudes to Mexicans cost him friends and family. But everything here pretty much qualifies as a work of genius.
www.myspace.com/richmondfontaineMike Davies February 2007
David Kidman
Eddi Reader - Simple Soul (Rough Trade Records)
This is possibly Eddi's best work to date, certainly some of her best songs. She and her collaborators, notably Boo Hewerdine who co-wrote nine of the eleven tracks, have further mined the 'down-home' acoustic seam at which they're experts. Homely or not (it was recorded in Roy Dodds' flat), the results are sophisticated, bright, melodic and probably timeless (the great benefit of real-time acoustic recording). There's more than one classic Reader here.
Her vocals are pure quality, her interpretations masterly. The input of Hewerdine, along with Teddy Borowieki on keyboards and veteran Reader kershuffler, Dodds, is quintessential. Eddi has always attracted the best of talent. Today she has a squad big enough for Europe. But at its spine are these three men: Hewerdine, a sophisticated pop brain with an acoustic guitar cooking on low level; Borowieki, a keyboard Puck commissioned to girdle the earth; and Dodds, the shaker king. Its a very focused album with one coat and many colours.
The overture is 'Wolves', a lovely song. Its memorable and a good example of Reader and Hewerdine skating like Torvill and Dean across the folk-pop ice. Yeah, well.
'Lucky Penny', another keeper, another affirmation of the human spirit. Its what Eddi does best. It's there on the title track, aided (as all over the place) by Borowieki's soundscapes. Theres some great guitar from Adam Kirk on 'Adam', another fine track; and an excellent love song, 'I Felt A Soul Move Through Me'. Top grade stuff and I bet it works in all conditions.
You can tell the songs are good, you could produce them a thousand ways. None would probably last as long as this though. Is there anything that doesn't work for me? Yes, the booklet. It's got magic picture lyrics and the look of a Dulux summer collection. But I'll tell you what, you should buy it.
www.roughtraderecords.com
www.eddireader.com
David Hughes
There've been changes a-plenty in the Real Time camp since their debut release (a live album) a mere two years ago, but I'm pleased to report that these changes don't work to the detriment of the sound or to the group identity. Happily, Real Time's core members - Judy Dinning and Kenny Speirs - remain. But there's now a new fiddler, another exceptionally talented young player (they sure can pick 'em!), the award-winning Iain Anderson (he replaces Joe Wright, who's decamped to the latest John Wright Band), whose lyrical style has just the right measure of grace and virtuosity. Also, master keyboardist (and studio wizard) Tommy Roseburgh joins the roster as a virtually-fulltime member, to fill out the already fulsome band sound a little further - and very tastefully he manages it too. Without wishing to generalise, it's probably fair to say that the group's performing style and general musical direction can now arguably be termed more truly Celtic than hitherto, for whereas previously the emphasis had been mostly on the juxtaposing of Judy's own compositions with those of other contemporary writers, the latest album intersperses the latter with straightforwardly traditional material (four songs, a slow air and a vigorous set of reels). As far as the group sound is concerned, the current mix of primarily Scottish and Northumbrian musicianship proves alert and positive, while producing an appealing and accessible overall sound. Real Time still manage to cover a wide spectrum of songs by contemporary writers, songs that by and large well suit Judy's style of delivery and her innate aptitude for honest expressiveness; these include Lal Waterson's Make You Stay, Enda Kenny's Angel Of The North, Joni Mitchell's Carey, Isaac Guillory's poignant Ship In The Window, and the timeless Fairport classic Crazy Man Michael (here given a stirringly dramatic new arrangement). Real Time have also taken advantage (in the nicest possible sense!) of the chance to augment their sound even further, albeit selectively, with multi-instrumentalist Brian McNeill, percussionist Steve Lawrence, bassist Neil Harland and accordionist Gary Forrest - inordinately fine musicians every one of them, who prove fully in tune with the band themselves. One thing hasn't changed for Real Time though - they're still under-using Kenny's talents, for though he's a lovely singer his vocal contribution's again reduced to occasional harmonies on a mere handful of tracks on this new album. But whatever, Hell And High Water certainly proves that Real Time are still serious contenders on the scene and they've settled perfectly into their revised musical direction.
David Kidman
Since their formation only at the start of 2002, this trio has been gaining a grand reputation for its live appearances on the folk scene, at both festivals and clubs. Of course they had a head start - a lineup two of whose members are already well-loved musicians and singers (Kenny Speirs, ex-John Wright Band singer and guitarist, and Judy Dinning, formerly with Jez Lowe's Bad Pennies and Lucky Bags). But with the third member (for many, the unknown quantity) being an amazingly talented young fiddle/mandolin player, Joe Wright, it's clear this band could do no wrong - and so this album proves. With a repertoire that moves effortlessly between songs (mostly contemporary, a handful of traditional) and tunes played with an easygoing instrumental virtuosity, it sure is a winning combination. The buoyant effervescence and total involvement of the trio's live performances translates pretty strongly to CD on this, their first recorded offering, so the decision to issue a live set rather than a studio-recorded CD has evidently paid off in that respect, although I admit I tend to find the incidentals of live recordings (applause, intros, etc) less satisfying for repeated listening. Opening with a Judy Dinning composition (Maybe, one of seven examples on the CD - and I hadn't realised Judy was such a prolific, and fine, songwriter) proves a good gambit, setting the scene admirably, with its vital, driving guitar and fiddle and soaring vocal line and providing a sensible contrast with the next track, Best Kept Secret, another of Judy's. Kenny then takes lead vocal for a cover of Richard Thompson's When I Get To The Border (which had also graced his first solo album Border Song) before Joe steps into the spotlight for a pair of traditional tunes (Snow On The Hills and The Swallowtail Reel), which demonstrate the poetic fluidity, natural verve and unassuming maturity (already!) of his playing - whether at slow or fast tempo. And so the album proceeds, as does the band's live set, every selection a highlight in its own way. I've already said that Judy's own songs are particularly impressive, songs about relationships, the acquiring and the parting, that are deceptively simple but embody a uniquely wistful passion - and I'm sure we're destined to hear more. Finally, I must mention Real Time's sensible cover of Lal Waterson's Fine Horseman - not an easy song to bring off, but Judy does a great job. OK, so I'd like to hear more of Kenny's singing, but that's probably the only perceivable imbalance in Real Time's act as represented by this CD.
David Kidman
Fronted by brothers Cody and Willy Braun, the Texans have been swaggering through their roadhouse country-rockers for over a decade, but it may just be the time for them to find overnight success with this set of hook friendly, head down the highway guitarslingers that hit home like Steve Earle on a full chamber.
Opening as the intend to continue with the rolling wheels of Ragged As The Road, they fire off further tequila laced chords and rebel rhythms on Love In Her Eyes, the punchy anti-war/pro-troops American Blood, Passing Through, Wandering Eye and One False Move. Curiously, A Guy Like Me even sounds like a country-rock reincarnation of Iggy's The Passenger while the closing title track brings some Guns n Roses guitar fire to the party.
They don't have to toss around grenades to make explosions though. The moody, organ-growled one night stand come on You Don't Have To Stay Forever, mid-tempo steel keening How Was California and the scraped fiddle burnished Mirage all crank up an equal power that calls to mind long forgotten and late lamented 80s rebel country rock outfit The Unforgiven.
With God Forsaken Town, a Robert Earl Keen co-write that addresses those displaced by Katrina and the looting that followed, providing yet another high spot, it's high time Willy Braun and his boys became as synonymous with Texas as a cold Bud. They certainly have the same kick.
www.recklesskelly.com
www.myspace.com/recklesskelly
Mike Davies July 2008
For Wicked Twisted Road, the renowned Texas quintet have once again teamed up with crack producer Ray Kennedy, cementing the healthy working relationship they'd established while working on their previous album Under The Table And Above The Sun. Compared to that earlier offering, though, this new CD starts out deceptively lazily, with both the title track and Dogtown seeming content to mosey along at a leisurely small-town pace with an attractively lightly-scored backing. Only when the band decide to hit the trail for a pub crawl (Seven Nights In Ireland) does a fuller band sound and greater attack assume more importance; thereafter they certainly go all out to prove they'll easily go the whole distance, with the jangly electric country-rock of A Lot To Ask and Broken Heart, the Steve-Earle-brand of bitter bad-girl honky-tonk on the standout cut Nobody Haunts Me Like You, and the strange transformation from Burritos to blistering Southern rock and back again during the course of Motel Cowboy Show (this one named, no doubt, in tribute to Pinto Bennett's band the Motel Cowboys whom Reckless Kelly acknowledge as a big influence). There's a punchy Springsteen-like guts and drive about Reckless Kelly at their most potent, as even a cursory listen through the melodic bravado of (say) These Tears will straightway bring to your notice. And when Reckless Kelly choose to rock on and out, as on the wailing Stones strut of Wretched Again or, even better, the extended Sixgun, there's no stopping the motor, even at a roadblock (apparently one of the band's earlier releases includes a 16-minute version of Zep's Whole Lotta Love... hmm, now that I just gotta hear!). No lack of dynamism or muscular energy here - just a tingling, almost visceral pleasure to be gained from the band's loud and commanding inventiveness. Oh, and the disc also contains a bonus item - a ten-minute video made during the recording of the album.
David Kidman
David Kidman
www.petermulvey.com
www.krisdelmhorst.com
www.jeffreyfoucault.com
David Kidman
Long feted as Canada's finest bluesman, Paul formed his groundbreaking band The Sidemen in 1990, and he and the band toured hard for upwards of ten years before releasing the landmark Rattlebag album in 2001. Rattlebag, described as a masterpiece of "hard blues for modern times", marked the start of Paul's serious attempt to rework blues traditions with an emphasis on poetic forms and techniques, combining the mystery of the blues and its landscape with the powerful spell cast by its poetry. Villanelle, Paul's 2004 followup album, cut with Colin Linden, was also well received in the blues community, while over the past few years Paul's music has also been increasingly in demand for use in film soundtracks and commercials, such is its moody, atmosphere-laden power.
The impetus for the release of Revue, Paul's first retrospective collection, was the featuring of its lead track, I'm A Criminal, on a Coca-cola TV commercial, but Revue is emphatically not a series of ad-tracks cobbled together to make a fast buck, but instead it's a seriously fine compilation that gives a good idea of just why Paul's picked up award nominations galore for his daring, highly expressive and deeply committed approach to the blues tradition. Revue boasts 18 tracks and a playing-time of over an hour; it draws first and foremost from those two aforementioned widely acclaimed albums (four each from Rattlebag and Villanelle, as far as I can ascertain), and rounds out the picture by including, alongside three magnificent cuts Paul recorded with Paul Neufeld's Rhythm & Truth Brass Band, a handful of items from Paul's other albums with the Sidemen including two recently unearthed, previously unreleased recordings (You Know It Ain't Right and Sidemen Boogie), which close the disc in blistering, pounding, stormalong style. There's also Paul's excellent cover of Train Of Love, which originally appeared on the Johnny Cash tribute album Johnny's Blues, and his finely idiomatic arrangement of Son House's Am I Right Or Wrong.
Through all the cuts, though, it's Paul's extraordinary vision that convinces - it's a uniquely image-driven take on the blues, whether lowdown and dirty (Smokehouse, Big Not Small) or downhome pre-war acoustic (Villanelle, Winter Birds) or rough-house R&B, and always casts a potent spell. And Paul's vocal work fully complements that vision at all times, whether gruff and growling (almost like Tom Waits), or conspiratorial, or mellow and reasoned (Hook's In The Water comes on like a distorted electric Chris Smither!). Paul's take on his blues heritage is inspired, intensely individual and in the end really rather special, and every single song takes you on a highly imaginative journey through the landscape of the blues.
www.paulreddick.ca
www.northernblues.com
David Kidman October 2007
My initial reaction to singer/songwriter Jon's second proper full-length album (I don't count the stop-gap Acoustic set) was quite similar to that which his first solo disc provoked: it's a slow-burner, and equally elusive at times in its appeal. The key to its appreciation seems to be not to expect too much in the way of immediately memorable melodies or overly catchy hooks, but instead to take the songs very much as they come and not to force a reaction, and then they will prove their worth many times over. That state of mind's not an easy one to achieve in this world of instant musical gratification, but the rewards are there for the taking. What Else But Love? is a collection of new self-penned songs firmly in the intelligent-introspective vein familiar from May Be Some Time. Each of the nine songs is a deceptively understated emotional statement on an aspect of Jon's psyche: Temporary deals honestly with the issue of loss, and Play Of Fear deals with different aspects of Jon's personal fear of death, while Part Of You concerns Jon's own troubled past, where he travelled alone on the fringes of society to escape an unhappy home life, and Troubadour concerns the story of a friend with whom Jon was only recently reacquainted. Vocally too, Jon's on splendid form here, and on the casually jazzy demeanour of Future Lies he put me in mind of Robert Wyatt. The closing song, Don't Worry, is a concise but touching, simple yet beautifully-managed duet with the Winterset's Becky Unthank. The apparent ease with which these new songs worm their way into your brain belies their careful construction, and your appreciation is aided by the surprisingly busy settings, which feature a basic ensemble of Patrick Durkan (keyboards), Joss Clapp (bass) and Sam Murray(drums), with Pete Tickell (fiddles) augmenting that lineup on three of the tracks. A satisfyingly hypnotic set of songs, which grows enormously on subsequent plays; and it's extremely well recorded too. I do, however, find one particular aspect of the presentation rather irritating: the way the tracklisting and credits are printed (is the term pseudo-embossed?) on the arty fold-out booklet... they're all but illegible unless held up to the light at a particular angle, and even then not ideally readable.
David Kidman October 2008
Jon's probably best known (at any rate in folkier circles) as erstwhile member of that dynamic young Borders outfit Tarras, who turned heads not so many years back by scooping several major awards. Tarras made just two well-regarded albums before disbanding barely three years ago, shortly after which Jon took time out to explore the discipline of solo songwriting, drawing additionally on musical influences well outside the folk ambit. Teaming up with multi-instrumentalist and arranger Patrick Durkan, Jon recorded May Be Some Time, his debut solo album, which distils his many influences and inspirations in a multi-faceted set of original songs which, while untethered to any particular genre, are nevertheless characterised by a lively intelligence and a satisfying emotional depth. Although Jon's personal songwriting style resembles that of John Martyn or even Nick Drake in its shifting, restless gait, Jon's musical reference points move out beyond those to embrace John Coltrane and Pink Floyd, and even composers Steve Reich and Michael Nyman (the opening to Lost is one obvious passage that betrays their Minimalist inspiration) and Edgard Varèse (the percussion work on Demons). Jon's approach to rhythm is interesting too, with shifting time-signatures that sometimes add to the emotional unease, yet strangely you do sense that he's always in control (Patrick's unerringly precise percussion contributions are a significant factor here, I feel). Jon's singing has an element of cool detachment that can seem reminiscent of Robert Wyatt (check out the opener I'm Still Young) or Becker/Fagen aka Steely Dan (on Am I Fool). Then again, Jon's guitar playing, while not especially demonstrative (and it doesn't need to be in this context), is very accomplished, and carries echoes (but that's all!) of artistes as diverse as George Harrison, Roy Harper, Jimmy Page and John Renbourn. All told, it's not at all easy to put across in words the appeal of the music on this CD, for although the often static nature of the vocal lines can give the impression of a state of mind (and a music) that's largely ethereal, the busier backings provide a tension that enables the seemingly imperfect picture to be completed. Relatively unusual instrumental colourings and groupings (small brass ensemble or string quartet) are utilised with real imagination, and as I said above the percussion interlacings are particularly notable; Jon has also enlisted Peter Tickell (Kathryn's brother), former Tarras colleagues Rob Armstrong and Theo Clapp, pianist Ian Thorn, and some excellent session musicians including Roger Illingworth (sax). Jon has a real feel for texture, and his intuitive compositional skill and musicality is strongly evident in each of the album's dozen contrasted tracks. I did find, however, that some of the songs took a few plays to make their mark (I freely admit to having to put the CD aside for some weeks between listens, and the second set of plays was to reap considerably greater rewards). And so the CD title's really very much prescient - in that although it "may be some time" before you get the full measure of Jon's talent, it really is worth persisting.
David Kidman, July 2006
The Red Flags is a duo project that's based around the talented Wiltshire-based country-blues singer-songwriter Keith Mouland. He's been around the alt-country scene for a few years now, even occasionally getting together with other musicians in that genre, whereas his recent solo album Astro Country did the biz and garnered some real good reviews. Now, with bassist K.C. (Harry) O'Shea in tow, Keith proves again that less is more with this set of 15 economical original songs, each one a classy and evocative little short story or recounted experience that makes its own impact in a gently thought-provoking way. Though augmented by touches of accordion, piano and harmonica (and an uncredited drumkit), Keith and his guitar do solid service in expressing Keith's keenly-observed visions of life and its characters. For quite a few of the songs, it's the titles that tell it like it is (Down Across The Border, Lazy Song, Cool Canyon) - in that respect, no real surprises, except in that it's perhaps mildly surprising that Keith still finds so much to say within a genre that for years has spun its own clichés. On each song Keith invests the familiar with something special, a directness and simplicity that's refreshing, but the extra poignancy of the most outstanding of his songs (like Funeral Song, Haunted House and the curiously-named Ambient Lemon Song) cuts to the quick. Yes, Keith does a very fine line in authentic stripped-down acoustic Americana of the Steve Forbert/Ron Picott variety, quite low-key and understated but - especially in this crowded marketplace - certainly proving worth your valuable time. Real nice.
David Kidman April 2007
Lisa Redford - Lost Again (Parrot Records)
I tend not to trust the unsolicited package, the "sent you this CD because I thought you might like it" approach, unless it comes from or via the recommendation of someone I respect - which in this case it did. And thanks aplenty, for it's probably one of the most captivating records of its kind that I've received for review this year. Bald facts then: Lisa's a singer-songwriter; she's based, so far as I can tell, in Norfolk, although this, her second, CD was recorded in Manchester, at Airtight.
It's a different animal to Lisa's first release, 2003's self-produced and self-financed Slipstream, which made a virtue of a compellingly natural acoustic-based performance in order to showcase her rapidly developing songwriting skills (even though it featured a small handful of other musicians). Although Slipstream's special qualities and virtues were rightly praised by the music press and Bob Harris, Lisa has decided to adopt a different approach for the followup; so, while Lost Again is manifestly a continuation in terms of Lisa's deeply felt yet recognisably smart songwriting, and its basic idiom remains exquisite melodic country-tinged acoustic pop, the album is definitely and consciously more "produced", with significantly increased instrumentation and beautiful (and imaginative) arrangements to envelop Lisa's trademark stunning voice and acoustic guitar and complement her reflective, heartfelt and emotionally-charged (without being overwrought) lyrics.
The signature guiding hand on the production is that of ex-Guthrie Gabriel Minnikin, who contributes audibly too by playing an enormous number of instruments including guitars, mandolin, accordion, banjo, pump organ and even theremin, as well as doing some backing vocals. He's summoned a further cast of musicians that include the superb Alan Cook on steel guitars (pedal and lap) and dobro, with others on piano, bass, drums, clarinet and even a string trio. There are occasions when Lisa's voice gets a little lost in the mix, and this is a time when a lyric sheet could usefully have been incorporated into the booklet I feel, but by and large these at times almost indescribably lush musical settings don't swamp but actually enhance Lisa's glorious tones, and the end result is heart-meltingly good.
Almost every song (there are 11 of Lisa's own on the record) is blessed with a different, and highly individual, musical character; the opening (title) track's a delicious and radio-friendly slice of country-inflected pop, with Lisa's gorgeous voice invitingly sidling up against the texture of pure steel twang. Next song, Dragonfly, is a gentler, string-backed piece that shares a delicate yet intense majesty with the sound-world of Nick Drake, whereas gently driving cuts like Why and Love You Anyway just swoon by and right through you on their way to emotional fulfilment. The achingly intense ballad When You Go brings another dimension to Lisa's writing, as does the inspirational Mountain Hideaway and the seemingly ambivalent "heavenly choir" angle of Universe. The album's closing track (a cover of Neal Casal's Fell On Hard Times) is the exception to the rule this time, rings the changes as it reverts to a raw voice-and-guitar template. Play this rapturously good CD just once, and you'll definitely want to get lost again (and again, and again…) in its charms, I just know it!
David Kidman
Long recognised as one of Scotland's premier traditional singers and a leading authority on her heritage, Jean is as widely respected as a teacher as a performer and interpreter of the oral tradition. While a student at Edinburgh University, over forty years ago, she was introduced (by Hamish Henderson) to the American composer Serge Hovey, with whom she was to collaborate on this major project. After extensive research, Serge was able to match over 320 of Burns' lyrics with the tunes for which they had been originally penned. He then composed arrangements of these for small ensembles, with Jean as singer; these were recorded over a period of nearly twenty years, and issued (on LP and cassette) on Rounder's Philo imprint, finally being reissued on CD, firstly in 1996 (to commemorate the bi-centenary of Burns' death) and now once again (for the 250th anniversary of his birth-year), on four generously-filled discs. The final volume was recorded just three weeks after Serge's death in 1989, and forms a fitting double-homage.
The instrumental accompaniments Hovey devised for Jean's robust mezzo are distinctive and stylish, if at times also quite lavish (in a classical-chamber fashion). Some employ just a piano backing, others a piano trio, while some bring in larger ensemble settings involving strings and wind instruments. But what is remarkable throughout is the sense of true response from both of the main participants, a quality which Hamish Henderson himself brilliantly described as "an amalgam of creative flair and scholarly exactitude". Jean's devotion to the cause, her affection for the lyric poetry and the power of the song, not to mention her superb stature as a singer, comes across fully in these performances, and in many ways they can be considered a backbone, a benchmark of Burns interpretation. There have of course been notable interpretations of many of the individual songs by other folk-scene performers, but a principal virtue of this set is its sheer consistency of artistic vision. Some of the more traditionally-minded folk enthusiasts may not immediately warm to the arrangements, which will inevitably be less rugged, more refined than they're used to perhaps, but once the basic approach has been taken on board and assimilated there's an abundance of charm within and many felicitous discoveries to be made - not least the incredible range of emotional expression and subject matter over the course of the lyrics, which encompasses romance, death, national pride, womanhood, even political commentary. There's much more to Burns than the conventional image conveys, and here is an ideal place to embark on your own voyage of discovery and hopefully a reassessment of his place in Scottish culture.
You may be interested to learn that Jean also recorded a further series of Burns settings over roughly the same period of time as the seven volumes of Hovey arrangements (not to be confused, these are mostly acappella or with plain guitar accompaniment and should still be available separately). But many listeners will justifiably regard the Greentrax discs under review here as a definitive collection, possessing as it does a striking degree of artistic unity and exemplary performances from all concerned.
David Kidman January 2010
Jean has been at the forefront of Scottish traditional song for well over 40 years, both in terms of performance and research, and as a respected singer has been involved in a comparable number of album releases, including the groundbreaking Songs Of Robert Burns series. Over twenty years ago, in 1986, Jean recorded the album Songs Of Lady Nairne for Rounder's Philo label; this collected 14 "Jacobite" and other songs written by Lady Nairne (Caroline Oliphant), "the flower of Strathearn" in the late 18th/early 19th century; many of these songs, including The Rowan Tree, Caller Herrin' and The Auld House, not to mention the disc's title song, have long been considered traditional, so it's good to find Jean putting right the misconception. Since the original record was never widely available in the UK, Greentrax has now licensed it for re-release in its glorious entirety. This is a cause for celebration, for it's a classic of its kind, bringing us what might be regarded as definitive performances of these songs.
The recording has a well-defined atmosphere all its own too, which stems primarily from the wonderful combination of Jean's beautifully pure, lyrical singing and Abby's smoothly expressive, delightfully contoured playing (there's also a modicum of fiddle support from David Gusakov, and just occasionally, as on Charlie's Landing and The White Rose Of June, Jean herself provides a gentle guitar part). The oft-derided title track is given here in a totally believable rendition that restores its currency at a stroke – I can't bear to listen to any other version!… A small handful of the songs are performed unaccompanied by Jean: and matchlessly too. Quite honestly, these performances are peerless, and everything you could wish for in this repertoire. And to top it all, this Greentrax reissue comes complete with state-of-the-house booklet, freshly re-designed and containing full texts and helpful glossary. Sheer delight.
David Kidman July 2009
To this day the passion and power of Carolyn singing Somerset remains embedded in my memory while her spine shivering version of Who Knows Where The Time Goes deservedly saw her hailed as another Sandy Denny. However, a combination of music business indifference and personal circumstances, meant that they never got to fulfil their true potential. Until now.
Championed and produced by Fairport's Dave Pegg (who joins Chris Leslie and PJ Wright as backing musicians), they've finally been given the chance to make the album that will prove them one of this country's finest folk rock names.
Pegg's mandolin and Leslie's fiddle rippling in the background, the joint-penned Celtic Moon provides a perfect opening, conjuring images of star-kissed balmy harvest evenings while its lyrics spins a bittersweet memory of a lost perfect romance. The first of Mark's five numbers, Keep On Loving You maintains the note of romantic ache, a catch in Carolyn's throat as she pledges faith to a lover beset by black clouds while Leslie's violin weeps.
Taking its title and tale from the Ray Bradbury story of failed fathers and damned carnivals and with PJ Wright on wailing harmonica, the jauntily strummed country rock Something Wicked This Way Comes (one of only two tracks to feature drums) showcases Mark on vocals, underlining the fact that this is very much a marriage of equals.
Three numbers offer concrete proof that the pair can mesmerise with just voice and fingerpicked acoustic guitar; waltz time swayer Only A Fool, the heartaching steadfast devotion of Woman In Love and Diamonds She Once Wore's poignant tale of a girl growing through the pain of lost love to become woman and mother.
The song that first garnered MySpace attention marks the album's emotional anchor. Written by Carolyn, its tune echoing Greensleeves and Liverpool Lullaby, My Father's Green Beret is a heartbreaking lament for her father, a war hero who died of hospital contracted MRSA. Accompanied by double, bass and violin, with daughter Megan arranging and playing piano, it's a thing of stark beauty infused with pride and anger alike that perfectly chimes with the nation's Help For Heroes campaign. Try listening without a lump coming to the throat.
Leslie taking charge of mandolin, the only cover comes with Swarbrick's waltzing classic, White Dress. Immortalised by Denny, suffice to say this stands shoulder to shoulder with the original, Carolyn's delivery equally capable of bringing grown men to their knees.
They keep the mood intact for the slow paced Someday We'll Meet, its emotional yearning mirrored by Leslie's terrific, understated fiddle accompaniment before picking up the tempo with Mark on vocal duties again for the jangly Americana folk Keep A Hold On Me.
Having known Seeds when it was an uptempo folk rocker with a belting chorus, it's taken a while to get accustomed to its rearrangement as a two and half minute slow swaying shanty. But with Pegg on bass and Megan providing electric piano, I've now fallen under its spell as Carolyn draws out the song's resigned sadness.
Signing their love of traditional folk, Two Sisters is a rewrite of the trad murder ballad Twa Sisters, its dark storyline couched in a deceptively light, almost lullabying melody picked out on acoustic guitar while Leslie takes up the lyrics' gruesome fiddle narrative.
They keep the best for last, though, with the celebratory title track, a joyous May Day morris dance for trysting lovers, bells, mandolin, fiddle and its 'bright blessings will ring around the land' mass chorus spilling over with exactly the sort of sunny optimism these troubled times need. Fading away with bodhran and fiddle on the traditional Shepherd's Hey, it's the new folk anthem for the 21st century. That it's my folk album of the year is a foregone conclusion. It could well be yours, too. And with stunning new material already appearing on the website, they're clearly readying a repeat performance.
Mike Davies June 2009
Linda Ronstadt said, of the Red Stick Ramblers, that they are pure joy. Listening to Bring It On Down you will understand why. The eponymous title track sounds a little like They're Red Hot by Robert Johnson and they give this old favourite, learned from Bob Wills, a great old time country/blues treatment. From the first bars of this the listener is shown how tight a band they are. Main Street Blues has plucked guitars and mandolin, giving a strangely Mediterranean feel. However, the addition of fiddles adds the Americana ingredient. What Do I Do? takes us back to the days of crooners and innocence for a tale on how relationships can take many turns.
Stay All Night is old time country with slap bass, fiddles and a sing-a-long chorus. This is one for getting the audience up to dance. Belle is Cajun music but I have one gripe, where's the accordion? I got my wish on Two Step des Condamnes, a brilliant Cajun two-step with Steve Riley on the squeeze box. Rattle My Cage is contemporary Americana and its stilted vocal and wailing fiddles make it another standout. The Ramblers can turn their hand to other styles and the jazzy instrumental Django Reinhardt song, Blue Drag, confirms that ability. Chas Justus' acoustic guitar solo is wonderful.
The old standard Dinah is up next and its up-tempo, jazzy delivery suits the Ramblers to a tee. Parting Waltz features twin Louisiana fiddles and Celtic influences that make up a fine Cajun dirge. It's just fiddles and voice and is another standout. The famous 16 Tons is given a Cab Calloway style treatment before the band finish on When The Sugar Cane's Tall. There's just something about those fiddles. This could only be American music and it's a cracker to finish with. For Red Stick read Red Hot!
www.memphisinternationalrecords.com
www.redstickramblers.com
David Blue
British bred alt-country Americana, the RPC are built around the twin vocalists guitarist Alex Elton-Wall and singer-songwriter wife Hannah, ably supported by pedal steel man David Rothon and the rhythm section of Jamie Langham and Rain. Listening to the 12 string jangles of the cheating on a relationship Wasted On You and the childhood reflecting Coastline, it's not too difficult to discern influences that embrace Gram and Emmylou, The Jayhawks, The Byrds, Burritos and Ryan Adams. But having said that, with Alex taking throaty lead, Pick Up, Shut Up harks to a mix of Creedence and Faces vintage Rod Stewart while She Is Yours flirts with a keening marriage of pedal steel country and power pop, inviting Gina Villalobos to share vocals, and Hannah's aching title track suggests she may well have listened to a Kathy Mattea or Linda Thompson album at some time in the past. But these are no great departures from a blueprint they've already proven they can do as well as anyone born to the breed, and while the lyrics may be veined with reflection of regret and tales of loss and love gone wrong, the actual songs generally come with an upbeat kick. The highlights never end, chugging along for Please Come Running, circling the honky tonk with Burning It Down and kicking over the empty bottles with the Gram meets Merle Friends In The Dark, complete with plangent guitar chords and steel and fiddle duel. Bidding farewell with a strings glistening instrumental reprise of Take Me Home, one final chorus of Hannah fading away into the night, these Palominos can come and ride my range anytime.
Mike Davies February 2007
The Redlands Palomino Company - By The Time You Hear This . . . We'll Be Gone (Laughing Outlaw Records)
I suppose that if, like me, you live in the north, then London is the South. But, believe me, 'the smoke' is not the first place that comes to mind from listening to this excellent album.
Sometimes it's easy to spot a good band by the effortless way they switch, mix and marry styles. So it is with The Redlands Palomino Co. While By The Time may have the purists and zealots scratching their heads and muttering darkly about 'deserting the true path' of American country/rock, the more objective music listener will enjoy the freshness and originality.
Fronted by twin vocalists Alex and Hannah Elton-Wall, and the band exploit the difference between the two quite beautifully.
On the opening and title track, Hannah's vocals chill and haunt in the same way as Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss. Her voice shines through the darkness of the song, like a pinpoint of light. When that is followed by Alex's 'redneck rocker' Temptation, the first of many twists and turns has been met and appetites are whetted.
When the two combine, as they do on Goodbye Love and Get On The Train, they produce some lush, hooky harmonies. With David Rothon on pedal steel guitar, Jamie Langham on drums and Rain on bass ( what is it with bass players and names?) the best way to describe the sound is 'complete'. It all sounds 'right', nowhere do you ever think 'now if only'.
The contrast and friction created by the harshness of This One's For The Heartache and Devil In My Head, the aching If You're Down and the lonely sweetness of Pony Song, creates a spark that becomes the flame that sets the whole thing alight.
Rarely do you come across an album that doesn't haven't at least a trace of formula. Here the band bend to the will of the song, there's even a kind of 'cleaned up Pogues' feel to Doing It For The Country, which is great fun.
With a pedal steel guitar so prominent, it is hard to get away from the country entirely and, truth be told, that's what's at the heart of all this. One thing is certain though, By The Time Your Hear This . . . you'll be hooked.
Michael Mee
I have to say that "Red Meat" is the least attractive name for a band I've heard since the gory days of punk. Maybe it resonates differently over in California; come to think of it, maybe it's just a wind-up for all those self-righteous right-on middle class vegetarian professionals... or something like that. Anyway, an unpromising name, an unpromising cover shot of aging urban cowboy musicians, and an unpromising track-listing of standard honky tonk titles all hide an album of some surprising jolliness. Uncomplicated, for sure, with lyrics that expect no difficulty getting themselves over to a bar crowd, but they vary the menu adroitly, getting us all dancing with "Moonrock", guitarist Michael Montalto's instrumental, and chucking in last dance numbers like "Sunday". Sharing the vocals around the band with Jill Olsen and Smelley Kelley contrasting particularly well, and varying the sound from classic rocking honky-tonk to the swing-come-dixieland of "High Maintenance Babe", eveything is performed with a whole-hearted professionalism that never ever forgets that this is all about fun. And if you're looking for further recommendation then look no further than the producer credit: none other than the mighty Dave Alvin.
www.myspace.com/redmeatcountry
John Davy September 2007
Just lately, Sarah Matthews has been somewhat busy with her extra-curricular activities outside of her membership of the Derbyshire quartet Cross O' Th' Hands! Released around the same time as Sarah's duo album with Doug Eunson (Proper Swell), Personally Speaking is a beautiful and very listenable collaboration with cellist Gill Redmond (who you may recall touring the better class of folk festivals of late in tandem with songwriter Graham Moore). Violin/viola and cello is a rather special combination of instruments you don't often find duetting on a folk album, indeed not generally outside the classical field. And even though Sarah's blessed with a lovely singing voice, this is a predominantly instrumental disc. It presents a generous selection of dance tunes which originate from England, Wales and Sweden, with originals by Jon Swayne, Pat Shaw and Sarah herself. Sarah has a great knack of rearranging tunes into a different metre from how they were originally composed - her intelligent reworking of a mesmerising little tune by Eelgrinders' fiddler Helena Torpy into The Attingham Waltz is brilliantly conceived, for instance. Only two of the album's 11 tracks feature Sarah's vocals: the bright and breezy Derby Miller, and Great Tom Is Cast - a delectable chiming "round" celebrating the largest bell in Tom Tower at Christchurch College, Oxford, that's creatively used as a prelude to the Playford tune Christchurch Bells. The playing is abundantly sprightly and lively when the music demands it, with loads of energy in the attack from both musicians in consort, and there's some particularly snappy use of syncopation, as in the hornpipes set (track 8). However, this still manages to be an admirably intimate disc. For Sarah and Gill do a nice line in stately too, as the gorgeous bardic melody Glwysen and the aforementioned Attingham Waltz demonstrate, with exquisitely shaded and supremely attractive playing throughout. Another big plus is that the timbres of the three instruments are faithfully conveyed, with plenty of presence yet none of the needless artifice and over-equalisation that sometimes comes with state-of-the-art "classical" recordings. Some listeners who are more comfortable with a group sound may find that the comparatively restricted tonal palette of the two stringed instruments alone is a little too chamber-music-like for their tastes, but I'd consider that its quality of joyous intimacy one of its many virtues, and in truth the two players here make a fuller, richer sound than many a larger complement. For me, this disc proves a constant delight - especially on repeated plays.
David Kidman December 2006
Naming yourself after a Serbian football team is an unusual way to start your musical career but that's what one-time rock critic Bill Curry has done. Of all the former Iron Curtain sports teams available to choose from, at least he chose a pronounceable one! There the sports connection ends for this rocking and (very) alt.country trio. You won't be playing RSB for a cheerful forty-six minutes of uplifting lyrics but it will get your feet tapping; in fact you probably won't realise to begin with what he's actually singing about. Curry's songs are literate and caustic and dwell on the alienation side of life; political and personal. The catchy 'On The Highway To Hell' has you singing along too. Curry's entire dark and depressing collection fairly breezes along with its up-tempo rockin' rhythm section and punchy and slidey guitars. The energy level is high with musical breadth from piano, organ, mandolin, ebow, melodica from Curry. His wife, Graham Harris Curry, features on drums and percussion. Quirky, intelligent and totally compelling, this is an album with teeth.
Sue Cavendish
Here's another CD that's been laying around the place for too long, intermittently hopping on and off the player for the past few months or so and giving me a lot of pleasure, but that I've not gotten around to writing home about! Very remiss of me, that – as it's another gem that deserves your attention. Now normally I'd shy away pronto from any album made by a record-company publicist, but this one proves that instinct wrong on all counts. For it's no mere vanity outing that was even made at all simply because Flora's surrounded by some uncommonly fine artistes who might owe her a favour (that little ol' label Signature Sounds has a roster to die for!). Settle Down is a considered product, oozing integrity and full of astute writing, characterful singing and neatly judged playing. Maybe the opening's a little deceptive tho' – pipsqueak organ chords wheezing in all the way across from Strawberry Fields, succeeded by Flora's compelling, seductive, cooing vocal line, all in all a frothy and (unexpectedly?) un-folky arrangement, but hey, it sure works for the song. Most of the songs on the album, in fact, come blessed with instrumental accompaniments that show their strength in their careful minimalism – which shouldn't be taken to imply a bare canvas, far from it; Flora achieves her goal of creating "a variety of sounds and atmospheres", but she also creates a sense of balance. Album producer Dave Chalfant (who's worked wonders for Erin McKeown, you may recall) and drummer Dave Hower do a splendid job, and guesting too are Gideon Freudmann (cello) and Katryna Nields and Rose Polenzani (occasional backing vocals). Having said all that, Flora's choice for her closing track – an acapella version of Björk's Joga – is both astute and breathtaking. Flora's own lyrics have been described as "fiercely written poetics", which to me means they're urgent yet literate, for that canny quotable tag both evokes and represents her writing voice pretty accurately while incidentally serving to characterise her singing voice too. Her music almost never falls into the standard singer-songwriter template; it's graceful yet quietly dynamic, creating an impression while not shouting at you or grinding on your ears – much in the manner of Beth Orton, say, though Flora's voice has quite different tonal qualities. Flora's songs prove the virtues of being both down-to-earth and deep; the most striking examples in this collection, perhaps, are Beloved and Sweetly Said, but there's not a single weak cut. These songs get in your ear, and then really do haunt you, and though they may float by quite innocuously at times they're insistent in their own sweet way and thus damnably difficult to dismiss from your consciousness. There's a distinct sparkle, a refreshing and clear-headed vibe to her music that marks her out as a performer and songwriter who's impossible to ignore – in the nicest possible way. Indeed, in the words of Just Ask, "there's nothing I can do but be strangely moved".
David Kidman
Lou Reed - The Raven (Reprise)
A major fan (like all good unreconstructed goths) of Edgar Allan Poe's horror novel about death, love and loss, Reed's been obsessed with creating a musical interpretation for some time. Finally he's got round to doing something about it, recruiting collaborators such as Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, Bowie, Ornette Coleman, Amanda Plummer, the Blind Boys of Alabama and Laurie Anderson (aka Mrs Lou) for a double CD mix of spoken word and song that, based on his and Robert Wilson's arty musical POEtry, not only embraces the title classic but also other Poe works The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask and The Imp of the Perverse.
Despite the occasional overkill of the electronic wallpaper and squally guitars, the former elements work well, Messrs Buscemi and Dafoe no strangers to knocking up a bit of evocative thesping and these tracks play like solid radio drama, despite the fact you need to have a working knowledge of the story to work out what's happening physically. The songs though.
Well, the good news is that Reed's revisited his own haunted past to resurrect suicide anthem The Bed from his 70s Berlin album, there's a spine-tingling alt-cabaret rework of Perfect Day sung by someone of indeterminate sex called Antony backed by spectral keyboards, while Vanishing Act, The Science of the Mind and the closing Guardian Angel hark back to the languid, strung out narcotic ballad days of Pale Blue Eyes. Elsewhere there's plaudits too for Kate & Anna McGarrigle on the twee lullaby-like one minute long Balloon and Buscemi gives good seedy lounge on Broadway Song, but what to make of Reed and Bowie getting together for the dreadful Hop Frog which sounds like some abortive Men Without Hats folk-prog fusion or the frankly unlistenable noise when Lou sends the guitars and electronics off in a strop. One for the committed.
Mike Davies
This may be his fifth album in a career that stretches back 20 years, but the County Armagh singer-songwriter will still be a new name to most, even back home in Ireland. He may sing about Irish weather on the bluesy jog along opener Rainy Night, but there's little Celtic infusion to his sound, his musical roots firmly across the Atlantic. Indeed, it's not hard to spot the influences with Summers Always Here featuring a distinctive Willie warble, Time Slips Away firmly in Johnny Cash ballad mode, and Old & Wise suggesting hints of Steve Goodman and John Prine while Keep On Drivin' leans on the Nashville groove of Hal Ketchum.
Never less than listenable, elsewhere, he gets gospel bluesy on Who Are You, cruises the swamps with Feel Alive, rides freight train rhythms with the pedal steel picking Looking For A Lost Horizon, cranks up country rock twang for Time To Get Real and does soulful and reflective on the swaying closing time Frankie Millerish Old Bog Road. But, while there's an earthy warmth and a hidden version of Keep On Driving shows he's got some funky live chops, the songs themselves don't have that special magic to fan the flames to burn him into your heart.
www.benreel.com
www.myspace.com/benreelband
Mike Davies November 2009
This is definitely not another of those Celtic tune-session bands. No sir, for this 23-minute EP (for I suppose it must be called such) by Halifax (Nova Scotia) band Reels presents eight fully-formed gems of swirling country-acid-garage-rock that could've come straight from Dr Byrds & Mr Hyde or (in one or two cases) from proto-HM Zepp or Purple outtakes. Favourite track at the moment is the pedal-steel-drenched The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back, but Clearer, Today is another strong cut and in fact on this brief showing Reels convince on almost all fronts. The core band is Craig Buckley, James Cunningham and Dan Carnat, who let themselves get augmented by ex-Guthries Ruth Minnikin and Dale Murray to come out the other side with a persuasive and rather promising debut CD whose appealing intensity is (I say with cautious optimism!) such that I hope it won't signal a swift burnout by the time they get round to making a followup. Liked the Stargate-SG1-inspired cover art too.
David Kidman
This opens with the high volume R&B of Jet Black Ruby Red and is as good a start to an album that you could wish for. Lanny Ray gives it his all on vocals and guitar with pounding drums from Dylan Sardo and thumping bass from Pat Anthony. An atmospheric cover of Howlin Wolf's Who's Been Talkin' follows and Me & My Baby shuffles along with more stunning guitar work from Ray. Movin' Up To Malibu is a slow, earthy blues paying much homage to Muddy Waters and the afore-mentioned Howlin' Wolf.
The majority of the album is self-written and Baby Don't Worry is a fine example of the bands craft whereas Soul Blue is a slow electric blues to die for. Fuzz and distortion are the order of the day for I Want You and Ray is on howling form. I'm not surprised to be so taken with him as a guitarist when I see that he has played for Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker and Jimmy Reed. This guy has got class. Everybody's Got The Blues is slinky and just glides over you and Early In The Evening will bring you back to earth with its Stray Cats style execution. Robert Johnson's Walkin' Blues is the only other cover on the album and this is the second best (sorry boys) version that I've heard, closely beaten by Scotland's own Radiotones (check them out).
The bass-led Hold On is a standard blues-rock song and maybe would have been better placed in the middle of the album rather than as the penultimate track and the final song is a strange one to finish with after all the high-powered electric blues. Baby, Baby is slow, acoustic and laid-back, not what I've become to believe what The Reels are all about. The guitar solo is excellent as you would expect and I suppose they are just showing their range so I should not be too critical.
This is top class album by a power trio that deserve wider coverage. It shows what is out there if you can just be bothered to go out and look.
David Blue
Now comes the latest female collective, bringing together Wendy Waldman, Deborah Holland and Cindy Bullens, all of whom have, over the past three decades, made their name individually as writers, singers and, in Waldman's case, producer. Coming together in 2007 (and, originally, briefly a quartet with Jenny Yates), the trio blend rock, folk, jazz, blues and Americana, all of which inform their debut album.
Both their lead vocals and fabulous harmonies are spotlighted on the opening title track, a mandolin jogging slice of acoustic bluegrass country, one of two numbers on which all three share writing credits. Moved along by Holland's walking bass, the other's the smoulderingly upbeat bluesy Stickin' With My Baby's Love, a playful little number with a sexy groove, but one which is probably more effective live. Sharing lead vocals, their voices contrasting and complementing, Waldman and Bullens also co-wrote the gospel feeling All My Angels, but these are the only three new songs on the album, the remainder all drawn from their back catalogues.
However, while it would have been interesting to hear more material sparked by their union or for them to sing each other's songs, there's no complaints about what you get.
Bullens brings three dusty Americana numbers to the party; harmonica wailing ballad I Gotta Believe In Something from Somewhere Between Heaven & Earth and, both from Dream #29, the standout Eagles-ish Jellico Highway and a Pettyesque ringing Box Of Broken Hearts.
Holland digs back to her Animal Logic days with Stanley Clarke and Stewart Copeland to reprise (There's A) Spy In The House of Love with dulcimer and mandolin imbuing it with a folksier sound and, from her own Bad Girl Once, comes leaving song On My Way (itself co-written by Waldman) with Bullens on mandolin, and the harmonica burping bluesy The Violin Song sung from the perspective of a girl pleading with mom to give up her lessons.
Waldman, too, revisits three from her impressive repertoire. Originally done by the Nitty Gritty Dirty Band, Fishin' In The Dark is a swaggery southern country funky invitation to some romantic hanky panky under the stars while You Plant Your Fields (covered by Kathy Mattea among others as well as appearing on Waldman's My Time in The Desert) is a solid old school Appalachian folk tune about working the land. Her third contribution's the appropriately titled, much covered emotionally poignant final track, Save The Best For Last, formerly a massive hit for Vanessa Williams but here utterly reclaimed (and the first time Waldman's recorded it) in a stunning three part a capella rendition that sends shivers down the spine. They trio have garnered wide acclaim, so hopefully this will prove an ongoing project with the next album heavier on material sparked by their shared creativity.
Mike Davies June 2009
The latest name on the acoustic singer-songwriter scene to find himself draped in the new Nick Drake/Elliott Smith cloak depending on your age and reference points, Regan hails from Dublin and picks a rather fine guitar that suggests he's also not unfamiliar with the collected works of Bert Jansch and John Fahey. He also has an open hearted voice that will conjure comparisons with Damien Rice and Conor Oberst but also Loudon Wainwright (Hey Rabbit's lament for the destruction of nature) and Paul Simon (Snowy Atlas Mountains).
What's also caught the attention of starspotters is his way his often skeletal arrangements are accompanied by original lyrics steeped in melancholy, despondency and, in some instances (as with 'my jumper is soaked in pig's blood' on Snowy Atlas Mountains), downright disturbing weirdness.
Many of his images are plucked from rural nature. On the darkly urgent Hunter's World he uses a fox in a trap as a twisted romantic metaphor, childhood memories of a tongue-tied school friend return to 'the insect filled jars in rows' in the backporch bowing lament The Cowshed and even end of relationship song Put A Penny In The Slot sees him 'sit like a doc leaf sit beside a stinging nettle'.
The same song bears witness to his sense of wit as, having broken up with his lover he apologises for having "arrived home with items in my bag from your house, there's some cutlery, a table cloth, some Hennessy and a book on presidents deceased." It also marks his literary sensibilities but referencing Paul Auster's Timbuktu and Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March. Did I mention the album title's taken from an essay by Francis Fukuyama?
And if he's not dropping names or lifting words from bucolic pastures, he still turns a memorably original poetic image; to the accompaniment of effortless arpeggios The Underwood Typewriter finds him singing "I'm changing the ribbon, in this old Underwood. Step out of your dress and I'll wear you like a hood. For a hood is a home, for someone who lives alone", while the opening Be Good Or Be Gone ends with the heartbreaking line "I have become, an aerial view of a coastal town, that you once knew."
It doesn't always come off; the bit about needing a full stomach to drill for oil on the political themed Campaign Button bonus track feels forced as do some of the rhymes on the sprightly strummed Blackwater Child, while 'the forecast is going down a storm' from Noah is just lazy punning. But these are minor quibbles when faced with an album and an artist you know you'll still be able to listen to long after the fashion parade has passed by.
Mike Davies, August 2006
www.colinreid.com
www.topicrecords.co.uk
David Kidman
On the whole, I'm not the greatest fan of instrumental albums. They never really offer us more musically challenged wannabes the chance to express ourselves; they rob us of the opportunity of wrapping our larynxes around a good chorus or of imitating the stylised wailing of our particular rock-god vocalist. And there's always the sneaking suspicion that a whole album of tunes is a bit of an ego-stroking exercise for the muso(es) involved who can't really cut the mustard in either (or both) the playing and writing departments, if truth be told.
Well, I'm glad to say that Tilt fails on each of the above fronts. It's not entirely instrumental; although it may say Colin Reid on the cover, he gives his fellow players ample room to strut their stuff; Reid's own playing can't be faulted; and the dozen tracks (ten composed by Reid) offer a wealth of variety and cover enough styles to hold the attention of even the most pre-occupied. This is the second album form the virtuoso acoustic guitarist from Belfast and, as he says himself: "There are a lot more ensemble pieces on Tilt, so I don't see it as a 'guitar record' in quite the same way as the debut". The album kicks of in particularly sprightly fashion with one of those ensemble pieces, "Rocket". It motors along furiously with Reid leaving plenty of room for the string quartet of John Fitzgerald, Oleg Ponomarev, Maire Breatnach and Neil Martin to put a considerable amount of meat on the bones of the tune and to step up to the mic to take the lead for a few bars.
Just as you think breath is to be drawn on track two as Reid's lone guitar picks over the contemplative intro to The Penguin Cafe Orchestra's "Music for a Found Harmonium" the tempo picks up its skirts as the tune becomes a hell-for-leather race of digital dexterity to the finishing post of the final note. Breath does, indeed, need to be drawn after that opening flurry and the beautiful "The Queen of Two Rooms", with Reid joined by the violin and cello of Breatnach and Martin, does provide five minutes' welcome repose.
One of the major surprises of the album comes in the form of the Linsey Buckingham's "Never Going Back Again" made famous, of course, by his band Fleetwood Mac. Reid's pal Eddi Reader takes the vocal and Reid shares guitar chores with another mate, Boo Hewerdine. Gino Lupari helps the song along with bodhran and shaker. Hewerdine also features, on guitar and vocals, on his own "Seed on the Wind" , a gentle love song embellished by Reid's guitar, Martin's cello and Reader 's harmony vocals. Almost alarmingly, one of my favourite tracks here doesn't feature Reid at all, other than for the fact that he wrote it. "Crimes Against Music, Pt II" has a tinge of the decadence of 1930s' Berlin about it as Brian Connor's piano provides the jazzy melody backed by Alan Shields on double bass and Andrew Lavery's drums. A similar feel enthuses "The Clay Pigeon Rag" on which Reid's guitar and Ponomarev's violin dance surefootedly around Martin's cello and Shields' bass.
I really like this album, a hell of a lot more than I would possibly have expected to like a (mainly) lyric-free collection. Reid's playing is world-class throughout and his willingness to let his collaborators shine is commendable and refreshing. And, so what if you can't sing along - you can whistle, can't you? Just put your lips together and blow.
www.colinreid.com
www.topicrecords.co.uk
Fred Hall
No wonder that young Shetland fiddler Jenna is laughing, for all the while she's still playing with the bands Dòchas and Filska – and also appearing on Transatlantic Sessions 3 - she's now finding time to tour to promote this, her second solo album. We can conjure up plenty of suitable "F-words" to describe her playing on this occasion: feisty, fiery, free-spirited and frisky being just a few! During the course of eleven tracks, Jenna proves her versatility on a suitably varied mix of sets of tunes with a couple of songs thrown in. The tunes include Irish and Scottish (Shetland) traditional, others by the likes of J. Scott Skinner and Simon Thoumire, and a handful composed by Jenna herself. One of the most persuasive tracks, and an antidote to the faster items, is a beautifully controlled rendition of Niel Gow's Lament. Other particular instrumental successes include a forthright jig-and-two-reels combination (track 6, the illogically-named Janine's Reel), The Five Mile Chase set and the opening title track. The two vocal tracks don't fare badly either: one's a paean to a remote area of Shetland penned by Jenna's mother Joyce, the other's a song by Mary Ellen Odie from the island of Yell. Jenna's playing is full of presence throughout: capturing all her special qualities, well recorded and necessarily to the forefront, but her support crew on this album is just fine too. She's retained Kevin Mackenzie (guitar) and Duncan Lyall (double bass) from With Silver And All alongside Bethany Reid (piano, fiddle), James Thomson (flute) and Iain Sandilands (percussion, and vibes on Da Cappie Stane - an unusual touch), while bodhránist Martin O'Neill (from Dòchas) joins Jenna as special guest for the Five Mile Chase set (Martin's the only individual credited for a particular track, so it's not always easy to ascertain who's playing what elsewhere). All told, Laughing Girl is no disappointment, even if there's no radical progression from Jenna's debut – but it clocks in at barely forty minutes, so a couple more tracks wouldn't have gone amiss.
David Kidman March 2008
Jim Reid - Yont The Tay (Greentrax)
You might well know Jim's name, if only through his having composed the Norland Wind tune to the sad but magical classic The Wild Geese (a setting of words by Violet Jacob) and possibly also Up The Noran Water (Helen Cruickshank's poem). But this man of Angus also possesses a very attractive singing voice, as this album subtly and quite effortlessly proves (and I'm so glad to hear just now that only last December Jim received the 2005 Scots Singer Of The Year award). Jim served his singing apprenticeship in groups such as the Foundry Bar Band and the Taysiders, and has always maintained a lively interest in the music and singing of the travelling folk. Some may say that like them, his own voice, too, may not be the most technically perfect in terms of delivery, but what matter that, for it has a sensitive, gently heartfelt, vulnerable and lived-in quality that's well complemented in the unfussy yet precisely ringing instrumental accompaniments courtesy of Aaron Jones (cittern), Frank McLaughlin (guitar), Marc Duff (whistle & bodhrán) and Sandy Brechin (accordion) which augment Jim's own guitar and moothie. There's contrast aplenty among Yont The Tay's 15 tracks, from the comic patter of Daft Donal (what a delightful opener) to the poignant First World War tale of The Sodgers' Cairn (written by Mary Symon with music by the album's producer Dr. Fred Freeman "with Jim in mind", apparently). The epic tale of Cairn O' Mount proves another highlight of the CD. There's just one track here which is not actually new to record, however - Jim's treatment of Hamish Henderson's celebrated Freedom Come All Ye; this had first appeared on the Henderson tribute album A' The Bairns O' Adam (which I reviewed on these pages last year). This is a CD of gentle yet spirited delights, which should appeal to all lovers of Scottish song and Scottish singing.
David Kidman
The press release accompanying this reissue of a 1987 LP quotes a contemporary folk magazine review thus: "This lady has a beautiful voice, and I cannot offer her vocal ability enough praise. Her material is traditional and well chosen." And yes, in my opinion, this recording has definitely stood the test of time and is fully deserving of reissue, especially since Patti is still around and singing strongly (she released a new CD, Pink Sand, only a short time ago - reviewed in this mag - and this early CD stands comparison extremely favourably). Patti's singing style is clear, with a sure and forthright sense of line; there were occasions (especially the longer ballads Bonnie Annie and Craigie Hill) when I was reminded of June Tabor (more in the unerring sense of poise and the at times slightly cool timbral quality perhaps). Although Patti employs a modicum of decoration, this never distracts the listener or compromises either the melodic flow or the telling of the story. Patti also employs some delicious syncopatory tricks (listen to Garden Gate and Cold Haily Windy Night in particular). The only minor distraction comes in the form of a tendency to aspirants on a few of the songs (Ten Thousand Miles for instance). Her choice of material is stylish if not containing anything too unusual by today's standards (though tut tut, one black mark for crediting Mr Thompson's Farewell Farewell as trad!). Around half of the songs are sung unaccompanied, while the remainder have the estimable Gordon Tyrrall in the role of sessioner (guitar, and, on one track, flute). The aforementioned press release gives the rationale for this reissue as "music should be out there and not languishing in archives", a sentiment with which I agree 100%. There's a strong hint here that, as part of Fellside's 30th anniversary release programme, more goodies might be due for imminent exhumation - if so, that's great news indeed.
David Kidman July 2006
Born in a small village near Westport, Co Mayo, Tony's introduction to songwriting came on hearing Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone and he's been writing ever since! But his first CD didn't appear until 2002; The Coldest Day In Winter was an impressive debut by any account, featuring an attractive body of work that focused thoughtfully and compellingly on human interaction with country life. Album number two here continues that strand of writing, with if anything a little more in the way of contemporary edge, on 11 brand new typically insightful songs. Tony's particularly strong suit is the heartfelt, as on Seventh Son and Hard Hat Soft Heart, both of which in subtly different ways explore and lay bare the emotions that hide not far beneath the surface of an outwardly strong character, and the touching (if ultimately ambiguous) quasi-love-song Fool For You. Perhaps Tony's darkest thoughts on this disc come with the desperate meditations of If This Is Progress and God Knows. But he's also a master of quiet observation, as Sean Na Sagart, the tale of an informer against priests (with an apt and appealingly modal setting) and Island Boys, which simply yet sensitively examines the emotional situation of local lads sent to school on the mainland, both prove. Tony can let his hair down too though, as on the delicious "bog bayou" of I'm A Mayo Man, which takes a different (more humorously self-deprecating) slant on his sense of local pride. Tony's got a distinct talent for finding a natural musical rhythm in his lyrics (does this emanate from his gaining inspiration from Dylan I wonder? - the title track sounds a bit like His Bobness essaying a Parisian chanson style), but I also hear shades of Al Stewart in Tony's facility with melody and overall approach to phrasing, as on The Boy In The Gap. Not only is Tony's way with words very attractive, but his fluid and conversational expression of those words (he has a naturally musical singing voice) will instantly win him admirers I'm sure. Instrumental support for Tony is extremely effective, albeit from just three fine musicians: the multi-skilled Seamie O'Dowd (guitars, mandolin, fiddles, harmonica), Kevin Doherty (double bass) and keyboardist Paul Gurney (who's also responsible for the wonderfully clean production). This is another of those CDs whose easy appeal is deceptive and belies the depth of the craftsmanship within; it's also a very satisfying disc to revisit, which I've done often in spite of more pressing engagements!
www.tonyreidy.net
www.copperplatedistribution.com
David Kidman
This fine singer-songwriter from the west of Ireland was a completely new name to me prior to the title track of Ceide's recent Like A Wild Thingalbum, but on this evidence he's got a lot to say in his distincitively gentle and undemonstrative way. Invariably, Tony's writing positively exudes the country air, in this case that of his native Co. Mayo, though the genius loci it evokes isn't exclusive or difficult to appreciate, as he focuses naturally but compellingly on the human interaction with country life, with elements of which we can all identify. A certain resigned melancholy predominates, but the effect is life-affirming rather than depressing. Men can respond to their assigned lot in different ways: The Country Man's farmer's contentment contrasts with the devil-may-care fierce independence of The Mountainy Man, while Woman Sitting In A Dark Café is frozen in time and her thoughts. There's room for humour too, as in the laconic Black Pudding Music, which sets sly observations of the work of a jobbing musician to a sneaky texmex-style backing.
Elsewhere, the starkness of Tony's guitar work strongly recalls Nick Drake, particularly on tracks like Kitonga, a poignant exploration of the gulf in perception between an Irish country innocent and a Kenyan boy, but Tony easily retains his own individual musical voice. His songs here benefit from a limited, but nicely characterised and well-recorded, instrumental backing which includes contributions from no less than three members of Ceide as well as some lovely string and clarinet arrangements by local classical musician Patrick Early. The only minor blemish in this package is the lack of translation for Sean O'Riordan's Cul An Ti (the only non-self-penned song on the entire album). I do hope we hear more of Tony, as his songs and performing style are both highly attractive and genuinely lasting in impact. This is a very impressive album indeed, and well worth seeking out.
David Kidman
Remember Maggie? I needed reminding of the name, and couldn't immediately place her voice beyond it being very familiar from somewhere - but yes, she was "the voice" of Mike Oldfield's Moonlight Shadow and Family Man. And what a lovely voice too, with a mesmerisingly beautiful tone and superb control and flexibility. This disc, a solo album representing Maggie's return to recording, has actually been around for a few months, but I admit to taking a time to get into it. The opening track's one of those soft-focus nouveau-Celtic forays Away Wi' The Faeries, with smooth, laid-back, gently funky texturings, ubiquitous glittering percussion etc - a little too mellow for me, so I didn't venture any further while I had more pressing reviews to complete. My mistake, it turns out, for the remainder of the disc contains some delightful music: nothing cutting-edge, just a pleasing sequence of songs given the distinctive Maggie Reilly vocal treatment. Instrumental arrangements are by Maggie with Stuart MacKillop, who also plays guitar and keyboards and co-engineers the disc, and other musicians involved include the versatile Andy Roberts (guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán), Simon Little and Steve Taylor. During the course of the disc, Maggie shows herself to be capable of tackling a wide stylistic range, certainly, although just over half of the chosen songs are traditional in origin; Once I Had A Sweetheart and Trees They Do Grow High both benefit from a straightforward, uncluttered, simple backing, and the rhythmic vitality of Cam Ye O'er Frae France is extremely infectious, but her closer Wild Mountain Thyme is just a little bland. Most successful, I feel, is Maggie's stripped-down, slightly Latin-syncopated rendition of Who Knows Where The Time Goes?, while she also turns in a thoughtful version of Alasdair Robertson's The Star. Maggie's own joint compositions with Stuart comprise just under half of the album's eleven tracks: they range from the impassioned Heartsong to the tripping, lilting Promises, but Miss You lets the side down by being glutinously over-orchestrated. The disc's digipack packaging is attractive, though unfortunately the track titles on the back cover are virtually unreadable due to the red-on-grey colour scheme.
David Kidman June 2007
The Reindeer Section - Son Of Evil Reindeer (Bright Star)
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody clearly has a lot of mates. His second side project has seen the line-up swell from a modest 15 to some 27, though presumably never all congregating in the studio at the same time. Flowing with Glasgow based, predominantly Scottish musical blood, assorted contributors hail from such quarters as Astrid, Alfie, Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Idlewild, Teenage Fan Club, and Arab Strap. And as that might suggest, there's not much room here for strident noisy guitars. Rather, in keeping with Lightbody's leaning towards leafy Nick Drake groves, it's all delicate and hushed folksy pop, slightly ramshackle at times, but consistently imbued with the acoustic grace and beauty of bruised but beating hearts set out from the get go with the opening Grand Parade.
Dipping in at random, the aching Budapest drifts along on piano and cello, You Are My Joy soars on wings of pure pop, the lopingly lovely Cartwheels has your heart turning just that, Eva's Jenny Reeve takes lead vocals on Strike Me Down which has the airy skip of Harper's Bizarre and Your Sweet Voice dribbles lap steel guitar, shuffling percussion and sad cello all over its affectingly simple tale of a broken heart, the album shutting up shop with Arab Strap's Aidan Moffatt taking lead on his own love and whiskey slurred Whodunit. Well worth hooking up your sleigh.
Mike Davies
Many of us first heard the name of John Reischman back in the 80s, when we enquired into the owner of that incredibly full-toned mandolin that graced Tony Rice's acoustic jazz albums that were very much the vogue during that decade. Since then, John did a stint with the Good Ol' Persons, then made a solo album (North Of The Border) which provided further evidence of his complete mastery of a wide variety of musical styles, from old-time right through swing and on to Latin jazz. His latest venture is as leader of bluegrass band the Jaybirds, from which combo Field Guide is the second record to come my way. They're hot property alright, though their easygoing affability (entirely typical of their leader by the way) is deceptive, hiding a considerable degree of musical adeptness. I must come clean and say that when I first heard the Jaybirds' debut I found it just a little polite in parts, but Field Guide seems to sparkle brighter initially and capitalise on the no-nonsense qualities of the ensemble's delivery and move the gears up a notch to produce a whole CD full of understated creativity. It's brought me back to that debut, and I find I'd underestimated it somewhat, notably in respect of John's own vocal contribution and the rich and inviting quality of his voice that so well counterpoints bassist Trisha Gagnon's own tenor. There really isn't a weak cut on this latest offering, and its 16 tracks, an intelligent mix of arranged traditional material (with a few genre standards from the likes of the Carter Family thrown in) and brand new compositions from band members, including a sprinkling of instrumentals. So OK, the Jaybirds' native Pacific Northwest may be a far cry from Kentucky, the birthplace of bluegrass, but there's no mismatch of idiom or sensibility in the classy playing and singing on offer here.
David Kidman
It's hard to imagine that anyone with even a passing interest in REM doesn't already own some sort of compilation of the band's early (and some would say best) work. But just in case, this is pretty much a definitive collection of all the formative gems, 21 tracks that kick off with Begin The Begin and works its way through the like of such classics as Radio Free Europe, Pretty Persuasion, (Don't Go Back To) Rockville and So,Central Rain (I'm Sorry) to The One I Love and It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).
That's all available as a single disc and essential enough but what makes this more interesting, for latecomers and stalwart devotees alike, is the 2 CD Collector's Edition which throws in another 21 cuts of rare and previously unreleased tracks from the studio vaults, including alternate takes and mixes, concert recordings and an acoustic Swan Swan H from the Athens GA documentary.
As such there's the rougher edged Hib-tone version of Radio Free Europe, a marvellous slower electric demo of Gardening At Night, an early version of All The Right Friends later to be featured on Vanilla Sky, demos of the hitherto unreleased Mystery To Me and Hyena, and, I'm pleased to find, their B side cover of Superman by cult 60s bubblegum outfit The Clique.
As well as track by track annotations, each of the four original band members has selected a personal favourite for the bonus disc, Pilgrimage by Mike Mills, the typically REM rousing These Days by Bill Berry, the hypnotic Disturbance At The Heron House from Peter Buck and, eclectic as ever, the Eastern flavoured echoey psychedelia of Time After Time (annElise) from Michael Stipe.
Worth noting too that there's also a tie in DVD, When The Light Is Mine, that includes 11 IRS promo videos (including the hitherto unavailable Wolves, Lower) alongside unreleased live footage from The Tube and Old Grey Whistle Test, interviews and performances from MTV's The Cutting Edge and, clocking up the running time to some two hours, the 20 minute film Left of Reckoning.
Mike Davies, Sept 2006
Subtitled "Songs From Cornish Travellers", this CD is a sensibly expanded reissue of a collection of field recordings made by Pete Coe of the singing of Sophie, Betsy and Charlotte, who were born into one of the best-known of the West Country travelling families (the Orchards). Sophie, Betsy and Charlotte are mother and aunts respectively of that incorrigible Cornish singer Vic Legg, who acknowledges the three as primary sources for much of his own repertoire. Pete's own personal quest for the sources of the interesting and unusual songs he'd heard Vic sing on his home territory (Bodmin Folk Club) in the 1970s finally led to him being granted the privilege of recording the ladies in March 1978; at the time, the three were aged 60, 78 and 77 respectively, but all were still in good – and distinctive – voice, considering their years, Sophie's understated fragility perhaps being especially captivating. These recordings, originally released on cassette, are augmented for this fulsome (76-minute) CD reissue by the inclusion of no less than seven extra tracks recorded at the same time, all previously unreleased. The songs presented here embrace many that either stem directly from the traveller tradition (like the "catchy" title track) or carry down within that tradition their own, often unique variants, alongside some oft-collected ballads (Dark-eyed Sailor, Bonny Bunch Of Roses, Sailor Cut Down In His Prime) and a few of either definite or probable music-hall origin (Standard Bread, The Lonely Widow, Just Beginning To Sprout). This is an enchanting disc: a useful and invaluable record of songs sung in this particular tradition, which in this new incarnation will surely also provide plenty of source material for many a revival singer for a long time to come. The excellent and insightful booklet notes prove of considerable assistance in this respect, of course; no texts are provided, though you'll probably not need them, as the singers' diction is virtually faultless.
David Kidman
Here's three more timely Renbourn reissues from the Sanctuary group. First up is the rarely-heard Live In America album showcasing John's increasingly adventurous post-Pentangle exploration, with the aid of like-minded musician friends, of both the Anglo-European and Indian classical traditions, encouraging the bold interaction of these traditional musics. The John Renbourn Group was a landmark five-piece ensemble which was together for just three short years; as evidenced on this live set (recorded in San Francisco and Santa Monica in 1981) it reunited John with ex-Pentangle vocalist Jacqui McShee and long-term collaborator and fiendishly talented woodwind specialist Tony Roberts, this trio being augmented by multi-instrumentalist John Molineux and tabla player Keshav Sathe (veteran of John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions project). The Group was a fearless vehicle for catholic experimentation with folk, jazz and ethnic influences very much following the pioneering lead and notable example taken by the "folk roots, new routes" of Davy Graham a few years earlier. A highlight of the album was the eleven-minute extended improvisation Sidi Brahim, but its 70 minutes contains some scintillating music-making which even then proved genuinely groundbreaking. Performances by all five participants are first-class, but if anything Jacqui's represent arguably one of her finest hours (she turns in an electrifying but simple version of Cruel Mother here for instance). It wouldn't be overstating things to say that this album, in covering material from everywhichwhere on the world radar, forms an essential link in the chain binding the experimental folk music of the 1960s with the nascent world music boom of the 80s and 90s, and its appearance on CD on a widely-available label (at long last, having only previously been issued on Flying Fish in the States as far as I'm aware) is to be enthusiastically welcomed.
Over the years, and particularly outside of the demands which regular group work made on him, John has always been keen to take advantage of opportunities to work with musicians whose work he admires, and Ship Of Fools was the band that carried on where the John Renbourn Group left off. It was formed by John expressly for a concert during the 1987 summer season in New York's Central Park. For this occasion he recruited Steve Tilston and Maggie Boyle – two exceptional musicians who were then just beginning to establish a duo career of their own – to augment his old friend and longterm collaborator Tony Roberts from the JR Group. Although this particular lineup was short-lived, it produced some memorable Celtic-tinged acoustic folk-fusion (for want of a better term), and the lone album the group recorded is very fine indeed. Originally it came out on the obscure small label Run River (the same imprint that had issued Maggie's wonderful solo album Reaching Out and Steve's landmark instrumental album Swans At Coole), then was taken up by the American label Flying Fish; this Castle reissue is, as far as I can tell, its first "proper" UK release. It's a masterful record, consisting mostly of inventive and attractive arrangements of traditional songs and tunes, and it was clearly great fun to make. OK, if you're familiar with the various musicians' activities since then, you'll acknowledge and readily forgive any comparative minor inadequacies, but in the scheme of things these are largely insignificant and the whole record definitely qualifies for the description of "neglected masterpiece".
Finally, the joint album made by John with former Incredible String Band frontman Robin presents a series of live recordings taken from the first tour ever undertaken by that particular partnership, back in 1993. Wheel Of Fortune really captures the enchantment of that tour and confirms just how well suited in temperament and sensibility the two musicians were (and still are, for they continue to tour together sporadically to this day). Robin's Celtic harp and whistle add an extra dimension to John's dextrous and often other-worldly guitar traceries, while his distinctive voice tells spellbinding tales from a realm where John had hitherto feared to tread. Then again, John's more earthbound musical predilections such as the country-blues and medieval music prove both admirable foil and necessary anchor for Robin's more esoteric passions. Both musicians, of course, had shared a common grounding and heritage in the bohemian English and Scottish folk clubs of the mid-60s, and the wheel of fortune had now turned a full circle and united them again. This expectedly eclectic set ranges from traditional Irish tunes and traditional songs to fabulous original compositions like Robin's Lights Of Sweet St Anne's to the jazzer's tribute Little Niles, and there's even one of Robin's delightfully puckish stories thrown in; the whole set shows the two musicians at their best. Definitely one for the collection if you don't already have the original (Demon) CD reissue (this new one does however sport extra notes, if no bonus tracks).
David Kidman Sept 2006
John Renbourn - So Early InThe Spring / Live In Italy (Castle)
Here's two valuable additions to the ever-expanding catalogue of John Renbourn recordings being made available by Sanctuary. So Early In The Spring is a particularly fine set, recorded by John in Tokyo in (the early spring of) 1979 during two days when he found himself with time off between gigs (!). This marks the album's first ever appearance in Europe, not only on CD but in any form (it was only ever available in Japan and on vinyl, and even many Renbourn fans had been unaware of its existence). It presents a healthy selection from his then-current repertoire, played (and sung) with an intensity and immediacy that communicates the white-heat of an artist at his peak and completely self-assured. The opening (title) song is an intriguingly different reading of the song which fellow-Pentangler Jacqui McShee had so memorably performed unaccompanied some ten years earlier; thereafter John ranges far and wide through his repertoire, from scintillating arrangements of traditional songs like Banks Of The Sweet Primroses (with some breathtaking fingerwork) to contemporary classics (Jackson C. Frank's Blues Run The Game, Archie Fisher's Lindsay), and even a rare self-penned item (In Glastonbury). There's also a splendidly invigorating tune-set which pairs The Mist Covered Mountains with The Orphan, and wherein John created a magical duet by playing two guitar parts (this, along with this album's subsequent instrumental cut The English Dance, would soon resurface on the Black Balloon album). Aside from an excellent cover of Dylan's Buckets Of Rain, the later tracks from the session lean towards the rural-blues side of John's repertoire, and he also turns in a gentle and easygoing treatment of Joseph Spence's Great Dreams From Heaven. This standard has featured in John's repertoire for some forty years, so it's possibly no surprise to find it cropping up on the Live In Italy set too (along with Mist Covered Mountains and Lindsay, incidentally). But don't fret, I feel sure you'll want both albums!
For Live In Italy, a memorable solo set recorded live at The Folk Studio (a famed, though dingy, folk-music cellar in Rome) around 1988/89, turns out to be another UK first. It contains a further cross-section from John's exhaustive repertoire, including some of his own special favourites. It kicks off with the perennially fascinating Lord Franklin, then moves on to a pairing of the air South Wind and the Blarney Pilgrim jig which five years later was to appear on John's joint album with Robin Williamson Wheel Of Fortune. Another selection to meet the same "fate" was Randy Weston's jazz piece Little Niles, but this intimate live rendition is in a class of its own. Along the way, John also weaves an intricate tapestry around Dave Goulder's celebrated Sandwood Down To Kyle, while the set ends on a suitably showy (and funky) note with the Booker T number Sweet Potato (which is here, as John himself describes it, "liberally peppered with Davy Graham-isms"!). Both of these latest issues in Sanctuary's admirable series come complete with fine booklet notes by David Suff and JR himself.
David Kidman
Three new reissues of early Renbourn material, of which the first and second have appeared on CD previously under the aegis of other labels (Demon and Wooden Hill) whereas the third makes its CD début here. (A fourth, companion, reissue, of John's second album Another Monday, has so far eluded my net.) Taken together, these three provide an instructive survey of John's progress from talented but bog-standard folk-blues troubadour (on the first album) to Pentangler and reconstructed medievalist (Sir John) to increasingly eclectic reinterpreter of traditional song. That eponymous first album is a standard of its kind, of which little more need be said except that if you don't already have it in your collection then this issue, with a couple of bonus tracks, is probably the edition to have. Sir John A lot… is an exclusively instrumental offering, almost exactly contemporary with the first Pentangle album, and marks the first public pronouncement of his penchant for playing early music, exploring what he was to term the linear, jazz-based approach to modality. (This predilection even extended to the uncredited appearance of David Munrow as guest on the album.) But the menu isn't exclusively a medieval banquet (there's a cool arrangement of Trees They Do Grow High, for example) and none of the tracks prove a mere straightforward (if faithful) re-creation of the source tunes, for the place John takes them off to is astounding in sheer inventiveness. John's increasing quest for perfection is reflected here in the appearance on this issue of three previously-unissued bonus tracks comprising alternate takes (one cut had run to thirteen!). Faro Annie, dating from 1971 at the very end of Pentangle's career, is possibly the most interesting and enduring of the three. Reflecting a "back-to-basics" ideal, it brings together bluesy and folky material in a seamless whole, with playing and singing that fully reflects the effortless maturity that John had brought to his personal style through his Pentangle experience and musical explorations since that first album. John's often understated acoustic guitar work provides the perfect foil for his singing; on two tracks he also plays sitar, and on Kokomo Blues and the title track even wah-wah electric guitar. He's backed by Danny and Terry from Pentangle, with appearances from former girlfriend Dorris Henderson (backing vocals), Sue Draheim (fiddle) and Pete Dyer (harmonica).
David Kidman
Libellus, London-based Tallulah's debut full-length offering, is a singer-songwriter release with a difference: it comes as a sturdy and beautifully-conceived 50-page illustrated hardback book with CD insert. It displays both artistic and literary pretensions, and yet does so with an uncompromising sense of purpose, embodying a vision of innate integrity that both transcends transient trendiness and to my mind rebuts any potential charge of mere attention-seeking gambit. As a performer, Tallulah's quite an individual too, with an enchanting, gently resonant singing style that encompasses a range of emotional expression without sounding unnatural or forced. Having said which, and notwithstanding Tallulah's admission that Patti Smith's a major influence, there are instances when the more theatrical elements in Tallulah's delivery may instead distinctly recall Kate Bush or even Siouxsie (though in their less outré moments)… all of which proves no bad thing, and certainly doesn't detract from the power and originality of Tallulah's genuinely indie-spirited, honestly left-field artistic stance. Her music enchants and seduces, worming its way into your inner recesses before you know it, and inspires with its enigmatic yet eerily confident poetry and its unsettling knack of teasingly focussing on the barest, yet deepest essentials of emotion. This is music that (despite its surface contradictions) provokes a core response, yet takes its time to play with your mind first: superficially simply constructed, yet with labyrinthine contours mapped out in its intense poetry, taking the listener on a perilous yet fulfilling journey from the edgy riffs and glistening humming interludes of Time Fades through the west-coast-psychedelia forays of the extended, episodic Black Seagull, the bewitchingly lounge-jazzy lay-yourself-back caresses of Lay Me Down and the coruscatingly breathy chaos of Only You to the haunting vulnerability of Lost In The Morning, the ominous pounding rhythms of Hope Tonight and the deliquescent balladry of Time Away and Wake Up, finally to Rest In Peace (this final song being a touching epitaph for Tallulah's grandmother). A further noteworthy aspect of Libellus is the ingenious and imaginative musical settings, conceived by Tallulah herself in collaboration with Matt Ingram and Marius DeVries: as far removed as you can get from the home/bedsit-acoustic that's inextricably associated with the s/s genre, with thoughtful use of electric instruments (guitars, drums), together with piano, cello, mandolin, double-bass and synth to generate a series of compelling chamber-textures. The book itself is described as "a small book of poetry that comes to life"; its method of presentation was, Tallulah tells us, provoked by Iris Murdoch's novel The Sea, The Sea. It takes the form of a personal account of the album's songs, within which each lyric is illustrated with its own dedicated painting (by Beshlie McKelvie); these are interpolated with cool photos and reproduced extracts from works that inspired Tallulah (Rimbaud, Neruda, Hesse). Libellus is both an important artistic statement and a spell-binding collection of songs.
www.myspace.com/tallulahrendall
David Kidman May 2009
Blues fans in the UK may not be familiar with the name of Cheryl Renee Smoot but if I tell you that she appeared at the opening night of the original House of Blues in Massachusetts then you will realise the quality of the artist. She has not written any of the ten tracks on this album but what she does do is she adds her own personality on some well-known and some less well-known songs.
The opener, In My Girlish Days, shows Cheryl's full vocal range and has her on electric piano with some intricate guitar supplements from Howard Randall. The standard, Roll With Me Henry, is given an energetic treatment with Cheryl Renee pounding the keys and harmonica from Henry Perry. That's A Pretty Good Love is a rolling blues with a rocking band and strong vocals.
Cheryl Renee shows her soulful side on Never Make A Move Too Soon but immediately returns to the blues with an emotion-filled version of the Junior Wells classic, Come On In This House. The big-name songwriters continue with Sonny Boy Williamson's I Don't Care No More. This is a rocking blues and shows the band in fine form. I'm Getting' 'Long Alright and Down Girl, Down are a standard blues and an upbeat piano boogie respectively.
Lowell Fulsom's Tramp is given the full treatment and suits Cheryl Renee's voice down to the ground. So much so that the song could have been written for her. Listen out for the excellent sax solo by Dirk Weddington. The closing track, The Blues Is A Living Thing, is earthy and hypnotic and Cheryl Renee turns in another powerful vocal. If her live performances go close to matching this album then I, for one, am looking forward to catching her in concert.
David Blue
Ed Rennie - Narrative (Fellside)
Ed's name won't necessarily be familiar to you unless you frequent the English country dance/ceilidh scene. Ed's but one member of the justly famed Bismarcks, in fact, but a key member nevertheless, and an extremely talented singer and musician in his own right, as this entirely solo album proves without a shadow of doubt. In fact, this release could well do much to kick-start Ed on a parallel career as a soloist, for it's a very attractive product. It mostly consists of traditional songs and ballads, but with three short purely instrumental tracks (played on the melodeon) thrown into the running order to provide a little more contrast (even though I honestly feel there's variety and contrast aplenty in the vocal tracks). The main surprise, then, for those who know Ed only as a box player will be his singing voice, which is strong and clear with a forthright yet quite laid-back method of expression (not the contradiction in terms it might seem). By making his own personality subordinate to the needs of the song, Ed demonstrates his wholly natural skill in communicating the essence of a text, with an admirable minimum fuss and no hint of over-statement, as you can hear in his rendition of Lord Bateman for instance, or In Bruton Town or The Cruel Mother (these ballads may be quite lengthy, but you don't notice the time passing). Ed's concise insert notes give just the right amount of detail on his sources and inspirations, and the booklet artwork is both fittingly stark and evocative. Of the CD's nine vocal tracks, three (though not including any of the "big" ballads) are sung unaccompanied, whereas for the rest Ed accompanies himself on either guitar or cittern, entirely unflashily and with no need of any distracting studio gimmickry or unwanted "enhancements". This CD really is a breath of fresh air blowing through the sometimes needlessly dusty corridors of traditional song.
David Kidman
Dr Who's back on the telly and if we still had turntables then, courtesy of The Revivals, a pure unadulterated celebration of all things rock would be back on that as well. The Revivals leapfrog the spandex 80s and the various NWOBHM to draw inspiration from the real things, the bands that exploded the love and peace generation of the 60s and turned them into the rough and raunchy rockers of the early 70s.
So brainwashed are we to see music as a product, that anything like The Revivals has us spending half our time looking for the irony and the rest trying to work out who the music is a tribute to.
Save yourself the time, it may have everything in common with the blues rock of Free and Led Zeppelin to name but two, and what heady names they are, but the The Revivals are their own men.
For an album that is built around the pace, energy and guitar riffs there are some deft moments, The Revivals never gets too big or theatrical for its boots, the influence of the blues gives it a solid grounding.
Much of the credit for that has to go to singer Ian Hutchison, he has a voice made for rasping, kicking and screaming rock n roll and yet, while he'll never be a tuxedoed nightclub crooner, he manages to avoid vocal excesses. Everything about the album is directed towards one purpose, the music.
Songs like Real Love are driven from the pit of the stomach, while on the 'ballads' like Rollin, there is a real tenderness and genuine warmth. But it's the anthems that The Revivals will be remembered for and on Holding On the band indulges itself hugely, it's real foot on the amplifier stuff and great fun to boot.
Taken as whole, the album is much as you would expect and nothing on it hasn't been heard before and that's not a criticism. But that doesn't do The Revivals proper justice, they have grabbed guitar rock by the scruff of the neck and shaken the life back into it.
www.revivalsmusic.com
www.crushedrocrecords.com
Michael Mee
Kimberley Rew - Essex Hideaway (Bongo Beat Records)
If you were under the impression that music was in danger of taking itself too seriously, then former Soft Boy and Wave, Kimberley Rew is here to reassure you. Essex Hideaway, only his fourth solo release in 25 years, is music with a smile plastered all over its face but behind that smile lurk teeth with more than a little bite.
As a writer of pop songs his CV is impressive. Not only did he pen the Katrina and the Waves hits, Walking On Sunshine and Love Shine A Light - surely the best Eurovision song since Waterloo, not a crowded category I know - but the Bangles' Going Down To Liverpool was one of his. This is a man with an uncanny ear for a hit.
But Essex Hideaway is no mere repository for pop songs, however good, instead it offers the listener far more than that. It opens up the multicoloured world of a musician with a limitless and slightly eccentric imagination. Rew is cast very much in the mould of The Kinks and, perhaps more accurately The Small Faces. If, like me, you can remember the sheer joy that Steve Marriott brought to everything he did, then you'll be happy to find it echoed here.
Rew's eccentricities aren't long in surfacing, the album begins and ends with a choral blessing, for whom I'm not quite sure as we, the listeners, appear to be in good hands. Phoenixstowe, the album's 'proper' opening explodes into the best guitar riff this side of the 60s. The die is cast this is an album to intrigue and excite in equal measure.
And it's the sheer difference of it all that transfers the pleasure from author to listener. Few songs can ever have invoked that literary giant Winnie The Pooh, wrapped it in the most traditional British folk music and combined these two most benign elements to deliver a darker message with the force of a jakhammer, but that's exactly what Rew does on Arterial Road. He follows that with the hugely entertaining That's Soft Boy, which could have been plucked straight from a Lionel Bart musical. What next, Max Miller? No that enviable task is left to the power pop/rock Ballad Of The Lone Guitarist. To ask the listener to follow the myriad of twists and turns is almost too much but the rewards far outweigh the effort.
In these days of shrink wrapped 'units', the truly original artist is increasingly becoming an endangered species. Music fans must fight to preserve labels like Bongo Beat if only to ensure that artists like Kimberley Rew have a home.
Michael Mee
Kimberley Rew - Tunnel Into Summer [Hypertension]
He may not be a household name but songwriter and guitarist Kimberley Rew was a founder-member of Katrina & The Waves and the highly influential Soft Boys. He was the writer of pop anthems "Walking On Sunshine" and "Going Down To Liverpool". His song, "Men", is one of the four finalists for this year's UK Song For Europe entry for the Eurovision Song Contest! His 1997 entry, "Love Shine A Light", won the Contest for Katrina & The Waves.
Tunnel Into Summer" is his first solo album. His previous album was in 1982, "The Bible Of Pop Press", a compilation of his songs with previous bands he'd worked with, Soft Boys, the dBs and Katrina & the Waves.
His is a brand of melodic pop with a Byrds/Kinks flavour, witty, entertaining lyrics and great musicianship and harmonies. It may not be cutting-edge but it's warm easy-listening. It's sunny, English fare with a touch of Country and Rew serves it up with great enthusiasm and charm. There are also musical puns to listen for - and surprises, particularly "The Truth", a John Lee Hooker foot-tapper/Kevin Bloody Wilson vocal-delivery odd-ball entertainer.
Mention must go to producer Andy Metcalfe. Also a member of Robyn Hitchcock's Soft Boys and Egyptians and late '80s reformed Squeeze, he worked with Glenn Tillbrook on the final mix on Nick Harper's "Harperspace". He also contributes bass, organ and piano. Other musical contributors of note are from Julian Dawson, Glen Tilbrook, Robyn Hitchcock and particularly Dave Mattacks on drums.
Sue Cavendish
Singer-songwriter Jessica was a one-third component of the recent "Canadian Frost" tour with fellow Canadians Dave Gunning and Matt Andersen, which I didn't manage to catch. On the evidence of this, her sophomore disc, she has talent - even though it's not always easy to divine her own musical personality or creative vision while either element is largely swamped by the overproduction of the album as a whole. This is down to producer Ed Woodsworth, I suspect, who seems to have a mission to turn Jessica and her often quite intimate songs into pop products, and in doing so has enabled settings that reek heavily of effects and keyboards and programming, to the extent that they dominate with a sickly glimmery sheen that seems inappropriate for the material. Songs like Wild Flowers are too cute anyway, but sound worse for their excessive clothing, whereas the more revealing, starker songs just sound heavily burdened. And nobody wants to listen to a dentist's drill in a song (do they?) - that means skipping Where It All Begins, where that effect (or one rather too like it) is at the "root" of the problem and certainly touches a raw nerve... Just occasionally the electronica do enhance the lyrics: Crazy Jayne has an attractively eerie aura, and Holding Out makes capital of its funky banjo riff; when acoustic instruments get the chance to break through the gloss it can be very refreshing. Jessica has a singjng voice which has considerable capability, but she tends at times to over-emote (as on Wonderful To Me); this makes me feel that if she goes all-out for a punchier pop market she might make the grade - but she needs to decide which side to bat for, otherwise I fear that her songwriting prowess will pass us by unnoticed. This disc is just a "manufactured" product, and it makes me wonder whether she came across better on the aforementioned tour.
David Kidman December 2007
Produced by Terry Robb - four words that get my attention straight away. Terry's reputation for good quality blues and roots ensure that what follows is bound to be top grade. Bill Rhoades opens up with Waiting And Worrying with wailing harmonica and a Howlin' Wolf feel overall. This is followed up with She Walks Right In, a high-paced jump boogie with a rather contrived chorus but it does give the guitar of Michael Osborn, do you recognise the name, the chance to shine. The reason I ask is because Michael was John Lee Hookers guitarist for 13 years. I'm trying is a chugging blues with a clear vocal and Bill's voice is strangely familiar. It's a comfortable voice and he supplements it with excellent harp playing. JB Hutto's Now She's Gone is classic Chicago blues played in the classic style and you just can't beat it. Distorted harp and growling guitar, give me more! I got my wish on Temperature 110 as Bill lifts the pace again and shows that he's one of the best harmonica players plying his trade today. This is another highlight. Hurt Again is a slow, shuffling 50s style rock and roller and Voodoo Lovin' slightly disappoints. Voodoo gets used a lot in song titles and tends to conjure up an image. For me, that image is Jimi Hendrix, Howlin' Wolf and magic. Unfortunately, this song fails to take on any of these although guitarist Michael Osborn does give a good account of himself.
Cindy Ann is a classy instrumental where harmonica and guitar trade licks before going off on their own showcase. Rhoades again shows again just how good a harp player he is. Grungy slide guitar introduces She Moves Me, which moves off into a slow, thudding electric blues. I haven't yet commented on Rhoades' vocals and, although he has been good throughout there isn't really any evidence of a good range. The harp is, as ever, excellent. Kidney Stew has another harmonica and guitar introduction and during the song he refers to his girlfriend as 'not the caviar kind, just plain old kidney stew' - she must be pleased!! Meanwhile, the song is a good, medium paced boogie. Early In The Morning is another ponderous blues with all the classic elements and refers back to Cindy Ann as his girl. It's fine by 12 bar standards but Osborn does add that stinging guitar and that makes the difference. The penultimate track, the fast paced Don't You Lie To Me would have been an ideal closing song but Clarence Lofton's songs need a stronger singer. However, the track is strong and the harp and guitar are the stars again. Bill chooses to close with the two minute harmonica instrumental, Sixes And Sevens. On this, he manages to get the impression of bagpipes - no kidding, just listen. Whether you like this or not you will just be in awe on the amount of effort that the man puts in.
www.billrhoadesandthepartykings.com
David Blue, June 2006
It's catch up time to either fill in the gaps or gather favourite moments under one roof with this compilation of 14 tracks from the six albums the Lubbock singer-songwriter released between 1995-2005; a sequel to Jackalopes, Moons & Angels which covered the previous five years.
From West Texas Heaven to Windblown, it's actually a reissue from four years back that's been resurrected to coincide with her brief UK tour this April/May, so chances are you may already have it anyway and I wouldn't want you to buy it twice by accident.
Still, if you don't or if you're only just discovering her then, be advised that this opens with the title track of 1996's West Texas Heaven and closes with the title track of 2005's Windblown, taking in duets with Waylon (Maybe We'll Just Disappear), Willie (Love Me Like A Song), Townes (I'm Gonna Fly) and Emmylou, both alone on Love & Happiness For You and with Beth Nielsen Chapman on Send Me The Sun.
Her most recent album, Walls Fall Down, was a politically charged affair that also found her getting raunchy on Sex & Gasoline, but the material here is mostly in far more wistful and emotionally poignant mood, notably so on the aching I'm Not An Angel and Rich From The Journey. A slightly smoothed out version of Nanci Griffith or Emmylou perhaps, but as these songs show, still an estimable, if overlooked, contribution to the Texas country canon.
Mike Davies April 2009
Sometimes things just slip through the cracks. How else to excuse the fact that, despite a cv that includes 10 studio albums, one a collection of duets with Willie Nelson, soundtrack contributions, a play, a musical, co-writes with Emmylou, Beth Nielson Chapman and Waylon Jennings, the Lubbock reared, Austin based singer-songwriter and artist has never been reviewed on this site.
Time to make amends with her latest, a collection of covers and new self-penned or co-written material that makes fully appreciate what we've been missing. Taking the covers first, Townes Van Zandt chestnut If I Needed You gets a plaintively straightforward reading that deftly illustrates the little girl side of Rhodes' vocals, a stark contrast to the following treatment of new Southern swampy Rodney Crowell tune Sex & Gasoline where she turns on the slinky raunch you might imagine from the title. The remaining non-original is a simple, acoustic multi-tracked harmonies version of The Fool On The Hill, modest but graceful.
There's three co-writes with Kieran Goss, a gentle summery Beautiful, the Emerald tinted backwoods Americana cornfields shuffling Make The Morning Shine and the similarly inclined gingham and rippling creek mood of Shining Like A Sun. The remaining collaboration, I've Been Loved By You, has more old school country colours, the sort of chiming mid-tempo number you could hear Emmylou and Gram doing back when,
Interestingly, her own material is often of tougher lyrical stuff. Conjuring musical thoughts of Petty's I Won't Back Down, the opening Walls Fall Down sounds an eco theme, a punchy Southern-rock There's A Storm Coming uses flood imagery to address America's gathering economic gloom while the moody, politically veined Your Majesty is a far from thinly disguised swipe at George W.
She can, of course, write in a softer key, finely illustrated by the album's whisperingly apocalyptic play-out track, the tick tocking swayingly Lennon-esque Last Seven Seconds Of The Universe. "Everything is coming to an end", she purrs as the chorus line repeats. I could think of worse singalongs to send us all off into cosmic oblivion.
Mike Davies January 2008
There's no news whether last year's Lamb festivals reunion is going to be repeated, but it's a promising sign that Rhodes and Andy Barlow have collaborated on her third solo album. After Bloom's more experimental groove and elemental folk, it marks a return to her spare, sombre acoustics while the long-standing Nick Drake influences remain constant. Once again it's a highly personal affair, not least on Janey, a heartbreaking simply stated lament for her late sister and the despairing Melancholy Me, undoubtedly part of the fall out from a major relationship collapse.
It's not all such wrist-slashing stuff; There For The Taking and the strings-adorned title track (where she sound a little like a cross between early Joni and Melanie) marry optimism to their fingerpicked rippling stream guitar lines, but generally speaking you won't be listening to this to find sunny singsongs. However, her beautiful voice and sensitive arrangements of guitar and strings (shown to fine effect on the bluesy Baby) make the comedown sadness an irresistible experience.
Mike Davies April 2010
Lou has arrived at this release, her first solo record, by a circuitous route. Prior to 2004, Lou had spent close on ten years making music with that extraordinary trip-hop outfit Lamb, wherein her sensual vocals and intimate, mysterious lyrics provided an imaginative (if seemingly illogical) emotional counterpoint to the starkness of the electronica generated by her production partner Andrew Barlow. After the band - and their working relationship - disintegrated, Lou took to the road on a journey of self-discovery, finally coming to rest at Ridge Farm studios, where this album was recorded. Simple, luminous and yet beautifully ornate acoustic textures are the order of the day, entirely supplanting her former drum'n'bass ambit; her own guitar is omnipresent, and assistance is given by a small number of extra musicians playing hand percussion, cello, Chinese instruments (erhu/violin, bamboo flute), Tuvan guitar and double-bass. Here, Lou's life philosophy and life struggle is inseparable from her songs and her music; she's a survivor, and Beloved One betrays an honesty, intimacy and profoundly close-up involvement that at times is quite spine-chilling. Within Lou's stark confessional writing, despite the positive strength of the imagery there's a sense of instability, of emotional fragility and intense vulnerability, as well as an innocence that isn't quite unknowing; this is conveyed as much by the distinctive qualities of Lou's slightly breathy, cosseted voice as by the condensed yet spacious textures of the settings (in this respect, Lou's titling of her label Infinite Bloom seems very apt indeed), which are nothing but entirely natural in both content and context. It's not easy music to describe, for it so modestly and quietly demands to be heard - but you really must respond to that demand. Oh, and I love the tiny little hidden track, a delicate acappella lullaby ...
David Kidman March 2007
They're not a person, they're a band, they're Danish and they have a floating line up based around Nikolaj Norlund who was part of Trains Boats and Planes. This time the roster includes Jakob Heyer and Anders Christensen of The Raveonettes. And the album is a collection of songs by Townes Van Zandt.
Growing out of recording a couple of tracks for a single it's not, they say, a tribute album, rather an album of songs by one person who just happens to be a dead iconic Texas singer-songwriter. Stripped to the bones, ruminative, darkly brooding and infused with Zandt's own doomed soul spirit, it also tends to steer clear of the more frequently covered numbers. Certainly you get a nerve fraying and despairing If I Needed You, mountain gospel steam hammered Lungs, the fragile Tecumseh Valley , and an echoey No Place To Fall, but there's no Pancho And Lefty or For The Sake of the Song which everyone who sings Townes usually feels obliged to cover, Instead here's a spooked desert night with Saint John The Gambler, a ghostly carnival ride Waiting Round To Die, and a barely there strung out version of the fairly obscure Rake. Obviously, if you want to hear Van Zandt songs you should really go to the source, but this serves as a tempting introduction.
www.myspace.com/rhondaharriscph
Mike Davies March 2007
His debut album was titled O, the follow up turns the knob up a few numbers but remains within the sphere of nakedly confessional emotions, Celtic soul, burning anger and trembling anguish. Yet, it's Lisa Hannigan's aching voice that's the first to be heard on the opening 9 Crimes, one of several numbers documenting a relationship falling apart, unfolding with a prickly sweetness.
Like Van Morrison, to whom he surely owes a musical spiritual debt, Rice can be a moody bugger, a self-confessed depressive for whom the glass is generally more half-empty than half-full. And yet, while Rootless Tree lulls you into a reverie before exploding with four lettered rage, there's heart-splintering tenderness blanketing much of the material here. Listen, for example, to the fragile, tentative bruised and raw Accidental Babies, a piano ballad of illicit love where he asks 'does he drive you wild? Or just mildly free?' Or the painfully fractured Elephant, a stripped down cry of loneliness that practically has a nervous breakdown in front of your face. Or again its relationship companion piece The Animals Were Gone, a Cohen-like song in which he gazes around a house now made empty by the departure of a lover, sadness and happy memories wistfully entwined in the line 'I love your depression and I love your double chin.'.
The sexual angst exploding all over the ragged squall into which Me, My Yoke and I erupts might prove a bit much to take for those who prefer their Rice less grainy and gritty, but, like the skittish strummed pop of Coconut Skins with its opposing tugs of lust and God, it shows he's not confined to just curling up in the foetal position he occupies on Grey Room. Whether this, slightly more experimental and less comfortingly radio friendly album proves as accessible and successful as O remains to be seen, but it assuringly confirms Rice as a major if at times difficult talent. A 9 out of 10, indeed.
www.damienrice.com
www.myspace.com/damienrice
Mike Davies November 2006
Damien Rice - O (DamienRice Records)
Dublin born Rice's childhood days spent fishing and thinking on the banks of the River Liffey have clearly seeped into his songwriter's soul. His debut album has already gone platinum back home and earned him four Irish Music Awards nominations, and it can only be a matter of time before the rest of the world is as equally awestruck. Those looking for quick tags can label him the new David Gray, sharing as he does the same affinity for Van Morrison records, shrugged emotive heart-exposing confessionals and naked honesty married to lyrical folk hued melodies.
But such comparisons are just easy reference points and come nowhere near being able to capture the way his stripped back acoustic music embraces the Celtic twilight, swelling cello, 3am barroom desperation, Cohenesque soul affirming sadness and Gregorian chantings or the unbridled heartfelt brilliance of songs such as The Blower's Daughter, Amie (arranged by David Arnold), Older Chests (featuring the voices of schoolkids), Cold Water (which features the voice of God, no really) and Eskimo which goes from cracked fragility to soaring Intuit operatics that throw open heaven's gates to let the light pour out. All that and two bonus hidden tracks, generously including a bitter and broken end of relationship rewrite of Silent Night hauntingly sung by backing vocalist Lisa Hannigan. It's like being given the key to heaven's own jukebox.
Mike Davies
Like all good things, it took a little time before Overload fully gave up its treasures.
First impressions were that the five-piece from Tavistock Devon were walking the same melodic, 'soft rock' streets as American supergroup The Dave Matthews Band, and apart from the difference tens of thousands of dollars make to production, the two are not that far apart.
That impression was reinforced by the title track and Simply Falling, both of which echo the kind of pleasant, non-threatening sound that is the trademark of Matthews, leader of a band who fill stadia in the US but walk the streets largely unnoticed over here.
However, subtlely but definitely, Overload began to transform itself. While singer Dave Rich has the kind of voice that sits comfortably in the mix rather than soaring above it, he extracts every last ounce out of the changes of mood that make Overload an intricate and delicately fascinating piece of work. From being a slice of mid-Atlantic rock, the tone of Overload shifted and Wish The Nights Were Days, heralded the arrival of a more British, quirky, folk-influenced Overload.
From this point, it was if the band had discovered its true voice and the album grew and blossomed, by the time Nobody's Perfect arrived not only was it a defining moment for the band, it was in the context of the album, a contradiction.
The Dave Rich Band may draw on many influences but if Overload proves one thing, it's that when you put your trust in your own talent, the results are magical.
Michael Mee, Editor, Hawick News
Yes, really! This exceedingly well-filled 71-track two-disc set is subtitled The Original Recordings 1958-1959, which gives the best clue to its usefulness and importance. Many of us have always felt that Cliff's was a similar story to that of Elvis, in that Harry Webb's finest recordings were the earliest ones - i.e. when he was a real rock'n'roller rather than a manufactured crooner, tin-pan-alley balladeer or Christian crusader. Hence the arrival of this new release, which purports to collect together all of Cliff's fifties recordings (I dimly recall an earlier EMI Cliff compilation called something like Rock'n'Roll With Cliff, but whether this was genuinely complete or just an opportunist marketing exercise I'm not sure).
The two discs are sequenced credibly enough, but not quite chronologically, which is a mite puzzling - although it was a sound decision to end the second disc with the eight tracks from Cliff Sings (his second album release), which heralded the start of the slippery slope into saccharine with the arrival of the dreaded String Section. It's clear that from the start, young and inexperienced though Cliff was, he had a flair for rock'n'roll without having to attempt to directly mimic Elvis (although he was evidently in thrall of Elvis, who inspired his formation of early school bands). Other nascent British rock'n'rollers were being swiftly sanitised by their record company moguls, and Cliff was also to succumb in due course, but for the time being (the odd embarrassment like Schoolboy Crush notwithstanding) he came up with some surprisingly convincing goods that captured something of the spirit of authentic rock'n'roll, if at times inevitably a touch tame in execution.
A key factor in the strength of Cliff's identity was the presence from an early stage (after the first few singles) of a cohesive and talented backing band, the Drifters (soon to be renamed The Shadows of course) with their amazing guitarist Hank Marvin more than ably supported by Messrs Welch, Harris & Meehan (a handful of solid Drifters instrumental cuts are scattered through the set, should you require further proof of their talent!).
The turning point in Cliff's approach, as regards emphasis within repertoire, came with the transmutation of Livin' Doll from rocker into teen ballad, from which point on most of Cliff's single releases would feature a ballad coupled with a rocker. This latest collection scores above its predecessors by including some enticing rarities, Cliff's contributions to the films Serious Charge (the rockin' variant of Livin' Doll included, complete with some crazy dialogue!) and Expresso Bongo, his eight tracks from the Oh Boy TV show soundtrack album (along with three "off-air" recordings from the show), all of the singles cuts, and the first two LPs (the eponymous first being an impressively energetic live-in-the-studio phenomenon with screaming fans in tow!), together with an assortment of stereo and alternate versions. Completeness or wot?!
Taken together, it's a great and surprisingly varied collection that embraces some convincing rockabilly (Twenty Flight Rock), moments of controlled aggressive wildness (Dynamite, Never Mind, Move It, and a more-than-respectable cover of Blue Suede Shoes), 12-bar rock (Mean Woman Blues), Cash-style country (the sublime Travellin' Light, I'm Walking, and I Gotta Know – the latter pre-dating Elvis' recording) and the aforementioned teen-ballads. Not to underplay the role of the Drifters-cum-Shadows or the guiding hand of Norrie Paramor, both crucial elements in the establishment of Cliff's persona.
This excellent new collection - with fine booklet notes by its instigator Dave Travis - does indeed demonstrate that those early Cliff recordings were "just about as good as it got" for home-grown British rock'n'roll at the tail-end of the 50s.
David Kidman January 2010
John Richards - Behind The Lines (Working Joe)
John's a significantly unheralded - but indisputably significant - songwriter whose unassuming name may not be overly familiar even to those who've registered that his songs have been covered both by the illustrious (eg. Fairport Convention, Damien Barber, Steve Knightley, Phil Beer and Paul Downes) and by us mere mortals who've responded to the depth and quality of his writing.
And now this unerringly fine CD, incredibly John's first solo recording, should - – if given the profile it deserves - bring his work to the attention of a wider public. John started writing over 25 years ago, but had always pursued band interests (eg. Maurice and the Minors) rather than individual recognition; Robin Dransfield covered The Battle, Bill Caddick Shine On, and slowly more of John's songs began to trickle out into the public arena, but the crowning irony was that John himself had never recorded any of them. Until now that is; "now" being March 2001, when he was lured into the studio by producer Mick Dolan, joined by his daughter Emma, and granted sterling instrumental support from eleven other musicians including Phil Beer, Paul Downes, Bev Ball and Jim Sutton. The result is a set of "composer's own voice" recordings of just a dozen of John's stunningly good (if almost uniformly downbeat) songs, pretty firmly in the most passionate folk-rock mould and embodying a strong conscience and right-on moral viewpoint.
The conviction of the words is matched by the soaring lyrical passion of the melodies, the stature and shape of the lines putting me in mind of John Tams, whose vocal delivery this John's also sometimes resembles (that's a compliment!). Several of the songs here – Did You Like The Battle Sir?, (Don't Despise) The Deserter, The Unknown Soldier – creatively address (and, naturally, cuttingly condemn) the horrors of war, while Honour And Praise deals poignantly with having to live with the fallout from sacrificing the wellbeing of others for personal gain. Polly allies a contemporary compassion to a timeless theme in the style of a traditional ballad. Then there are two compellingly beautiful, simple but thought-provoking songs – The Moth and Night Train – which examine the mixed emotions love can engender, while Shine On rather appropriately ends the album on a more hopeful note, by what John describes as trying "not to share the theory that the light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train". A really superb – if long overdue – release that is a must for your collection.
David Kidman
It's five years since my last experience of Lisa's music, the compilation Not Quite So Low which alternately satisfied and tantalised but above all made me keen to hear what she would do next. This new album was recorded in the US (Lisa has been based in Austin, Texas since 1998), and (you could say, in common with a lot of other albums!) explores the subject of love in all its forms. The songs - all but two Lisa's own - are characterised by an honesty of expression which is born of evident experience and first-hand understanding. This manifests in music which mirrors love itself, as it can often be headily rapturous (the title song), sometimes tough (Whose Chain), sometimes puzzling (You And Me) - but invariably stimulating in some way or other. At times love can be distinctly unsettling and offputting too, especially at first, and again the music mirrors this, not least in that some tracks took a fair amount of acquaintance-time before I could properly "get on" with them. After a lot of thought I'd put that down to the arrangements, which for several songs rely quite heavily on a floating, ethereal, almost pop-oriented keyboard/programmed texture washing over the sparer acoustics providing the backbone. Lisa seems to have given Brooklyn producer/co-writer/multi-instrumentalist Tom Bright his head in this regard, and at first it's hard not to find the arrangements over-dominant, at least part of the time. Once that hurdle's over, though, it's only the occasional suspicion of technical "enhancement" in the actual sound of Lisa's vocal performance that gets in the way of the songs. And these are both catchy and captivating, with not a weak one among them; even if those I found easiest and most immediate to appreciate were those with the least pop-friendly settings. The ingenious combination of loops and multi-layered guitars with strings works well on Dance and there's a kind of latterday-Emmylou feel to Portrait Of A Lover (these two cuts were produced by Billy Masters), whereas the grittier drive of Daddy Please and the disturbing (if slightly infuriating) nagging repetition of Why? (complete with its enigmatic runout-track sample) provide highly believable emotional responses. The two covers are diverse too: the old Nina Simone number Rags And Old Iron is given an attractively raunchy treatment, but Lou Reed's Satellite Of Love is spoilt by its sickly synthy sheen. I still think Lisa's got a lot to offer, she's quite a unique talent in many ways, and yet I'd still like to hear her perform more in a sympathetically stripped-down setting some time.
David Kidman November 2007
Born and raised in north-east Australia, Lisa started her performing career in Sydney where she did a stint with The Cavers group, then relocated to New York in 1993, finally - in 1997 - releasing a CD with the very same title as this here one. Confused? Read on… Based in Austin, Texas since 1998, Lisa has gained quite a name for herself, twice reaching finalist status at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival and playing alongside Slaid Cleaves, and supporting Chris Whitley at Antone's. Her second CD, Undergroundling, was released last year, and the current release on Australian label Laughing Outlaw is an 18-track, 68-minute compilation from Lisa's two earlier albums, though it's a pity that the insert credits don't identify which tracks emanate from which, neither do they indicate whether both albums are included complete. No matter, for this is a creditably diverse collection, almost too much so to gain its measure in a few plays. Tags such as alt-pop-folk-country prove meaningless, as in a strangely logical way its very diversity proves its unifying thread, in accordance with Lisa's credo - a belief in "the power of music to express the inexpressible, to affect people, hopefully in a positive way… and the things I write about - I never know what's going to come to the surface". That unpredictable serendipity is responsible for many of this collection's delights. Several of the first few cuts embody a distinct twangy country influence, complementing the incisiveness of her lyrics; the production is quite straightforward, though I had a sneaking suspicion that the pitch of Lisa's vocal had been enhanced on one or two cuts (eg I Can See Love).
This CD seems to take off in its second half (whether this is a marker point delineating the change from one album to the other I don't know), with a stark, virtually unaccompanied Plain Gold Ring that sounds like an old traditional ballad, and a sequence of superior jangly poppy excursions, some with Eastern influences (First Kiss, Simon) others with an attractive and haunting late-60s feel (Everywhere). The production's more ambitious too, with a lot going on beneath the surface. The collection closes with two more overtly confessional cuts, just Lisa and her guitar. These confirm earlier impressions, that Lisa's a really good singer too, with a direct and sincere delivery that has no staggeringly obvious comparisons; here and there I hear shades of Tori Amos or Amy Rigby, although the press release describes her as "providing the missing link between Ani Di Franco and Bjork"! Make up your own mind - but whatever your reference points, Lisa's worth your attention.
David Kidman
Kim's sixth album brings her back closer to a signature Americana sound, though not without a certain measure of what might be termed pop sensibility; returning to Nashville, Kim has employed the same band she'd first gathered in order to tour her acclaimed Chinese Boxes album (embracing the talents of Neilson Hubbard and Kris Donegan within its ranks), and imparted a clear, ungimmicky and organic feel to the recording. This minor change in emphasis is not necessarily concomitant with any decrease in the intimacy of her songwriting. And yet the more immediate and user-friendly impact of the settings generally doesn't mean that the songs themselves are quicker to make their mark on the consciousness - it seems to work the other way, for some reason I can't quite divine, while taken individually each song could well be described as (at worst) a very pleasing gem. The gentle pained opening (title) track is blessed with a keening pedal steel motif, while an insistent bass line accentuates the sense of regret that's nagging at the singer; it's a masterly arrangement, if slightly underplaying the emotional content. Careful How You Go, co-written with Will Kimbrough, delicately broods with a burnished string arrangement, as does the beguiling Back To You, while the laconic Keys is given a somewhat pretty acoustic musical setting that belies its lyric's desperate frustration (this is the first of two beautiful songs which Kim co-penned with Boo Hewerdine, the second being Word To The Wise, the disc's sensitive closer). The bouncy funky hoedown of When The Circus Comes To Town and the breezy singalong Once In Your Life are both almost too catchy for their own good, whereas the bluesier For A While and the jazzy 99 Floors both take a while to convince. But even so, Wreck Your Wheels doesn't contain a single track that could be considered a weak link, so if you've ever responded to Kim's musical vision in the past then you can invest in this latest set with renewed confidence.
David Kidman June 2010
It's quite simple really, Kim Richey's latest release Chinese Boxes is a stunningly beautiful collection of songs, presented in an equally stunning and simple way. There is not the slightest whiff of anything brash, flash or remotely commercial to sour the atmosphere.
Richey, and producer Giles Martin (son of Sir George), have lavished such care and attention on each one of the tracks - the former in their creation, the latter in knowing when to leave well alone, that you have to wonder why everyone doesn't do it this way.
Standing in the centre of all this magic is Kim Richey, who left her native Nashville - and all the musical baggage it brings - and headed for London to record Chinese Boxes. It was the perfect place because this is an album that celebrates the best traditions of British folk/pop. It's as emotionally deep as folk but a deal more accessible. Songs like Drift ebb and flow like the gentle tide, the power of the songs is in the clarity and integrity of the lyrics.
Listening to Chinese Boxes creates the same sensation as riding a roundabout and looking at the sky. You lose all sense of direction and for these moments all that is real comes from Chinese Boxes. Kim Richey doesn't just present her music to an audience, she invites them to be a welcome part of it.
It is easy to imagine Kim Richey writing and co-writing songs for Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter and, perhaps more bizarrely but certainly more lucratively, James Morrison, she is a truly great songwriter. However, it is nearly impossible to imagine her emulating their stardom, her music belongs in an intimate, personal place. Also there is a charming absence of the over self-confidence that often accompanies commercial success, as if Richey is not quite sure how her talent will be received, she needn't worry but the slightly faltering performance of Jack And Jill only adds to its lustre.
But like the Chinese Boxes of its title, the real joy comes as Richey reveals hitherto hidden emotion after emotion, it allows Richey to colour the almost blank canvas of tracks like I Will Follow in delicate pastel shades.
The appeal of Chinese Boxes doesn't surface easily, so deep does Kim Richey mine her soul for Something To Say, that it requires the listener to invest a little of themselves.
www.myspace.com/kimrichey
www.kimrichey.com
Michael Mee March 2008
David Kidman
Bluesy country, dark Appalachian folk, slouching scuffed rhythms, moody introspective songwriting, smouldering sultry vocals, a dash of twangy strut, a flicker of torch, a splash of pop rock, emotional vulnerability, defiant toughness, love songs, losing songs, leaving songs, living songs. They're all gathered together in the Bostonian singer-songwriter's fourth album, a hypnotic, often snaking collection of get under the skin numbers that prefer to sneak up on you rather than leap out into your face. Girl In A Car throws up the Sheryl Crow reference, but she's probably nearer to Shawn Colvin or a breathier, world seasoned Trisha Yearwood. Arrangements like that on the clattering The Circus Song are miles away from the usual Nashville routine, to which thanks go to producer Bill Bottrell who's also twiddled knobs for Ms Crow, while coming on board for the ride are guest chums Peter Droge and Chuck Prophet, the latter co-writing the punch the air This Love while the former sits in on the co-penned dreamy duet Electric Green. She's been gradually building her profile and following over the six or so years since her debut and this could be the one that deservedly kicks her up to the next level.
Mike Davies
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers - Roadrunner, Roadrunner: The Beserkley Collection (Sanctuary)
Sanctuary has already re-released all of Jonathan's individual albums with the Modern Lovers, and if you always found Jonathan's alt-pop anti-hero whimsy easiest to take in smaller, less sustained doses, then you're likely to enjoy this compilation even more. It claims to be the definitive collection of his early work (ie. prior to his temporary retirement from the scene in the late 70s), and as such it can't really be bettered, containing as it does all the hits Roadrunner (yes, twice of course!), Egyptian Reggae, Morning Of Our Lives and so on. The set admirably charts Jonathan's progression from Velvets-style garage metal through nascent punk to ersatz-primitive teen rock'n'roll and weird silliness. The two versions of Roadrunner provide a good illustration of the poles of Jonathan's musical style-borrowings. Most of those unforgettable, playfully fun cult classics like I'm A Little Airplane, Hey There Little Insect and Here Come The Martian Martians are present and correct here on this two-disc set (though I was surprised not to find Abominable Snowman In The Supermarket on the tracklisting), although I always felt that Ice Cream Man got tedious and outstay its welcome in its live incarnation…
David Kidman
Having concluded their trilogy with 2005's The Fitzgerald, Willy Valutin and the boys return for their seventh album, relocating from Oregon to record amid the desert landscapes of Tucson, Arizona, producing a conceptual set of thirteen songs, each set in a different city and following the aimless, lost drifting of the various characters involved.
After the last album's stripped back minimalism, it's a change to hear the band, augmented by Howe Gelb and assorted Calexicos, with a fuller sound and more diverse instrumentation and arrangements that variously embrace horns, mandolins, glockenspiels and accordions. There's a more upbeat musical mood to several of the numbers too; the scuffle along cantina country of Moving Back Home #2, the slow swaggering alt-country drawling beat that kicks along Capsized and the spacey rock sensibility underpinning Four Walls.
But all share the same atmosphere of dry deserts and star-flecked night skies, a perfect setting for Valutin's noirish storytelling and haunting and haunted songs such as I Fell Into Painting Houses In Phoenix, Arizona, A Ghost I Became, $87 and a Guilty Conscience That Gets Worse The Loner I Go or the short, spoken St Ides, Parked Cars And Other People's Homes about blue collar men lost in rusted dreams, bent with rueful regrets, forever reaching out to connections they can't make, consumed by anger and resentments eating away at their soul.
Pushed to pin down standouts, they'd likely have to be the early hours shivers of The Kid From Belmont Street where an old man tries to stop the kid not to make the same mistakes, the closing piano and trumpet call for salvation of Lost In This World and The Disappearance of Ray Norton, a spoken narrative childhood memoir about a man whose racist attitudes to Mexicans cost him friends and family. But everything here pretty much qualifies as a work of genius.
www.myspace.com/richmondfontaineMike Davies February 2007
You'll need a glass of water to hand listening to this, their sixth album, because singer Willy Valutin's voice sound so dusty and parched you'll likely dehydrate before the album ends. It's the result of two weeks spent in a room at The Fitzgerald Casino Hotel in Reno, a stripped down, stark acoustic movie about the losers, the "alcoholic, the ruined and the framed" who live in the shadows of casino town.
Opening track, The Warehouse Life, sets the scene with its story of a gambler who runs in to bookie to whom he's in debt; it's not a happy encounter. Likewise Welhorn Yards follows on with a similar cinematic scenario set in night time railway sidings of a man finding that owing money and deals gone wrong aren't the path to a long, healthy life while the more uptempo Don't Look And It Won't Hurt details how a woman escapes her abusive boyfriend only to end up alone and lost in a motel room.
This is a world so laceratingly bleak it makes even Bukowski's stories sound like Disney fables.
Casino Lights "only bring darkness to the night" observes Valutin of a brother and sister's fall into despair over a simple acoustic guitar that will ensure a clutch of Nebraska references, the more uptempo Exit 194b tells of the AWOL soldier returning home to live in hiding in the darkness of his cousin's house haunted by the ghost of the narrator's little brother. The darkest point though is reached with Incident At Conklin Creek, the vividly told story of finding a youth's body in a shallow grave, 'black eyes broken nose, teeth missing.. no pants ...probably only been dead last couple of days 'coz there was no smell'.
There's shards of hope here and there on the thorny ground, the feet shuffling paced The Janitor for example finds a desperate connection between a hospital porter and a battered wife while after Laramie, Wyoming recounts the nightmare experiences of a runaway, it does have a vaguely happy - albeit permanently traumatised - ending as he reaches his aunt's house.
The album closes with the Making It Back, a title that hints at salvation as the narrator stumbles home into his kitchen at 3am to seek comfort, human contact and the sound of a loving voice, but you have little faith that come the morning the darkness won't still be gathering thick.
Mike Davies
Richmond Fontaine - Post To Wire (El Cortez)
Latest Americana messiahs, while the latest album takes its title from the term for a horse that leads a race right up to the finishing line, it's the losers like the down and out from whom they took their name that occupy frontman Willy Vlautin's thoughts.
With a cracked yearning and dusty voice that fuses Lou Reed, Gram Parsons and Miracle Legion's Mark Mulcahy and musical sensibilities that embrace Uncle Tupelo, American Music Club and The Band, with pedal steel, they inhabit a landscape of desert towns and backroads populated by ruined lives. Indeed. It plays out like a mini narrative with three spoken postcards providing updates on the lead character, Walter, who's travelling across the mid west having pawned best friend Pete's tv and and his folks' wedding rings, encountering an array of colourful characters, getting beaten up and trying to figure a way to pay the debts he left behind.
Between these are snapshots of Walt's experiences, spun out like Raymond Carver stories with their richness of place and character and set to songs that veer between the gunslinging Sprinsgteen-esque guitar rock n roll of Montgomery Park, the twang n burr country rocking title track duet with Deborah Kelly and the stripped down speak-sing acoustic ache of Broken Hearts where two shattered hearts may just make one whole. And if there's desolation seeping from the pores of Hallway, The Longer You Wait and the broken lives documented on Always The Ride, there's also a sense of connection - however brief - filtering through the likes of Polaroid where the bartender pins a photo on the wall and time is frozen in a moment of happiness, Barely Losing where the couple walk the railway tracks at 5am in a moment of calm between the storm gathering around or Allison Johnson with its hopes of a family future. Amid tales of loss and absence, of loneliness and disappointment, rising up from the squalls of electric guitars on Hallway or filtering through the cracks in the quiet of the closing instrumental Valediction, there is a chink of light seeping from the hearts of those who hang on to the hope, or as on the broodingly intense and oppressive seven minute Williamette, a missing brother's leather boots, horse shoe chain and unsent letters, that perhaps somehow you can sit on the banks of a polluted river and, just maybe, piece together lives in a better time, a better place. Pretty damn stunning really.
Mike Davies
www.miariddle.com
www.myspace.com/miariddle
John Davy January 2007
Riders In The Sky are described as the modern-day standard-bearers of the grand and sweeping western music tradition, and here proudly celebrate the music and career of "singing cowboy" Gene Autry, veteran of countless films, radio, TV and other appearances. Closest thing to a Gene Autry tribute band, they perform Gene's theme song (Back In The Saddle Again), together with all the classics associated with or loved by Gene (Ridin' Down The Canyon, The Last Roundup, Sioux City Sue, You Are My Sunshine etc), in properly authentic fashion. The Riders remain true to the classic Autry sound which both swings and croons, and their assorted vocal and instrumental capabilities enable them to recreate that sound to absolute perfection. The CD comes complete with affectionate and accurately detailed notes on the songs and their context within Autry's career, so if this is your bag then go saddle up right now…
David Kidman October 2007
Ridgeriders @ Tower Arts Centre, Winchester - 1st February 2001
I'm amazed that nobody has posted a review of the Ridgeriders mini-tour yet. Even considering the mighty talents involved, it looks like many people ignored the tour - not all venues have been sold-out. Oh ye fools! OK, so the Ridgeriders TV program has a limited broadcast spread (Meridian, the southern England commercial channel and some satellite channels) and even if you can see the programmes, you often get less than a full song, notwithstanding the fact that they were purposely written to be short and punchy for TV.
But the Ridgeriders album (HTD Records) is a magnificent collection of 'modern' folk songs, some with acoustic instruments, some with a full band (the Albion Band plus Julie Matthews). Live, it was just Chris While, Phil Beer and Ashley Hutchings. Come on folks! If this was the 1970s, that would be a supergroup of major proportions.
This was a purely acoustic tour. The yellow min-van wouldn't have been full and more than half the space that actually was used would be taken up by Phil's guitars, fiddle, mandoline, mandocellos, etc. Chris had two acoustic guitars, Ashley just one acoustic bass. With such stripped-down accompaniment, the songs and the singing could be heard in their glory. Ashley's lyrics provide a link between the historic tradition and the present day and Chris and Phil's melodies have the simplicity and beauty of the best traditional folk tunes. Some of the vocal harmonies between Chris and Phil were so amazing, I found myself holding my breath as if I didn't want anything to intercept the sound waves heading my way.
The performers were seated throughout, 'like sitting in their front room' as Ashley said. They swopped introductions to the songs, including often hilarious stories about the making of the programmes and they were all clearly getting a kick out of singing and playing with each other. They played most of the songs from the album, in the latter part of the tour dropping the Dorset Cursus from the set (much to my sadness, it being one of my highlights from the album). They added a couple of instrumentals, including the theme tune to the TV programme (an old Albion tune - Up The Crooked Spire) and they played six or seven new songs, most of which will be performed in the new six-part series which will be broadcast on Meridian from around the end of May.
The new songs were every bit as good as on the album, especially Ill Omens, Tan Hill Fair, I Am A Humble Bridge and a fantastic set closer, the unaccompanied These High And Wild Places. A comment from Phil at one gig showed they were recording the shows - we can but hope they are considering a live album. Ashley also said that they have enough material for a follow-up studio album but they haven't decided if they'll do one yet. Finally, Chris suggested the possibility of another Ridgeriders tour next year.
If some or all of these come to pass, well, only then will you truly crazy people who missed this tour get the chance to experience the aural ecstasy of Chris While, Phil Beer and Ashely Hutchings.
Martin Drury
Rachel hails from the "inspiring, vast expanses" of South Dakota, but has now relocated to Chicago's west side. For You Only is her second CD, as far as I can make out; her first, Shrine, came out in 2000, and her other past accomplishments include work with members of the Goldmine Pickers, and more recently with Anaïs Mitchell and the songwriters-in-the-round package Tin Pan Caravan. Rachel's one of the less immediately classifiable singer-songwriters; although she was classically trained (voice, piano, violin and viola), her present mode of expression stems mostly from stripped-down country/Americana, but with an intimacy and delicacy of personal thought that the more world-weary s/s of that sub-genre don't tend to achieve. Rachel's singing voice is sweet (though not sickly) and very often tinged with a true sadness, as befits her songs; these are at their most effective when they creatively juxtapose simple poetic imagery with personal truths and disturbing reflections which then lead back to equally disturbing concrete images, as on Sad Saturday and Summer Came, A Warning. There's often a sinister overtone to the ostensibly idyllic reminiscences that lace Rachel's songs, indeed, as We'll All Be The Same proves, and there's a discreet intelligence at work here. But all of Rachel's songs have something special to say in their appealingly minimalist way, and her simple and affecting guitar work is boosted just that little bit - and in just the right measure - by some extra banjo, fiddle, guitar, pump organ, accordion, piano and gentle percussion (Andru Bemis, Drew Lindsay and Mike Reeb). The production's also suitably down-home and intimate, lending a really special atmosphere to Rachel's supremely economic creations. A strange and stimulating release.
David Kidman
Amy Rigby - Little Fugitive (Signature Sounds)
Another album another label. Three now deleted albums and an anthology haven't yet overcome public indifference to establish Rigby as the rightful queen of single parent fortysomething pop, but hopefully this might go some way to edging her a few steps closer to the throne. "I'm like Raspuutin I keep coming back" she sings on the opening Rasputin, a defiant message of self-affirmation that also sets the scene for the album's bright, melodic pop and smart lyrics. Not unfamiliar with divorce and remarriage as the former Mrs Will Rigby, she surely draws on personal experience when she sings of her new husband's annoyingly nice ex-wife ("she's hugging me instead of stabbing my back") on the perfect 60s tumbling pop chorus of The Trouble With Jeannie.
Oh yes, she knows her way around a catchy tune all right. It's hard to stop your feet itching to Dancing With Joey Ramone, a strutting fizzy sherbert fuzzy guitar and handclaps retro punk pop gem that namechecks such Nuggets nuggets as Needles and Pins, Gloria, Be My Baby and He Hit Me And It Felt Like a Kiss, while the witty Needy Men skips along on a classic Tin Pan Alley rhythm and It's Not Safe? chugs along on a plinketty Mersey beat. She knows her record collection too, borrowing from Tomorrow Never Knows for the intro to So You Know Now while, having earlier namechecked 60s garage psychedelic r&b crew Shadows of Knight, I Don't Wanna Talk About Love pens its own fan letter to their sound.
Soured love's a popular theme here, but like Year of the Fling and the chimingly wonderful mid-tempo Girls Got It Bad (think Tracy Ullman singing Weezer) she's obviously not one to mope in misery or self-pity. Well, okay, except for Always With Me that is. But, as epitomised by her first ever cover, Lenny Kaye's 60s folk-pop The Things You Leave Behind (which sounds a lot like old Grassroots hit Where Were You When I Needed You?), she knows that whatever bruises unfulfilling affairs and knotted memories may throw at her, in the end she'll make it to the end of the line with a legacy of friends and songs left behind. This is definitely one for the memory box.
Mike Davies
On this showing, it'll be quite a while til the wheels fall off Amy's wagon - for, having migrated from the sprawling Koch empire to the reputable and healthily adventurous independent label Signature Sounds, Amy's turned in yet another great set, following on from the consistent excellence of The Sugar Tree, Middlescence and Diary Of A Mod Housewife in archetypal Amy Rigby fashion. In other words, vital power-acoustic with attitude and more than a dash of pop sensibility in the production, although this time round the acoustic instruments are a fair bit more upfront generally within the overall mix and the retro-sixties feel marginally less to the fore. The recordings for this new album were made in different studios, with different co-producers, yet the whole album has a striking aural consistency that parallels its artistic consistency. Amy demonstrates once again just how honest and level-headed a songwriter she is too, and there's no weak track on this new collection. At once highly worldly and sensitive, Amy's wittily perceptive writing still ranges as wide as ever, from the cheeky, spiky humour of the cutting-but-fun Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again? to the often painful home truths of Don't Ever Change, which examines a time-honoured theme but with a fresh poignancy. There's sometimes a gentler, almost reflective feel to this new album, at least compared with the more directly smart, street-wise cracks that characterise many of Amy's earlier songs, where she needed to make her points real fast. Having said that, neither has she lost any of her innate gift for catchy wordplay or equally catchy melodic hooks.
David Kidman
Amy Rigby - 'Til The Wheels Fall Off (Spit And Polish)
Ain't she just a girl! The records of Amy Rigby have always shown a nifty line in tunes but it's the lyrics that get you. Her perceptions have an ability to amuse with their 'been there, seen that' take on relationships. One might ask why she exposes her innermost feelings to the listening public or, as she puts it, 'why do I pull wings off butterflies, look for things that hurt my eyes, I kiss the boys but I'm the one that cries'. With a feel for lyrics like that, you can imagine that there is plenty to entertain here. Add that to music that is strong enough to attract players who normally line up with Lucinda Williams, John Prine or Buddy and Julie Miller and you have an all round top quality record. So, the gist of it is that she can't stop 'Shopping Around' for her fellas which she'll probably do 'Til The Wheels Off' or she puts on her 'Breakup Boots'. Looking round for that elusive 'perfect' man, she wonders (on 'O'Hare') why he talks to her 'like he's handling the Dead Sea scrolls'. You'll find that when she gets her fella nailed down, she might wonder 'Are We Ever Going To Have Sex Again' or beg that he 'Don't Ever Change'. Later, the sight of an old lover might cause her to say 'Here We Go Again' as she gets a rush of blood to the head (and elsewhere). Ultimately, she's hoping for that moment of 'All The Way To Heaven' mixed with an ability to 'Believe In You'. It's marvellous observational stuff that will have you thinking, yes, been there, recognise that. Some will argue that she's covered the ground before but there is, after all, plenty of ground to cover. Furthermore, 'Til The Wheels Fall Off' indicates that Amy travels this ground with increasing style.
Steve Henderson
An anthology it says on the cover in the small print, which given she's not exactly been able to retire on her previous three (now deleted) albums' sales, will serve as a useful calling card to the criminally indifferent mass public and A&R men now that she's been dumped by the label. If Sheryl Crow or Alanis were single parent thirtysomethings playing pop, country and folk then they might be Rigby, the ex wife of dB's drummer Will who made her debut in 1996 with the critically acclaimed bohemian domesticity insights of Diary Of A Mod Housewife and her grown up songs about being a grown up woman living a life surrounded by arseholes who can't see past her breasts.
There's half a dozen cuts from Diary here, among them Beer And Kisses, the brilliant blue collar love song duet with John Wesley Harding, along with the best numbers from Middlescene and Sugar Tree, of which The Summer of My Wasted Youth where she sings of "Summertime of '83. The last time I took LSD. But listening to Patsy Cline and Skeeter Davis really blew my mind and Balls with its great lin, "You've got a lot of balls, you don't even care. Wish I could grow a pair," are certified dyed-in-the-wool classics. In addition to culling her three albums, there's the obligatory bonus numbers. Not, unfortunately, quite the treasure trove that the blurb on the sleeve leads you to expect since the previous unreleased songs and demos turn out to be just one of each, a plaintive acoustic guitar and vocal demo of Magicians (where she conjures thoughts of an earthier Melanie) and 2000's outtake Keep It To Yourself, a Suzanne Vega sounding bitter ballad in which she gives the name, address, car make and pager number of the guy who screwed her up to her new macho boyfriend. It's a wonderful slice of adult anti-romance that makes Ms Morrisette sound like someone throwing her toys out of the playpen. Give this woman a deal and make her world famous someone.
Mike Davies
(Ed: We are happy to report that all three of the Amy Rigby albums Mike Davies refers to as deleted are now available to download in their entirety - legitimately too - from emusic.com)
Amy's previous two albums (Diary Of A Mod Housewife and Middlescence) displayed a distinct progression and increasing maturity. The Sugar Tree, however, seems - at any rate on first few plays - to represent a marking-time stage rather than an further artistic development per se. Nothing wrong with that, as it's still streets ahead of most of the contemporary singer-songwriter product that comes our way with the backing of a more substantial promotional budget. So perhaps The Sugar Tree is just a brilliant consolidation of Amy's distinctive talent for writing hard-hitting and perceptive songs with real attitude and insidiously, definitively catchy hooks, given driving and inventive arrangements that display an acute pop sensibility. In all these respects, the nearest comparison I can muster is our own feisty Thea Gilmore……. (Check out the acoustic You Get To Me, so aptly followed by the acerbic Balls, for instance.)
Production duties have this time fallen to bassist Brad Jones, who has taken the sound a mite closer to country at times, supplanting the more obviously retro commercial pop gloss of Elliot Easton who produced Amy's first two albums. Perhaps the incursions into doo-wop and Jerry Lee territory are a bit over-the-top and constitute minor artistic misjudgements, but otherwise the musical references are appropriate and spot-on. The darkly and deceptively demure, provocatively low-lit cover shots of Amy mirror her music (and perhaps this album in particular), in that further careful inspection reveals a considerable degree of subtlety at work therein. Consolidation it may be, but this is still a damn superb album.
David Kidman
Tom Rigney and the members of Flambeau are well known blues/Cajun/zydeco artists in the USA and this, their ninth album and first since 2004's A Blue Thing, is one of the reasons why. They open up with the promising My Baby, a smooth swinging blues that highlights vocal harmony amongst many other attributes. Rigney unleashes his fiddle on the eponymous title track which is a fast paced Southern country style instrumental that has him and guitarist Danny Caron trading licks a plenty. Never Let You Take It Away is classic country and is competent enough if not my kettle of fish. Forbidden Fruit is another fiddle led instrumental, well played but lacks excitement. He's back into old fashioned country again on Let Me Be Your Fool Tonight but this one is saved by the good interplay between fiddle and guitar. Having Caron on guitar is a bit of a coup as he was bandleader for the great bluesman Charles Brown for twelve years. La Porte En Arriere (The Back Door) is unashamedly Cajun class. Rigney's roots start to show on Farewell Waltz but where he says he has Irish roots I feel that this is straight out of Scottish country dance music. Nevertheless, a great tune for a celeidh. It's Cajun again for Cocodril Stomp and its infectious feel just makes you want to dance. I could do without the country tacks such as I Won't Be Sad Tonight but each to their own, I suppose. Back to business on Pont De Vue and although this isn't as good as the other Cajun tracks it's still a better class than Tom's country offerings. The band slips back into the blues with the atmospheric instrumental Insomnia. This is a moody fiddle led song that keeps up the high standard of the back end of the album. Thankfully, Tom chooses a Cajun finish with Tes Parents Veulent Plus Me Voir, which my schoolboy translation comes up as Your Parents Want To See Me More (I'm sure that someone will correct me). Excellent way to finish and I've only got two complaints more Cajun and more vocals!
David Blue, July 2006
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this 2CD set is that it comes from a band that has been making music for two decades. Adjectives like retrospective and even 'Best of' somehow seem to mundane to be applied to an album that is fresh and exhilarating.
When it's played with such joy, then surely no genre can match the atmosphere created by the Cajun rhythms and passion. It may well be fanciful but you can almost smell and taste hot, exotic spices as Steve Riley and his appropriately-named Mamou Playboys launch their assault on all the senses. But while Cajun music may be at its best when it's accompanied by an explosion of electricity, at its best it's still built on solid foundations and Riley carries the best traditions of the genre with him in this collection.
The band gets the part started with the distinctly Gallic-flavoured Tiens Bons ( Hold On) and right from the first notes of Riley's accordion and the fiddle of David Greely, the hook is in for good. In fact the three Grammy nominations the band has received over its career quickly seem scant reward for such wonderful entertainment.
Too much rich food, however tasty, soon dulls the palate and, in that two decade career, Riley has perfected the art of introducing a myriad of shades, Menteur (Liar) is heavy and sultry while Katherine is enchantingly and touchingly simple.
This delicately blended stew of Cajun, Zydeco, Creole and swamp-rock is also irresistibly romantic, you don't have to speak French to know that the likes of Katherine is about love and, on the off chance it's not, it does a pretty convincing imitation.
While it's all too easy and tempting to become blinded by the headlights of exotica that Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys seem able to summon up at will, Pointe aux Chenes (Oak Point) is down-to-earth, honest, gutsy, bluesy rock n roll. This is a band that is as capable of grinding it out, as it is of weaving together the threads of Vini, Jille (Come Jille) or touching the listener's soul with La Toussaint (All Saint's Day).
In the collision of styles that creates the magic, the skill and talent of the musicians could well be overlooked but for Riley, Greely, Sam Broussard, Brazos Huval and Kevin Dugas to have this much fun they have to be very, very good or else it all falls apart and quickly. The Lawrence Walker Medley, which opens CD2 is the perfect showcase for their respective talents, there may be no lyrics but the effect is equally stunning. Riley also finds room for a little slice of good-old fashioned country. Close your eyes during Lover's Waltz and you're instantly whisked back a couple of centuries.
There is an initial attraction to the music of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys simply because it represents a completely different, brighter and more appealing culture. Were that all, the novelty would surely soon wear off. However, this stunning collection will be long-remembered for all the right reasons, its sense of fun, its heart, its intelligence, the towering talents of the various musicians involved but most of all because it makes you feel glad to be alive.
Michael Mee September 2008
I well remember when JATS burst on the scene 27 years ago with their rebel rousing, tear it up cover of Absolutely Sweet Marie, swiftly consolidating with accompanying album Fervor and follow up Lost & Found and such alt country rocking and Southern honky tonk diamonds as Hot Nights In Georgia, Harvest Moon, Broken Whiskey Glass, Blanket of Sorrow and Shop It Around.
Despite songs like Golden Ball And Chain and Bible And A Gun, they never again managed to produce albums of such sustained brilliance and excitement and, while they never officially disbanded, there's been little evidence of them since the 1998 live set Midnight Roads & Stages. Indeed, rhythm section Perry Baggs and Jeff Johnson are no longer part of the intermittent line-up.
However, 14 years on from Clear Impetuous Morning, guitarist Warren E. Hodges has persuaded frontman Jason Ringenberg back into the studio alongside new players Al Collins and Pontus Snibb for an album that, if it doesn't actually contain any stone classics, does go quite a way to recapturing old glories.
They can still rip it up with a frantic rock n rolling pace, ably demonstrated on the opening Moonshine Guy and its Releasing Celtic Prisoners rowdy jig midsection, the vintage Southern country cowpunk Mona Lee with its 19th Nervous Breakdown riffs, bluesy swagger Deep Holy Water and the breakneck Getting Nowhere Fast. Elsewhere, Land Of The Free keeps the muscle pumped but takes the tempo down to a Neil Young electric bluesy burn and Days Of Wine And Roses jangles with soaring memories of The Byrds.
The album also serves reminder that the band can turn on the keening high lonesome ballad with the best of them. Listen to the plaintive ache of Beat On The Mountain miner's lament and Mother Of Greed which traces the Ringenberg family history from the coal seams and factory closures of 1910 North Wales to contemporary Alabama.
More than anything, though, crackling with their live energy and the volume cranked up loud, it makes you want to pull on your jeans, grab a beer and raise hell. And such legacies are worth cherishing.
Mike Davies February 2010
What it says on the tin, basically. A gathering of recording by Ringenberg culled from both Jason & the Scorchers and his solo releases. Except it's not strictly the originals, since he's reworked or remastered some of the material. Which, means it's not cheating completists who want the rare stuff but already have everything else.
As you'll likely know, Ringenberg's staple musical diet is rebel rock country with gunslinger guitars, yeehaw vocals and basic good time tunes interleaved with more melancholic balladry. And it's well served here. The Best Tracks set opens with a rework and rewrite of Scorchers classic Shop It Around which works well unlike the new slower bluegrass version of Broken Whiskey Glass with The Woodbox Gang. Along the way you get re-recording of Life Of The Party (because he couldn't licence songs from One Foot In The Honky Tonk), and a remix of Farmer Jason's Punk Rock Skunk. Otherwise, the rest of the disc, featuring such tracks as Steve Earle duet Bible and the Gun, Wildhearts collaboration One Less Heartache, She Hung The Moon, Born To Run (the Paul Kennerly one not Springsteen's) and Chief Joseph's Last Dream are all taken from the original recordings and sound, for the most, as fresh as the day they were minted.
Side Tracks is a rather more uneven proposition. Personally curated by Ringenberg, it's a set of rarities, some of which (a rockabilly pre-Scorchers Help There's A Fire, Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs?, rejected for a Tom T Hall tribute as being 'horrid' and the 'eccentric' Lovely Christmas with Kristi Rose in which he clatters a punk chorus between the crooned verses) should probably have remained so. But you do get a little more Webb Wilder for your money on the Farmer Jason meets Sam The Sham Moose On The Loose, a live honky tonk weepie version of Cappuccino Rose, a fine live radio show take cover of John Prine's Paradise with RB Morris and Tom Roznowski sharing verses, and a hitherto unreleased The Sailor's Eyes which ranks with the best stuff he's ever done. Interesting, but probably not the best place for newcomers to begin.
Mike Davies May 2008
Children are just like any other listener, serve them up patronising rubbish and they'll smell it a mile away. But, as Rockin' In The Forest shows, the reverse is also true.
It helps that Farmer Jason is the alter ego of one Jason Ringenberg, the Jason of Jason and the Scorchers, the inspiration behind the fusion of punk rock and country that became known as 'cowpunk'.
Rockin In The Forest may be primarily aimed at children, the idea coming from Ringenberg's own two children, but it goes way beyond the archetypal simplistc children's album, it's a thrilling, funny, optimistic ride. Farmer Jason hasn't quite cast off his energetic, slightly rebellious former self, Punk Rock Skunk does not come from any Disney film I've seen But back to the children, what kid wouldn't want to be a part of Oppossum In A Pocket and He's A Moose Loose on the Loose, on which Todd Snider lends a (farm) hand.
But it's the manner in which Ringenberg goes about being Farmer Jason as much as anything. He hasn't treated this as some amusing side project. If all he did was this, he'd still be a lot better than most.
There's a slightly anarchic engagement about the album, Farmer Jason slips easily into the role of naughty older brother.
And while the kids are sure to be delighted by tales of woodland animals set to rock n roll. The older 'children' can sit back and enjoy the intelligent wit that Ringenberg has poured into the album plus that that their kids are being 'exposed' to the very best music, has to offer. Not only is Rockin' In The Forest hugely entertaining, it's the best musical start in life you can offer . What parent wouldn't want to do that.
Michael Mee April 2007
Jason Ringenberg - Empire Builders (Spit & Polish)
Following his kiddie album as Farmer Jason, the former Scorchers frontman returns to grown up concerns with this album about the nightmare that has overtaken the American Dream. Drawing on his own experiences as an American abroad encountering the attitudes and reactions these times of Bushwhacking foreign policy have spawned, such songs as the tuba oompahing marching beat New-Fashioned Imperialist, the mournful Chief Joseph's Last Dream and a moody swampy Tuskegee Pride variously addressing the new brand of ugly American, the betrayal of the Native American and the despicable treatment of the African-American fighter pilots who could go off and fight for freedom but were still denied civil rights back home.
It's not a hectoring approach though, the clanking American Question may note that his nation can bomb other lands to hell and then send them Big Macs but it does so with dry lyrical and musical wit while the good ole boy rousing Rebel Flag in Germany recalls his embarrassment at seeing the Confederate flag flying over a building in central Germany, with all the resonances that it carries. And it's hard not to note the bitter irony that underscores the inclusion of his cover of Merle Haggard's naive vision of a postwar unit in Rainbow Stew.
It's not all diatribe. Jim Roll's contribution, Eddie Rode The Orphan Train is a hymn to human dignity, She Hung The Moon (Until It Died) a simple love song (or allegory about America?), Half The Man a tribute to his father and the rock n roll growling guitar driven Link Wray is, as you might have guessed, about, er Link Wray.
It's probably not his most commercial release nor, musically his strongest, but, closing with a live recording of American Reprieve where, over a jazz drum and upright bass backing, he speaks a poem of hope that America may yet find peace with itself and by extension the rest of the world, it's clearly his most passionately felt.
Mike Davies
Jason Ringenberg - A Day At The Farm With Farmer Jason (Yep Roc)
Mike Davies
Jason Ringenberg - All Over Creation (Spit & Polish)
It's been a while since Jason and The Scorchers burst on the Nashville scene in the mid 80s touted as country rock's next big thing. It was never going to be of course, they were far too Southern rock n roll rebel rousers for that, but before they fell apart they'd notched up some great tracks, among them Broken Whiskey Glass, Blanket Of Sorrow, Hot Nights In Georgia and their tear it up versions of Absolutely Sweet Marie and Lost Highway. Following a reunion in 91 they've continued an intermittent career alongside Ringenberg's solo work. With the band currently on another extended hiatus, it's in that capacity he's over here promoting All Over Creation (Spit & Polish), an album of duets and collaborations that include a Civil War themed rework of Steve Earle's Bible And A Gun with the man himself handling duties for the second verse.
Belying the man's yes ma'am gentleman personality, it's a collection of hell raising honky tonking beer jug of rockabilly, Western swing, bluegrass, and punk country that opens up with a Creedence Clearwater styled Honky Tonk Maniac From Mars featuring Hamell On Trial and goes on to introduce such other notable guests as BR549 for a yeehawing fiddle waltzing cover of Loretta Lynn's Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind), Paul Burch helping out on his own train rhythm stomper The Sun Don't Shine, Erin's Seed (another Civil War story about Irish immigrants who died on both sides at the battle of Fredericksburg) with Lambchop, the witty rockabilly slapper James Dean Car duet with Todd Snider and, bourbon shots fully charged, a great teaming with The Wildhearts for One Less Heartache. Perhaps one of the best collaborations though is the good timing mountain music work out of I Dreamed My Baby Came Home (written by the unlikely combination of George Jones and Johnny Mathis) with the little known Pulp Country husband and wife duo Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin.
Mike Davies
Simon Ritchie & The Band That Time Forgot - Squeezebox Schizophrenia (X-Tradition)
I suppose that at first glance you could say this new release purports to be to the melodeon what the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's Secret Of Life (also reviewed on NR) was to the humble uke. On it, the Posh Band's melodeonist is let loose to deliver, in the guise of his second solo album, a "compilation of requests that were recorded at home over a period of time" (Simon plays virtually all the instruments himself), comprising a series of highly individual "treatments" of an almost obscenely wide range of material, most of which traditionally wouldn't be associated with, or seen dead anywhere near, a melodeon! And that's aside from considerations arising from the intricacies of key transposition arising from the distinct limitations of the various members of the melodeon family – which I shouldn't need to go into… !
There's a few comparatively orthodox, and typically boisterous, selections – a brief step set (with the dancing feet of Lenny Whiting), a rousing version of Roving Gypsy (from the repertoire of Fred Whiting), the Eel's Foot classic Duck Foot Sue, and a variant of Edmund In The Lowlands Low (featuring Bob Davenport and Roger Digby). And an arrangement of a movement from Elgar's Nursery Suite. Outside of these tracks, though, Simon ventures into the hitherto uncharted (for the melodeon) territory of adapting pop and rock tunes. (Well I say uncharted, but I know Brian Peters had introduced certain Rolling Stones numbers into his folk club sets some time back.) Anyway, Simon does an amazing job in fitting these tunes round the keys of the melodeon, albeit with varying degrees of artistic success. But most of them come off without too much of a hint of artifice or excessive shoehorning.
The opening track, Move Over Darling, jars at first, and it takes a while to get used to Simon's cheerfully self-admitted vocal shortcomings at times on some tracks, but his forthright and sometimes irreverent approach has a kind of delirious Kirkpatrick-like charm amidst the lusty bluster, and you can't help but smile and/or join in with gusto. The old Searchers hit Sweets For My Sweet booms out as from a cavernous ceilidh-hall at the end of the dance when the band are too drunk to care whether anyone's still on the dance floor, pumping out that time-honoured Louie, Louie riff like nobody's business. And the Pistols' Anarchy In The UK (bet you never thought you'd hear that on a folk record!) is set to a loping, kinda doowop rhythm, but hey, it works! Other successes include Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, but I wasn't quite convinced by Tangled Up In Blue or Tracks Of My Tears, and I felt The Rivers Of Babylon (originally recorded by the Melodians – sic ! – cute coincidence that!) outstayed its welcome. But let's not quibble – this CD really is enormous fun.
David Kidman
Josh's fourth CD marks a striking development, even from the assured and increasingly confident writing on last year's offering The Animal Years. Its opener (To The Dogs Or Whoever) sets the tone, being a raw, exuberant parade of imagery set to a tumbling, skittering backdrop that seems just thrown together with little concern for nicety of arrangement – an impression that's accentuated on the second track, Mind's Eye. The whole record feels like an explosion of ideas rather than a collection of organised songs, which on first acquaintance isn't always necessarily a good feeling. There's at once a more expansive and more concentrated, cluttered feel to this new record, with significantly more ambitious instrumentation on some tracks; production's by Sam Kassirer, Josh's keyboard player, and other featured musicians include percussionist Liam Hurley and the Great North Sound Society Orchestra. It's interesting to learn that the lyrics were almost always written after the actual melodies were put down. As a general comment, when the sound is stripped down and opened out from the inside, as on the tender Still Beating and the amazing nuclear rumination The Temptation Of Adam, the songs are given room to breathe and make considerably more impact. The quirky nature of the arrangement on Next To The Last True Romantic threatens to spin out of control, but remains likeable, whereas a couple of drive-time pop tracks (Right Moves and Real Long Distance) seem out of place in Josh's world somehow. Ditto the somewhat irrelevant "Give-Peace-A-Chance-singalong" mix of Wait For Love that closes the disc. And at other times, as on Rumors, Josh seems almost obsessed with a McCartneyesque free spirit (Ram was apparently a major influence on Josh) and a desire for sonic obfuscation by layering on strings and horns; this all gives the imagery a heady, dizzying aroma that doesn't quite reflect the words used. Sure thing, there are some startling songs here, and yet the jury may still be out on whether this is Josh's finest hour, but there's no denying that he's produced a new record that, whatever its vagaries and imponderables, demands your undivided attention through its sheer ebullience. Even so, I'm not sure I'd class it as a conquest.
David Kidman November 2007
His first since inking a major label deal, Ritter's latest rings a few changes in terms of both musical style and content. Produced by Brian Deck, tentpole producer of Chicago's alt-folk scene, it bears both a rougher musical edge and a more mainstream accessible approach while equally loading up with literary emboldened and lyrically hard hitting tracks (much inspired by the likes of Mark Twain and Thomas Jefferson) that reflect his anger and confusion at the current political state of his country.
Thus the opening Girl In The War is a chiming piece of weary Springsteenesque folk-pop about Iraq that reverses the usual man at the front girl back home scenario while Thin Blue Flame is a near ten minute track that unleashes his frustrations with the Bush administration, an absent God and the general self-destructive nature of a world where religious has become a battle cry for war while, as the song builds to a climax, trying to find the moments of hope to hold on to.
It's not all so earnest and righteously angry, Idaho is a simple largely unaccompanied hymn to his home state that evokes Springsteen's Nebraska and Young's Harvest while the rootsy old school Americana of a Dylan-like Lillian, Egypt and the train chugging rhythms of A Good Man offer relatively straightforward love songs.
But perhaps the two most accessibly radio friendly and best numbers here are Wolves and Monster Ballads. The latter, with its brushed snare and organ hum, sounds not a million miles from I'm On Fire, casting Ritter as a Springsteen from those nostalgia hued sepia days while the former (an animal image that also crops up in Idaho) is a joyous song of love recalled in time of duress, remembering "the time when we were dancing ....to a song that I'd heard. Your face was simple and your hands were naked, I was singing without knowing the words", while the wolves gather at the door.
"Tell me I got here at the right time" he sings on the closing emotional notes of Here At The Right Time. He did, he has.
Mike Davies, March 2006
Josh Ritter - Hello Starling (Setanta/Signature Sounds)
Tousled hair with looks somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Steve Forbert, the Idaho born Ritter's star is on the fast track. Two years on from the shoestring budget recording and self label release of his Golden Age of Radio debut, he's landed a label deal, had the title track featured over the end credits of Six Feet Under, been feted with glowing reviews, toured with such names as Beth Orton, Gillian Welch and Joan Baez, and sold out a headline tour of Ireland where his Me & Jiggs single made the Top 40.
Now comes his sophomore outing, recorded in old French dairy barn over the course of 14 days and produced by David Odlum who twiddled knobs for Gemma Hayes. The influences are clear; the young Greenwich Village folk singer Dylan and Don't Think Twice It's All right shining through You Don't Make It Easy Babe, the Springsteeneque touches of Man Burning, the haunting acoustic ballad Wings (already covered by Joan Baez on her new album) where Townes Van Zandt meets Leonard Cohen amid religious imagery and American gothic, the uplifting love after a long winter Snow Is Gone with its title line lyric and shades of John Prine while Bright Smile blends the fragile folk of Nick Drake with Cat Stevens.
But Ritter's far more than the sum of his references. A blessed with a warm and weary earthy voice and a gift for lilting, unassuming but infectious melodies he's also a superb poetic lyricist and storyteller, whether he's waiting around at a party to drive home the prettiest girl in Kathleen (very David Gray), observing the end of a relationship in The Bad Actress or getting metaphysical in the brilliant Bone Of Song whether he talks of the artist's desire for the song to be remembered even if the writer is forgotten.
A shimmering, confident, relaxed and emotion drenched album full of yearning for times to come, nostalgia for times lost and an awareness of the beauty of the moment, it confirms Ritter as one of those rare artists for whom the term timeless was created.
Mike Davies
Josh Ritter - Golden Age of Radio (Setanta)
Recently signed to Setanta who've slotted his magnificent second album Hello Starling (see the NetRhythms review) for a UK release in 2004, the label paves the way by making available his no less impressive 2002 folk rock debut, an album that saw US critics falling over themselves to sing his praises and bandy around references to Nick Drake, Cat Stevens, Townes Van Zandt and Dylan. Listen to the opening Come and Find Me (which featured on Six Feet Under) and you'll want to add Jerry Jeff Walker (it's very Mr Bojangles) to the list.
Over a dozen tracks Ritter convinces you that he's no wet behind the ears newcomer but has in fact been around for several lifetimes, how else to explain the seasoned musicianship and lyrical quality of such number as Me & Jiggs (which surely tips the guitar hat to George Harrison) singing Townes and painting their names on the water towers or speaks of trying to escape to who knows where on Leaving, Other Side and Lawrence, KS. And as Song For The Fireflies and Harrisburg show, he's got the storyteller's eye for an image that makes listening to him feel like immersing yourself in the chapter of an ongoing novel.
Already a major draw in Ireland, he's visiting the UK in January supporting Joan Baez, it's not going to be long before Ritter's an international player. Tune in now and tear off the dial.
Mike Davies
Josh Ritter - Hello Starling (Setanta/Signature Sounds)
Tousled hair with looks somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Steve Forbert, the Idaho born Ritter's star is on the fast track. Two years on from the shoestring budget recording and self label release of his Golden Age of Radio debut, he's landed a label deal, had the title track featured over the end credits of Six Feet Under, been feted with glowing reviews, toured with such names as Beth Orton, Gillian Welch and Joan Baez, and sold out a headline tour of Ireland where his Me & Jiggs single made the Top 40.
Now comes his sophomore outing, recorded in old French dairy barn over the course of 14 days and produced by David Odlum who twiddled knobs for Gemma Hayes. The influences are clear; the young Greenwich Village folk singer Dylan and Don't Think Twice It's All right shining through You Don't Make It Easy Babe, the Springsteeneque touches of Man Burning, the haunting acoustic ballad Wings (already covered by Joan Baez on her new album) where Townes Van Zandt meets Leonard Cohen amid religious imagery and American gothic, the uplifting love after a long winter Snow Is Gone with its title line lyric and shades of John Prine while Bright Smile blends the fragile folk of Nick Drake with Cat Stevens.
But Ritter's far more than the sum of his references. A blessed with a warm and weary earthy voice and a gift for lilting, unassuming but infectious melodies he's also a superb poetic lyricist and storyteller, whether he's waiting around at a party to drive home the prettiest girl in Kathleen (very David Gray), observing the end of a relationship in The Bad Actress or getting metaphysical in the brilliant Bone Of Song whether he talks of the artist's desire for the song to be remembered even if the writer is forgotten.
A shimmering, confident, relaxed and emotion drenched album full of yearning for times to come, nostalgia for times lost and an awareness of the beauty of the moment, it confirms Ritter as one of those rare artists for whom the term timeless was created.
Mike Davies
The River Detectives - King of the Ghost Train Ride (Neon Tetra)
It's a staggering 13 years since Sam Corry and Dan O'Neill released sophomore album Elvis Has Left The Building, but, four years after calling it a day the Motherwell duo have got bak together and dragged themselves back into a studio to record a third. Not a huge amount has changed in the interim, they still make acoustic based folk pop about love and journeys both literal and emotional, rippling with catchy melodies and lines about, well, trains. And they're still pretty damn good too.
A mixture of old songs and new material, some are written about life on the road, some (the Simon & Garfunkle likeCapetown To Glasgow especially) about longing for home and some are very specific (Philip concerns a schoolfriend's suicide, I Love Your Love is about Corry's wife, Speedy Mullen's House of Fear relates to a dodgy Belfast IRA watering hole), but all of them testify to the strength of the writing and the harmonies that deliver them. To be honest, it's unlikely to return them to the heights they enjoyed with their silver selling debut album back in 1989, but if The Proclaimers can sustain a healthy career without the benefit of hit singles or albums, there's no reason why the likes of the catchy Blue Collar Love Song or the lovely country heartacher The Dance Is Over shouldn't ensure the river keeps flowing for a while yet.
Mike Davies
This is one of those exceptional and immediately impressive singer-songwriter albums that throws that hoary tag up into the air and waits to see where it might settle. A.J., though now based in San Francisco, was raised in Scott County, Virginia and steeped in that region's traditional mountain music, which lends a distinct urgency of expression and a particularly yearning, authentically heartfelt tone to his own compositions. You just know he means business when his piercing, drawling vocal grabs your ear right away against the driving, purposeful rhythms of the opening suicide-ballad Clinch River Blues. An altogether softer and funkier side to A.J's vocal technique comes through on the organ-drenched Devil May Dance (which with its introductory cooing harmonies in a curious way put me in mind also of CS&N), while the sparser, achingly ambivalent observations of Fashionistas really hit a spot and Streets Of Omaha is strikingly haunting. As are the wistful, poignant Weathervane and the tender Hazel Blue, both of which songs can only be described as intensely, delicately beautiful. Equally intense in its own way is the stark Freezing Car, which you can readily forgive for having a melody line sneakily similar to After The Goldrush! The gospel (as opposed to Gospel) permeates much of the album, but in particular A.J.'s unique take on southern gothic on the thumping sermon of the title track (which is full of weird little instrumental touches) and Chemicals, which cheekily but memorably paraphrases the 23rd Psalm for the benefit of alcoholics. A.J's instrumental accompaniments are lean and spare, yet ideally judged and absolutely classic, embracing fiddles, guitars, mandos, banjo and a host of other interesting textures. In summary, this abundantly honest and extraordinarily compelling album, which turns out to be only A.J's second release, is a revelation indeed: one which demands instant replay.
www.RoachMusic.com
www.myspace.com/ajroach
David Kidman March 2008
First time round, with "Dogwood Winter", I didn't really get AJ.'s thing; it was all a bit low-key and introspective for my taste. Well, now I can make up for lost time because "Revelation" has grabbed my attention in a big way. This man grew up with Appalachian folk and gospel music all around him, but flirted with rock and relocated to California before rediscovering his roots and started producing his own music springing directly from those roots."Revelation" opens with "Clinch River Blues", a suicide song in the fine tradition of all those old murder ballads, delivered with a pace and intensity that grips you tight, and you think to yourself that this guy means business. The guy in the song takes the notion of washing away your sins in the river to an extreme length and the religious imagery returns throughout the album, as does the self-loathing; the song "Chemicals" celebrates the healing power of whisky as it riffs on "The Lord Is My Shepherd":
"So whiskey's my shepherd/Oh and I shall not want/It maketh me lay down/ In a strange woman's bed/ It maketh me talk/ Out of both sides of my mouth/ Maketh me feel/ Like I'd be better off dead".
Whereas Dog wood Winter's songs tended to meld together with the similarity of their arrangements, here AJ's assembled some pals to colour in the background, and multitracked his vocals to give some depth to the performance. The big surprise is "Devil May Dance" which owes it's sound far more to Crosby Stills and Nash than to Appalachia, and is quite sumptious. Otherwise AJ's gift to us is to bring us elements of that mountain gospel music and the famed "high lonesome sound" without ever getting po-facedly "authentic" about it; for a tradition to live and breathe it needs writers and performers who are prepared to innovate from within the tradition.
The most impressive thing with this collection of songs is the immense care taken over the writing; he uses pretty strict rhyming schemes with his lyrics but the rhymes never seem to obstruct the flow of his story, but rather give it a rhythm that he emphasises with his singing. The words play tag with each other, too; a word will be re-used in a new context in successive phrases so that the listener's brain has got the rhythm of the rhyme as well as the rhythm of the repeated word to engage with. Clever, well-worked stuff that rewards close attention and many hearings.
"Revelation" is the closing song, and is a storming sermon on the subject of the day of judgement, when "every man is judged/ by what he's really worth". You don't have to share the creed to be impressed by the ferocity of the message, with the whole band going full tilt. Fantastic stuff, and well worth the three year wait. AJ's playing around Britain this October and November with Nels Andrews; can't wait, myself.
John Davy, October 2006
The Road Hammers - The Road Hammers (Airstrip Music Inc)
However, much of the fault for that, lies fairly and squarely on the collective shoulders of the band. What do you expect when you make an album of blistering, country rock based around the romance of the internal combustion engine? Even if it is full of high-octane guitar riffs (see it's impossible to avoid bad puns).
The Road Hammers is the brainchild of 2004 CAMA vocalist of the year Jason McCoy and he gathered round him like-minded individuals Clayton Bellamy and Chris Byrne.
What this eponymous debut does offer is salvation for all those 'new men' who indulge their late night guilty secrets by whooping and hollering to Smoky and the Bandit. You can now come out of the shadows because your house band just got into town, there's a cover of East Bound And Down from the film on here.
But The Road Hammers are much more than some 'good ol boys' having a 'good ol time' singing about girls and cars. The album's themes are immaterial because this is tub-thumping, paint-scorching, old-fashioned, full throttle Southern rock n roll.
However, if you're going to open yourself up to every known cliché and pun by writing songs with titles like Overdrive and Keep On Truckin and lines like 'I need a heart with 4-wheel drive' you'd better be good or duck. The Road Hammers carry it all of with great style, in fact the album never once comes close to parody, it's honest and its fresh. It's impossible to avoid being captivated by an album that's written from the guts and played with a smile on its face.
If you're in the market for artistic introspection and reflection you'll be sorely disappointed but, if you're looking to stamp your feet to some red-hot, hell raising rock then be glad the Road Hammers rolled into town.
Michael Mee
Roam, a Manchester-based four-piece acoustic outfit working on the fringes of the folk scene, released their début CD Count The Stars a couple of years ago, since when their line-up has undergone a major change - violist Jayne Coyle has departed, and been replaced by Ben Walker, a fine young musician who majors on whistles, flutes and uilleann pipes. While this very obviously affects the ensemble's overall tone-colouring, it manages to retain its characteristic, predominantly gentle ambience and delicacy of instrumental palette. To be fair, this feature can give an initial impression of feyness; however, this is soon won over by attentive listening, and the impact is riveting in a live context. Even if you're not familiar with Count The Stars, you're likely to find Ragged very attractive, and in many respects it corresponds closely with the former; one key element is the highly persuasive vocal work of Rachael Anne Davies, who (I can't resist the comparison here) shares with John Wright that uncanny ability to totally captivate through clear, direct performance with assured control of phrasing and enviably measured, thoughtful and considered expression. Another important element is the deft and understated guitar playing of Colin Rudd, who writes most of the group's material (songs of hope and love from a universal perspective), whereas the rippling accompaniment provided by Chris Knowles (on Celtic harp, bouzouki) features more prominently than on the earlier album, providing a finely judged counterpoint to Ben's distinctive contributions. Other parallels with the band's earlier release are the sequencing of tracks (with again an apparent initial reluctance to showcase the more uptempo material), even to the extent of placing the album's "showpiece cover" (here, a compelling rendition of Phil Ochs' No More Songs that arises naturally out of an instrumental lament) as penultimate track. (And in the tradition of Beefheart and Safe As Milk, the first album's would-be title track turns up on the second, here in the guise of a deliciously country-flavoured coda!) The pacing of the album makes it a bit of a slow-burner, for most of the variety comes in its second half, with the first half's repose offset by the defiant Toss About You and the jazzier Student Days. In general, Ragged In The Rain compares favourably with Count The Stars, especially in terms of broader and better utilisation of instrumental resources (though I do miss the autumnal wistfulness of the viola and feel that on occasions the texture is a little insistently over-bright). Mostly, the songwriting is up to the high standards already set, although there's less emphasis on the mystical (aside from a superb Arthurian-inspired sequence of songs early in the album), there are no Tolkien settings this time round, and I did find one or two of the songs on this new collection a trifle mundane or "template-conscious" by comparison. There are two purely instrumental tracks; the Carolan set fares well, while the set of reels (track 6) has a couple of "awkward corners" and sounds a tad rushed in execution, which one more take may well have cured. As before, the admirably clean and careful production is by Artisan's Brian Bedford, whose faith in Roam is clearly not misplaced.
David Kidman
There happen to be two different groups named "Roaring Forties" on the specialist maritime branch of the folk circuit. The seasoned five-piece under review here are Australian; in fact they're widely regarded as Sydney's foremost shanty group. They comprise (in alphabetical order) Don Brian, Robin Connaughton, Tom Hanson, Margaret Walters and John Warner (the latter you'll likely know as author of the beautiful song Anderson's Coast, but there are plenty more of his creations informed by as keen a sense of history).
This pseudo-Pythonically-titled CD lives up to its title indeed, for it's filled with abundant life and salty good cheer; it presents a grand selection of shanties (work songs) and forebitters (songs for the off-watch periods sung "fore of the bitts", ie. at the bow), a decent quota of which have a specific Australian focus, whether thematically or in the authorship or musical setting. So it's emphatically not a case of "same old shanties sung with an Australian accent", but a living, lustily breathing collection, well sung by five experienced and very capable singers who have a definite feel for this material and - crucially - its history and context. Their approach involves some harmonies, but these are sensibly-managed and well-blended as not to detract from the thrusting forward momentum of the music or the power of the texts set.
The Forties are an equality-conscious crew too, with each member given several good and suitable opportunities to take the shantyman's role; I particularly liked Margaret's five superbly sturdy lead contributions, and those sporting Tom's melodious bass voice. Maritime enthusiasts are likely to be familiar with a goodly handful of the titles on offer; there's rousing fare like Bully In The Alley, Johnny Come Down To Hilo, Yarmouth Town, Randy Dandy O, John Cherokee and Stormalong, for instance, all given a good airing here. These items are set alongside some now-classic modern originals (Dillon Bustin's Shawneetown, Hughie Jones' Marco Polo, and the pair of Harry Robertson compositions Balina Whalers and Heave Away To The South) and John's own account of the voyage of the Batavia. The disc is neatly punctuated by settings of poems by Cicely Fox Smith, variously by Barrie Temple (Wool Fleet Chorus), and John himself (A Channel Rhyme, Mainsail Haul); there's also CFS's stirring Lee Fore Brace, here set to the tune originally composed by fellow-Australian Gerry Hallom for Henry Lawson's poignant Outside Track. Maybe, just maybe one or two of the songs (eg the doomy Davy Lowston) lack a little gravitas in the Forties' arrangements, and one or two of the shanties don't quite "stomp and go" as they might, but nobody will be seriously disappointed by any of the highly enjoyable performances on this generously-filled disc. And the whole proceedings are brought to a thoughtful close by a robustly harmonised rendition of the Seamen's Hymn written by Bert Lloyd for a documentary on the 150th anniversary of Trafalgar.
The whole disc is sympathetically engineered – close and immediate without barking in your ear, and with a warm presence - and has an informative accompanying booklet, so it can be heartily commended both to existing enthusiasts of maritime music and to those folk music lovers seeking fresh adventures.
www.roaringfortiesfolk.com
www.margaretwalters.com
David Kidman January 2010
This compendium release collects together on just two CDs all the records made by that estimable yet largely unheralded agit-punk-folk outfit Roaring Jack. Yes, who they? you might well ask, for unless you're familiar with the Australian political folk scene of the tail-end of the 80s and/or the songs and singing of the distinctive expat Scot Alistair Hulett, who six years ago returned to his native Glasgow and has since built a solid reputation for his excellent gigs both solo and in duo with ace fiddler Dave Swarbrick. Roaring Jack was the band that Alistair fronted back in Australia; veterans of innumerable political campaigns, their gigs were legendary for the good-spirited revelry that ensued as politics and drink flowed in equal measure, and by the time the band split up in 1991 they had acquired a fearsome live reputation and produced three LPs (two full-length – The Cat Among The Pigeons and Through The Smoke Of Innocence – and one mini-album, Street Celtability) and a small clutch of singles (the non-album B-sides of which are naturally included on this new set for completeness). Roaring Jack was indeed a band to be reckoned with, and included within its ranks Steph Miller, Rod Gilchrist, Davey Williams and Rab (Bob) Mansell, also (pre-Smoke) Steve Thompson; this set marks the first appearance on CD of the group's legacy, and is dedicated to the memories of Steve and Rod. As you might expect, the musical idiom is very much akin to the Whisky Priests and Pogues, with buckets of vitality and abundant conviction, passionate commitment allied to barricade-storming vocals and a high level of instrumental expertise (blazing accordion, swirling electric guitar, driving bass and drums, with mandolin, whistle, even bombarde on occasion – a stirring sound allright). While the "oi" factor's well catered for, melody's not overlooked though, for the albums have their less frenetic moments too, which are carried off with flair. These early albums are of additional interest to Alistair Hulett devotees for containing the original versions of songs which have latterly appeared on Alistair's solo records, some indeed having been covered by other artists – the mighty Destitution Road and Swaggies to name but two. The Street Celtability tracks would appear to have been mastered direct from the original vinyl, for there are some noticeable clicks and pops, but nowhere is the sound quality unacceptable and everything sounds as great and in-yer-face as it should. Maybe you didn't have to be there after all, for these recordings are Alive! Played loud for maximum impact of course.
www.folkicons.co.uk/alisgigs.htm
www.jump-up.de
David Kidman
Englishman (of Scottish descent) Ian, who's now living in Ottawa, is one of North America's most respected revival singers of English traditional repertoire, and, when not singing with the harmony trio Finest Kind or the "concert-party" The Friends Of Fiddler's Green, he's noted for his solid, rhythmic playing of dance tunes on the English concertina (and he's also a classy - if altogether too occasional! - songwriter). Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Jiig turns out to be not so much the solo album Ian had originally intended and more of a collaboration with backing musicians James Stephens, Ian Clark and Greg T. Brown, hence that acronymic title (Ian's own initial being inserted to produce the weird-looking "double i" - so now you know!). There are also chorus contributions from fellow Finest Kind-ers Ann Downey and Shelley Posen, and appearances from a few other musicians and singers. This 61-minute collection sports a healthy mixture of songs and tunes which are for the most part traditional in origin, the exceptions being one song by Ewan MacColl and a pair of compositions by the late, great Cyril Tawney near the start of the CD. Ian's singing is firm and clear, and it's evident at once when you listen to his unaccompanied singing (eg his grandly managed version of the epic Rose In June), why Ian has such an enviable reputation as a singer and interpreter. To some small extent I find this strength is sublimated, even occasionally diluted, by the classy instrumental accompaniment on much of the album, but those whose taste inclines more towards accompanied than unaccompanied song will almost certainly find Jiig completely satisfying (for even my own limited reservations must be put into perspective as they're based more on my own predilections than on the undisputed high quality of the product). I was a tad uneasy about Ian's highly syncopated treatment of Chicken On A Raft (which, Cyril's own version aside, I've always preferred to sing, or hear sung, unaccompanied!). But the most overwhelmingly positive aspect of this CD is that Ian's interpretations allow for both expressive gentility and stentorian robustness, and I particularly enjoyed his takes on The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite (some great fiddle accompaniment from Greg on this one!) and MacColl's Sweet Thames Flow Softly, while the closing track, an elegant version of The Rose Of Allandale which flows nicely into an old-time waltz, provides the perfect end to this accomplished and listenable disc. And I find I've not mentioned the three purely instrumental tracks here, of which the most sparkling is a superbly vibrant old-timey-Cajun-swing medley comprising Angeline The Baker and Abe's Retreat. All in all, Jiig is a delightful product that puts a number of our own well-regarded home-grown albums of traditional song in the shade.
David Kidman
Terry Robb - Resting Place (Yellow Dog Records)
This is Terry Robb's debut for Yellow Dog but don't let that make you think that he is a mere novice in the music world. Robb is a seasoned campaigner, a winner of the Cascade Blues Association's Muddy Award no less than 16 times, produced albums for John Fahey, released a number of his own albums in the 1990s and played with Buddy Guy & Steve Miller. This stunning album opens with the Arthur Crudup song, made famous by Elvis, My Baby Left Me. From the opening bars of this you know that you are in for a musical treat as Robb produces some sublime guitar playing. My Mind Is Trying To Leave Me is a superb contemporary blues and I just love the title. If anything, the guitar playing is even better on this one. The instrumental Madison Avenue Shuffle is, as the title suggests, a rhythmic, metronomic blues and Robb is fast becoming one of my favourite acoustic guitarists.
There's a J.J. Cale feel to the smooth swaying blues of Louise, a Robb arrangement on a traditional song and the title track is acoustic slide guitar played by a master of the art and Charlie Wood on piano is the perfect foil. Hesitation Blues/Knowing What Blues is a country blues that drifts off into ragtime – not surprising, as his uncle was a swing musician who taught him ragtime, blues, country and jazz. Back To Memphis is a Chuck Berry song and this version is quite different to Chuck's. Terry's backing band of Stax veteran Willie Hall (drums), the aforementioned Charlie Wood and Paul Taylor (bass) provide the building blocks for his excellent slide guitar.
Like Merle is a country blues played to the now customary brilliance and leads into the laid back blues of Cassie, both are self-penned and are fine examples of Terry Robb's songwriting skills. Another of the classy covers is Doc Pomus' Lonely Avenue, which was made famous by Ray Charles. Robb plays this in a shuffling style and gives us a staccato solo that confirms his status in my top 10 guitar players. Joe Kirby Blues is a John Fahey slow blues, played exquisitively. Fare Thee Well Blues is a country blues that will stand up to all the old classics and we are treated to a Booker T & The MGs track to finish with. My Sweet Potato has funky bass from Paul Taylor and gives a final chance for Robb to show his virtuosity on acoustic guitar. I am in awe!
This is a stunning debut for Yellow Dog who are fast becoming the label to sign for.
www.yellowdogrecords.com
www.terryrobb.com
David Blue
After the mildly lighter interlude of 2007's The Amber Gatherers, the brilliant Glasgow bard returns (at least to some extent) to darker introspection and doomier climes with Spoils, a fresh collection of self-penned songs that are very clearly informed by the tradition, its modes, schemes and structures, recognisable but distorted and twisted; they turn out strikingly individual in their linguistic and musical expression – remaining significantly original and highly uncompromising (thus maybe not to everyone's taste – there's the obligatory health warning over…!).
Alasdair's a true individual who really does sound like nobody else, his distinctive Scots accent being but one facilitator for the acute and persuasive expression of his vision: sometimes dour, oft-times laced with a generous, if dry humour. In the past, I've commented on the peculiar kinship between Alasdair's music and that of the ISB and Dr. Strangely Strange, whereby a quirky charm and capricious delivery often belies the deeply serious intent and powerful (if often elliptical) content. For it often seems that Alasdair's got a handle on opening doors of perception that for others (even born storytellers) tend to remain firmly closed or barricaded, for his cryptic narratives are couched in unusual, imaginative and playful language and lean, tautly strung melodies that allow for no aural wastage or overdue elaboration.
The set of eight admirably disturbing new songs that comprise Spoils is no exception, and the disc gets off to a strong start with the allegorical epistle of The Flyting Of Grief And Joy (Eternal Return), a compelling and gently electro-folk piece with all the approved elements intact but bringing just that extra dimension of challenge for the listener. You Muses Assist displaces the central exhortation with some decidedly grungy touches in its cascading instrumentation. If you didn't know otherwise, you'd swear So Bored Was I (Dark Triad) was traditional (so keen is Alasdair's grasp of the idiom) – that is, until you hear the line "I was bilious, I was saturnine"…! The scary imagery of Hazel Grove could I guess be likened to Henry The Human Fly trapped in a particularly awesome aspic, while the intense and arcane rhythmic incantations of The Book Of Doves provide another instance of Alasdair's gift for absorbing and emulating the intrinsic darkness and potent atmosphere of ancient tradition in a setting and context that prove both innovatively contemporary and timeless. A further key factor that greatly assists Alasdair in realising his vision and message is the alert and supremely edgy musical backdrops that come courtesy of his mates Tom Crossley and Gareth Eggle (formerly of Appendix Out), adventurous freeform percussionist Alex Nielson and expert baroque guitarist Gordon Ferries (not to omit mention of the contributions of Emily MacLaren, Niko-Matti Ahti, David McGuinness and Alison McGillivray). Antique and curious textures are shamelessly deployed alongside bursts of febrile or glistening electric guitar and scatterings of skittering, hyperactive percussion, cocooning Alasdair's involving, tenderly enchanting vocal lines.
In the end, the hunter after spoils of musical treasure emphatically does not come home empty-handed… for to describe these latest Spoils as the product of genius is not in my opinion a shred of understatement.
David Kidman June 2009
This new album from Alasdair is at once unmistakably Alasdair and somewhat of a change. Given that Alasdair's been labelled as a bit of a gloom merchant in the past, the distinctly bright ambience of much of this new album (there's even some comparatively uptempo tracks!), may come as a refreshing surprise. It's like the other side of the coin, the antidote to the tragic balladry of his previous album No Earthly Man (excellently atmospheric though that disc was), where now Alasdair's seemingly cocking a snook and playing tag with death rather than accepting (or celebrating) its all-pervasive omnipotence. But equally, The Amber Gatherers is still a fine set of songs that won't disappoint Alasdair's existing fanbase and - especially following his success as support artist on Joanna Newsom's recent mini-tour - should definitely win him some new admirers. All of the eleven songs here are Alasdair's own compositions, but some are very close to their traditional models indeed, not least in aspects like their structure and rhyme-scheme; The Old Man Of The Shells uses the time-honoured "as I roved out" device (and melodically at least is a bit reminiscent of The Verdant Braes Of Skreen), Riddle Me This conjures up associations from countless riddle-songs, and The Calfless Cow echoes (and twists) traditional night-visiting and parting songs. And I just love Alasdair's voice, his delivery, his quiet laid-back passion, his sensitivity in expression. On The Amber Gatherers he's backed by a superbly deft, tight band (uniting his ex-Appendix Out colleagues Gareth Eggie and Tom Crossley together with Teenage Fanclub's Gerard Love), and the result is absolutely charming, with all the playful capriciousness of vintage Dr Strangely Strange. This impression is accentuated by the often bouncy use of percussion elements that gild many of the tracks. Nursery-rhyme-type fun is evoked by I Had A Kiss Of The King's Hand and the infectious handclapping rhythms of Firewater. River Rhine is a gentle, simple love song, whereas Let Me Lie And Bleed Awhile, contrary to what the title might lead you to expect, is a believable triumph-over-adversity piece. I Have A Charm (which, believe it or not, employs a twelve-bar blues format) includes some passages of raggedy ISB-style vocal cacophony. The Amber Gatherers may not plumb the sepulchral depths of Alasdair's previous solo albums, No Earthly Man in particular, but it's still a very satisfying and appealing set that has significant levels of depth and thought in its memorable original compositions.
David Kidman February 2007
This LP was not readily available in its original vinyl incarnation (on Elektra), in fact I was one of the many who missed out completely on it at the time, so this current CD reissue affords me too a welcome chance to reappraise guitarist Andy's big-country-rock-band excursion from mid-1973 - and it's a good 'un alright, one which Andy himself is, justifiably, "still immensely proud of". It was Andy's intention with this album to "get away form the acoustic guitar-picking-hero stuff of the previous albums, and to just be the guitarist in the band". And what a band - Zoot Money (piano, organ), B.J. Cole (pedal steel, dobro), Pat Donaldson (bass), Gerry Conway (drums) and Mick Kaminski (electric violin), with guest cameos from Ollie Halsall, Sonny Francis and Ray Wehrstein. The nine tracks refreshingly run the gamut from classic country-rock (with not a trace of blandness) to folk-rock and pop-rock, with some Jamaican reggae influences thrown into the pot along the way. Their lyrics (all Andy's own) form a kind of diary, charting Andy's recent musical career (leaving Plainsong, touring with Grimms) and life (getting into Jamaican reggae, falling in love and seeing friends being destroyed by drugs). Grand songs they make too, and offset by some splendid musicianship: especially satisfying are the folky love song Home In The Sun, the violent bluesy Kid Jealousy and the ecological commentary Lord Of The Groves, but in truth every track's a winner, and Zoot and the rhythm section excel themselves in particular. And even better, not only does this expanded reissue present the original album in all its pristine glory, but we also get five bonus tracks in the shape of "curios from my personal collection" (Andy's words), all recorded around the same time or close thereby: these include Home At Last (with Neil Innes), a respectable cover of Hank Williams' Lost Highway, a ganja-soaked demo Living In The Hills Of Zion and a tasty reggae version of Sam Cooke's Having A Party. Classy stuff that really complements the band LP - as do the extensive sleeve-notes (amazingly detailed reminiscences from Andy himself) and excellent booklet and package (a typical Fledg'ling design triumph).
David Kidman January 2008
Andy Roberts - Just For The Record (Castle)
The time has been ripe for a long while now, for this enigmatic, extraordinarily talented yet underrated musician to receive due recognition. He's enjoyed a certain measure of critical acclaim at times during his long innings to date, but his own solo career has always been unfairly overshadowed by his work as session player or sideman with other artists (these have ranged from Neil Innes, Iain Matthews, Plainsong, Richard Thompson, the Liverpool Scene and Scaffold to Pink Floyd, Roy Harper, Hank Wangford and even Spitting Image!). Andy's always brushed shoulders or more with the richer and famouser though! This brand-new compilation charts the early part of Andy's solo career, spanning the years from 1969 to 1976 and largely drawing on his first four solo albums (Home Grown, Everyone, Nina & The Dream Tree and Urban Cowboy).
Hearing the 33 tracks assembled on these two packed CDs, some for the first time in over 25 years, I was quickly persuaded of the desirability of reissuing these albums in their entirety as soon as practicable! The music really is that good! Any compilation such as this has to steer a course through a minefield of licensing difficulties, not to mention sourcing the various alternate versions of the albums (Home Grown, for instance, the most interesting of these, has been issued in no less than three variants - one on RCA and two on B&C!), a confusing process at the best of times. And of course there's the serendipity element in presenting a handful of previously unissued demos, as here with the first of these, The Raven, a caustic and surreal little song which had originally surfaced on the Liverpool Scene's avowedly patchwork Bread On The Night LP. So, to round off the portrait of those early solo years, this compilation also includes a track from 1973's Andy Roberts & The Great Stampede album (for which a full CD release is planned), a previously unreleased reggae-influenced cut Living In The Hills Of Zion, and a beauteous 1976 Grimms track. The important thing is that Andy's eclectic artistry is represented at its best on virtually every track here, from lithe folk-style picking to modal improvisation to solid country-influenced axe-work. With excellent liner notes from Colin Harper too, hopefully healthy sales for this overdue anthology will act as the catalyst for speedy completer reissue of more of the albums in which Andy had a direct involvement (and to which, we learn, the rights have now reverted to Andy himself).
David Kidman
Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman - 1 (I Scream)
Although, despite three fine albums, Equation have never managed to convince the homegrown audience, the Americans have gone overboard for their brand of folk-rock trad and contemporary with enthusiastic comparisons to The Cranberries, Fairport, 10,000 Maniacs, and Indigo Girls. However, as irony would have it, following former band members Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman on the duo path, Roberts and Lakeman's decision to return to the wellspring of their trad folk roots and the intimate club circuit Roberts first trod with Kate Rusby, has sparked a surge of interest among folkie circles.
Understandably so in the light of their acoustic album which expands on the band's unplugged The Dark Ages EP collection of five trad tunes (two of which feature here) and includes their uncluttered versions of Granite Mill, Once I Had A Sweetheart, The Lamb On The Green Hills, the evergreen Drowned Lovers where Roberts sings unaccompanied harmony with herself, a jazzed up Lovely Nancy and, for fans of roving out songs, The Maid With The Bonny Brown Hair. Pushed to nominate one to shout for though I'd go with child death song Georgia Lee where Lakeman's melancholic guitar and Robert's regret stained innocence and experience voice come together to achingly wonderful effect.
Mike Davies
Naturally enough, 2 is the follow-up to 1, the duo's first CD, and (in contrast to that offering's lightness of touch and eagerness to please) it's an altogether more considered affair, with a mature seriousness of purpose that captivates right from the outset, the dark clarinet and brushed percussion tones of the opening track Rosie Ann. (Not to be confused, by the way, with the closing track Rosie Anderson - neat or wot?!) The musical contrasts on this new album are more believable, with less of an obvious desire to show off what the duo are capable of. Kathryn has improved much as a singer over the intervening years too - not that she was ever immature, but her control of light and shade is even better now and her mastery of expressive tone is more complete. The non-traditional songs on 2 (three out of the album's ten tracks) demonstrate this well - Lifetime Of Tears (written by Tony Recupido and Dennis Witcher) is given its full weight without becoming ponderous, while Kath's interpretation of Lowell George's 20 Million Things (recorded live at Bodmin Folk Club last February) is shot through with authority and understanding, as is her account of Geoffrey Lakeman's Rule And Bant (a fine modern mining song, much in the vein of Steve Knightley's Cousin Jack perhaps). The remaining, traditional cuts prove that Kath and Sean have a winning way with, and a genuinely-felt response to, the songs (and a feel for unearthing, and doing justice to, some unusual material), and so what if there's the occasional nod to the approach of the celebrated Rusby Band (particularly on Sir Arthur)! Kath and Sean's instrumental prowess can be taken for granted almost, but they've sensibly recruited Ian Goodall (drums), bassists Ben Nichols and Darren Edwards, and Sean's brother Seth (violin) to selectively fill out the basic duo sound on several tracks. This is an impressive second album, packing a lot of interest into its 38 minutes for the satisfaction of the listener.
David Kidman
Young Scottish harpist Ailie's pedigree is already impressive: five times National Mod Gold Medallist, erstwhile member of the Scottish Harp Orchestra, Na Clarasairean, and currently member of international six-piece band The Outside Track (who have been delighting UK festival audiences over the past year, and whose CD I reviewed in Stirrings 133). Inevitably, Ailie's debut solo CD is a more intimate affair, with an at times quite laid-back atmosphere that's both soothing and invigorating. Ailie's instrument is the clarsach (the small harp whose recent resurgence has been led by the likes of Corrina Hewat and Patsy Seddon), and its unique and definitive sound-world is captured here in a demonstration-class recording that manages to convey all the relevant nuances and timbres in due perspective without sounding at all clinical or sterile. Each of the eleven tracks brings its own special delights, starting with the almost jazzy insouciance of the opening set of jigs, where the rippling joy of the harp line offsets James Ross's classy piano embellishments and the crisp, busy percussion backing (Paul Jennings on cajon). The playing is sprightly, yet with an enviably relaxed precision of attack that holds the listener's attention throughout - and this quality applies equally to the slower-paced items on the disc, notably the gorgeous slow air Spirits (co-written by Angus Lyon and his father), which forms its centrepiece. The Irish and Scottish hornpipes that are wedded together on the gently swinging Marry Me Now set are a model of delicate playing, with Ailie's deft syncopations and skilfully bent "blue notes" enticingly complemented by guitar (Ewan Robertson) and bass (Duncan Lyall); these same two musicians bring an exhilarating sense of drive to the tricky time-signatures of Ailie's own tune Good Spirits in the ensuing set. Ailie's slower-than-customary treatment of The Favourite Dram brings out its inherent beauty in a way I've not heard on any other recording of the tune, while her own composition Sands Of Hosta (written after a long beach walk on North Uist) is both genuinely tranquil and introspectively evocative. And you can hear Ailie taking the harp technique into hitherto-uncharted areas of innovation and expertise on tracks such as the infectious Angus Jigs set: the closer you listen, the more detail there is to revel in. First Things First is a thoroughly charming disc, replete with both a consummate finger-dancing intelligence and an irrepressible joie-de-vivre.
www.myspace.com/ailierobertson
David Kidman August 2008
Sherman Robertson & Blues Move - Guitar Man (Live) (Movinmusic Records)
Sherman Robertson has spent the last three years with his European tour band, Blues Move honing his new songs and re-establishing himself as a potent force in the world of blues. This album, recorded live at the Kwadendamme Blues Festival reminds us of the talent that was first spotted by Clifton Chenier and that contributed to Paul Simon's massive Graceland album. They open with Out Of Sight Out Of Mind and Sherman's smokey vocal immediately grabs you. It's a funky R&B start and Julian Grudgings organ work compliments Sherman's vocal perfectly. Long Way From Home is literally electric. Robertson's stinging guitar on the introduction, and in the main solo, is outstanding. They play this at breakneck speed and there's so much energy about the music with Mike Hellier on drums pounding like a steam train. There's plenty of audience participation, especially on the shake, rattle and roll chorus.
The title track is the second, and final, self-penned song (Long Way From Home being the other) and this has a strong riff running through it. Dust My Broom Sherman style follows in the form of Dust My Broom (Voodoo Dust). Attributed to Robert Johnson, this is nothing like the original. There's a stunning guitar solo introduction that leads into ten minutes of scorching electric blues that matches anything currently on offer. Home Of The Blues is a funky offering and allows Sherman to show off all his facets. The highlight of the album (a very difficult choice) is Linda Lou which is an explosive Texas blues played by a master of his craft. He is in the same class as Buddy Guy and Albert Collins and he unleashes a guitar solo to die for. Technically brilliant, he plays from the heart and that's a winning combination in anyone's book.
He does play some slow ones every now and then and Make It Rain is one of those. Having said that, he still can't help himself and turns on the full power before finishing on another slow one, Tin Pan Alley. This is eleven and a half minutes of sheer joy. He manages to summon up the energy and power of two guitarists and retains the quality of his vocal throughout.
Sherman Robertson is one of a number of current blues guitarists that can quite rightly be classed as premier division.
www.movinmusic-records.co.ukDavid Blue
Swaggery Southern country soul burns out of the speakers on the sassy View From Above, the opening track of Robin's fifth album. A former touring member of both Lindsey Buckingham and Meredith Brook's bands, the deserves to be known as more than some side(wo)man and, produced by John Carter Cash (son of JC and JC), this might be the one that opens her up to a wider audience.
Blending acoustic and gutsy rock n roll on songs that deal with the heat of passion and pride, as numbers such as Bow & Arrow, the choppy Clean Getaway and Rumor illustrate, the blues provide the underpinning spirit. But, to show the range of her musicianship, PJ Harvey's This Is Love becomes Skynyrd-like hard rock while the (naturally) Eastern European flavoured Everybody Falls In Love In Prague provides a showcase for her prowess on classical acoustic guitar.
As the solo instrumental CHR Number 137 confirms, she's probably a better guitarist than she is a vocalist, but she delivers the sass and the sensitivity with equally persuasive conviction and her slinky and sensually soulful cover of vintage Orbison hit Dream Baby is positively goosebump inducing.
www.janetrobin.com
www.myspace.com/janetrobinmusic
Mike Davies February 2010
Indeed, Robinson doesn't seem to have huge desires for global dominance. On the opening Forget About It All he says he just wants 'to be free like a Romany gypsy' and how he doesn't 'want to work just to buy a bigger telly' while the big strum That's All I Really Want sees his ambitions extend no further than 'a place by the sea with a record player and an old beaten up guitar, with a pub down the road just to stumble back home.'
It's that busker soul, you see, a distillation of such influences as John Martyn, Nick Drake, Tom Waits and, one suspects, Donovan, although the press release would like to point out that 60s Motown, Bulgarian gypsy music and the harmonies of the Mamas and Papas play a significant part in the fabric.
Although Robinson plays clarinet, sax, glockenspiel, banjo and accordion on the album, it's mostly about his plaintive, husked folk-bluesy voice and his acoustic guitar as he strums an introspective path through such songs as Always Talk To Strangers (don't try that at home kids), Dance, the ragtime tinged Stuck in Town, the gospel flecked Sunshine When it Rains (where you'll certainly hear hints of The Temptations) and Little Ms Darling.
He gets a bit stroppy on the state of the nation title track (ah there's those Waits and Bulgarian influences) where he moans about how the country's in the pocket of America's mother, the kids are all pregnant and drunk and Johnny Rotten's a 'sold out punk', but otherwise it's all either bucolic melancholy or (as on First Time) about being so happy because your new lover's making 'the best eggs in the world'.
Worldwide demand probably won't be huge, but he'll certainly have no problem with a warm welcome down that seaside local pub.
www.therobinsonmusic.com
www.myspace.com/andyrobinsons
Mike Davies April 2010
Released late last year (thus in plenty of time for this spring's UK tour!), this thoroughly unpretentious disc continues Dana & Susan's run of lovely releases (it's their third as a duo). Its loose theme is the enduring beauty and prolific life force that exists all around us, and musically speaking it's the customary highly convivial mix of old-time, traditional and self-penned material, with some tunes thrown in too for good measure.
The disc is framed by a couple of delicate acoustic-pop-style creations. Big Mystery is described as "a love song to Vermont during the month of May", fresh and understated, while Dog's Life is an entirely affectionate first-person account with a gentle, kinda-catchy Buddy-Holly feel. Zephyr Wind brushes in on the breeze with deeper reflections triggered by a hike, while Dana's deceptively sophisticated observational skills come into their own on the Guthrie-esque Cairo (which both evokes and explores a once-grand confluence that's now but a fading American infrastructure) and Delta Queen (which lovingly remembers the vintage Mississippi steamboats). Gone But Not Forgotten, a standout track, is a supremely idiomatic rendition of Lui Collins' authentically ancient-sounding ballad, while in an entirely different vein there's Susan's charming interpretation of Bill Steele's touching take on the Cinderella story (Griselda's Waltz). The disc's three instrumental items speak volumes for Dana & Susan's accomplishment as musicians, always elegant yet with enough fire to bring alive the soft and carefully considered textures and shadings; Waiting For Gordon, composed by Dana on the Isle Of Mull, really does evoke the mysterious and slightly exotic beauty of that location and the unhurried pulse of its life.
Throughout the disc, I'm stunned, albeit ever so nicely, by the impact of Dana and Susan's uniformly stylish playing and singing, their deft eloquence and unfailing rightness of judgement, where and how the ideal balance should lie and exactly the right colours to employ. Their own quietly confident skills on guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolins and harmonica are suitably enhanced by Chris Rosser (piano and dotar), Eliot Wadofian (acoustic bass) and River Guerguerian (percussion).
As an entity, Big Mystery certainly charms the listener indelibly on first acquaintance, but (exactly as with Dana's earlier work) its clean, simple values and general air of easygoing whimsy may initially conspire to undersell the product to the less persistent soul. To me, there's no big mystery about its appeal, and after you've experienced the couple on tour (starting early March) you're bound to agree.
David Kidman February 2010
Tom Robinson Band - Power In The Darkness/ Tom Robinson Two TWO (EMI)
A timely re-release for this pair of classic albums from the heady days of the late 70s when punk-rock gave more than a kick up the backside to the fast-stagnating music scene in the UK. Of all the politically-oriented bands of the era (the Clash, SLF et al), none was arguably more political than the TRB; Tom's lyrics "burned with apocalyptic visions of coming revolution and they seethed with real anger and resentment over injustices of all sorts" (says the booklet note - wow!). But the hard-hitting lyrics were, unlike those of the other bands mentioned in parentheses above, clothed in a relatively accessible (though still hard-driven) musical idiom that owed more to pop-rock than punk-thrash. This approach for many listeners diluted the impact, and some (myself included) had tended to quite unfairly write Tom's work off at the expense of that of the thrash merchants. Getting the chance to hear these albums - and a hefty clutch of related singles not on those original LPs - from the perspective of nearly 30 years in the future we never thought we had, well it's a revelation. Not only is the music considerably harder-edged than I remember it (tracks like The Winter Of '79 and Power In The Darkness aren't the only ones to include some blindingly good guitar work alongside the powerful lyrics), but the guys can really play their instruments (that's not the back-haned compliment it might seem!) and there's a musical intelligence at work in their strong accompaniments. The overtly rousing, air-punching pop anthem 2-4-6-8 Motorway was, let's be honest, slight and decidedly non-political, and (along with what I felt was a so-so cover of I Shall be Released) certainly gave me a false impression of TRB's worth. It's also all too easy to tag TRB as a mere posturing act on the basis of Glad To Be Gay (also included here as a bonus track, along with the rest of the original EP release), but the points were well made. The band's second album built on the songwriting strengths of the first, although it never quite recaptured the angry thrust and parry of much of the first. Its reissue comes with the contents of two extra singles and five previously unreleased tracks, including a demo, and the enhanced CD also contains a pdf file of press clippings. The booklet notes for both reissues are good too, with evocative essays setting both the music and the politics in sensible balance and context.
David Kidman
One of the country's finest all-female vocal groups has come up trumps again with this exceptional new collection, their third, which like its predecessors persuasively presents the listener with an enterprising choice of material from traditional sources. Unlike the previous two albums, however, it feels like an exclusively traditional collection – there are no contemporary compositions aside from the very-much-traditional-sounding Guist Ploughman by Mike Barber (Damien's dad) and two components within the Mining Trilogy (Johnny Handle's Guard Yer Man Weel and Billy Ed Wheeler's Red Winged Blackbird).
The disc begins most stylishly, with a standout version of the Child-related riddle song Cambric Shirt learned from the singing of Lori Fassman of Boston, Mass., and ends with Down The Lane, a variant from the Maiden's Complaint/Holmfirth Anthem song-family which may well be familiar to Axford Five aficionados. In between these bookends, the trio make equally good capital of My Bonny Moorhen and Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem (a standard Christmas item in the bluegrass repertoire, we learn), then they capably engage less well-known melodies for The Bitter Withy and The Drowned Lovers before tackling another Copper Family Songbook classic Claudy Banks, with typical aplomb and assurance of line. With each successive track, the listener can revel in the appealing and varied harmonisation the three ladies achieve (they make it all seem so easy!), and share at close quarters the ladies' evident delight in singing - what marvellous voices!
The disc's run of continuous acappella is broken by three "solo" tracks, although these turn out to be instrumentally accompanied: Carolyn's idiomatic rendition of The Sandgate Lass On The Ropery Banks utilises a chordal parlour-piano accompaniment (Andy Johnson), Sarah's personal take on Lord Bateman employs Jeff Gillett on guitar, and, best of all, a wonderfully lyrical cello part (Rachael Drayson) enhances Moira's compellingly phrased rendition of It Was All For Our Rightful King (credited to Burns).
Ably conveying the ladies' real joy in music-making and harmonising too, this is a most pleasing and satisfying disc that successfully demonstrates how to freshen well-travelled repertoire through judicious research and thoughtfully-managed vocal arrangement.
David Kidman November 2009
David Kidman
Eric Roche - Spin (Inner Ear Music)
Eric Roche knows his way round the acoustic guitar like few others. He uses every inch to generate instrumental music of astonishing virtuosity, power and tenderness. This is the young Lowden demonstrator, Guitar Techniques columnist and masterclass teacher, Roche's second album and follows his excellent debut, The Perc U lator. Spin brings us eleven tracks of musical poetry in a variety of styles and influences, sometimes combining flute, tablas, kaval, accordion, bass, drums, saz, darabuka and a whole host of other instruments, whilst never detracting from the sheer brilliance and effortless dominance of his playing.
Right away Roche the technician makes you aware of the guitar's potential but, beyond the immediate impact of speed and fireworks, there is spellbinding beauty and 'lyrical' depth. Roche has a Celtic poet's soul and his compositions communicate warmth, memories and passion without the need for words. The jaunty 'Porcupine', the spine-tinglingly driven beauty of 'Spin', the romantic 'Eight Years', 'Never Give Up' (when for once Roche uses his own voice), the hypnotic 'Spin (the Mandala Mix)' and a live version of 'Roundabout' and more, allow Roche to explore and entertain. And listen to his arrangements of 'While my Guitar Gently Weeps' and '(smells like) Teen Spirit' - you'll experience how superb an interpreter he is of other songwriters' work.
Eric Roche can take you any place you want to be and, after seeing and hearing him play, you'll never feel the same way again about the acoustic guitar. I recommend you do both as soon as possible.
Sue Cavendish
Helen Roche - Shake The Blossom Early (HR Records)
Helen comes from a Liverpool-Irish background; her formative musical years embraced eclectic tastes (including interest in Eastern European singing traditions) and spells as singer-songwriter and rock bassist, but has more recently returned to her roots, spending the past three years gaining an increasing reputation on the London Irish music scene. Shake The Blossom Early may well be her debut release, but you wouldn't think it from its level of accomplishment and sheer good taste. It's a collection of love songs from the Irish tradition, many from the north of the country, performed with minimal – yet undeniably effective – accompaniment that allows for a sensible degree of concentration on Helen's considered interpretations of the texts. The opening Green Grows The Laurel is probably the exception, in that it utilises (juxtaposes) a mazurka in counterpoint to the verses of the song itself; elsewhere, the sparse instrumentation provides just the right amount of complementary aural interest or embellishment where necessary, whether just bodhrán (The Dark-eyed Gypsy) or deft guitar and cello (As I Roved Out) or harp and uilleann pipes (The Irish Maid). Her supporting musicians (Colman Connolly, Harriet Earis, Conán McDonnell, Michael Lempelius, Richard Bolton, and the CD's producer Andy Metcalfe) do a grand job, admirably restrained yet abundantly sympathetic. Within the context of the simplicity of the arrangements, there are some unusual ideas too, like the use of piano accordion as a drone on The Lisburn Lass. Though there's an attractive lilt to Helen's singing, she never sounds twee or "pretty", for the timbre she achieves is satisfyingly full-bodied. It may seem a contradiction in terms to say so, but Helen's mastery of unobtrusive decoration within a fairly direct vocal delivery is a notable feature of her singing style – of the three unaccompanied tracks here, her rendition of Lovely Annie (learnt from the singing of Paddy Tunney) perhaps provides best evidence of this. Helen's a singer with genuine responsiveness to the texts; hers is an enchanting presence, and your 50 minutes will be well spent in her company. This is a very lovely album, one of whose selling-points could well be its quality as an antidote for those who prefer to avoid the prettified tones of the "Mike Harding babes"…
www.helenroche.net
www.copperplatedistribution.com
David Kidman
This rather special album marks the first release by Suzzy and Maggie as a duo. It arises out of their stint, during 2000, as but two of the Artists-in-Residence on a project at Harvard University's Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. This project entailed asking course participants to share a prayer with them which they could then set to music; they received an extraordinary variety of texts, including some which were meditations rather than actual prayers, and others which were writings that had given spiritual comfort, and this variety is reflected in the musical settings adopted. As is the project's refreshing lack of religious dogma or bias reflected in the album's very title (although, intriguingly, we learn that the address where the Institute's meetings took place was 0, Church Street, Cambridge, Mass. …)
Musically, the settings range from straight gospel through to the distinctly contemporary, all unified in purpose and each one totally convincing. The sisters' ability to straddle and move through the cracks between musical genres is a distinct asset for such a project, and so the occasional juxtaposition of different idioms within individual settings proves extremely effective - listen to Hallelujah, which moves naturally from modal-churchy to country-folk, for instance. Simplicity and sincerity are the dominant traits here though, and tracks like A Prayer (words by Vietnam veteran Bill Barbeau with a basic piano backing) are especially moving. It's significant too that the album's release date (planned for 11 September 2001) was delayed in order to include Suzzy's own touchingly simple tribute to the heroes of that momentous and tragic day (New York City).
The album also features guest performances by other singers and musicians who attended the Institute, including Ysaye Barnwell (of Sweet Honey In The Rock, on Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray), the superb DuPree (who leads on the vibrant Teach Me O Lord) and Ruben Martinez. Even so, Suzzy and Maggie singing acapella on Together With You and the brief Shaker hymn This Gospel How Precious, then with Joel Bard on the orthodox Jewish chant Aveenu Malcainu provide but three of the album's highlights. The production, by Suzzy herself with Stewart Lerman, is first-rate and unobtrusive. As befits an honest and life-affirming release that defies categories and preconceptions in the healthiest possible way, and conveys directly to the listener (in Suzzy's own words) "something real about compassion, kindness and tolerance".
David Kidman
"I am an excellent steel horse", warbles Chris Eaton like some whisky soaked rural church preacher on the title lines of the wonderfully drunken lurching opening track before a Salvation Army Band's funeral march horns stride in. It's just one of several tracks on the Toronto septet's quasi concept album about an apocalyptic future where humans and angels duke it out and robotic horses have an existential crisis. No, hang on.
Drawn from Eaton's post modernist short stories about a race of six legged robot horses that teach humanity about truth and love after being betrayed by the humans; and yes, the rest of the band were as bemused as you are.
You don't have to particularly buy into the allegorical lyrics though, because the whole organic, dust coated feel of the album is intoxication in itself. The music's been described as a meeting between Neutral Milk Hotel and the Band, the combination of guitars, banjo, violin, drums, bass and brass evoking Southern travelling carnivals and medicine shows.
It seems a pretty fair description, Eaton's scratched emotive voice trammelling through the anthemic likes of the hymnal When We Go, How We Go, the inspirational waltzing Our Hearts Will Not Rust, the devil's blues stomping How Shall I To Heaven Aspire? and My Children Be Joyful which sounds like a backwoods version of The Polyphonic Spree.
And then there's the quite marvellous folk-blues mazurka spiritual Anthem For The Already Defeated which boasts the great line "we'll shake our rumps with bloody stumps and we cannot be defeated.", suggesting Eaton might also be a Monty Python & The Holy Grail fan. We've Got A Lot To Be Glad For they carouse on the final track. And so does anyone who stumbles upon this utterly barking but quite, quite wonderful collection. Saddle up and ride.
www.rockcentralplaza.com
www.myspace.com/rockcentralplaza
Mike Davies July 2007
Pete Fyfe
Rock Salt & Nails - Midnight Rain (Park)
The first thing that's noticeable on this, Rock Salt & Nails' sixth album (and first for Park Records), is a maturity in the songwriting and selection of covers. Gone is the freneticism of earlier RS&N albums, to be replaced by a willingness to let the songs unfold at their own pace, guiding the listener along, rather than pushing impatiently from behind.
That's not to say, however, that the Shetlands band has forgotten how to kick up the sawdust when called upon to do so. The ability to provide the soundtrack to a right old knees-up is most evident on the album's two sets of tunes - Linda's set and The patterned carpet set - both of which heavily feature some fine fiddle-playing. Hardly surprising, really, as three of the seven musicians present tuck their instruments under their chins.
But it's the songs - and their execution - that stand out on this 11-track collection. Sweetness starts things off confidently, featuring the voice and guitar of Paul Johnston, who, with wife Fiona (keyboards and vocals) and Emma (fiddle and vocals) is one of three Johnstons in the RS&N line-up. In my head, written by Paul J, follows the opener with a piano and guitar intro and the two Johnston women joining him for pleasing harmonies on the chorus and, as across most of the album, it's the three-fiddle attack of Emma J, Paul Anderson and Linda Irvine that gives the song an added impetus. They play with fire and enthusiasm, obviously relishing the chance to tackle the new material.
Influences can be heard on several tracks; the traditional There is a happy land, set to a bright and lively arrangement of the tune The cuil adahone, brings The Proclaimers to mind. Classic Al Stewart can be heard lurking among the lyrics of Johnston's She's just a girl; and some wonderful swing-style fiddle is reminiscent of Fairport Convention's Ric Sanders on Got to go, which benefits from some nifty snare-tickling from drummer David Jamieson, who, with bassist and founder member John Clark, forms a solid, dependable rhythm section. The jazzy feel is echoed on You wouldn't do that to me, a blindly optimistic song of a man who can't accept the glaringly obvious fact of his woman's infidelity.
Midnight Rain is a fine album full of an eclectic blend of folk, rock, pop and subtle jazz nuances that is enriched by that very diversity and enlivened by first-rate musicianship throughout.
Fred Hall
Rock Salt & Nails - Midnight Rain (Park)
Five albums in, the Shetland acoustic folk rockers have established a solid reputation and following on the circuit but still haven't found the route to the sort of crossover and profile enjoyed by, say Oysterband. The situation's not likely to change with new album Midnight Rain, though that's no observation on the music it contains. With just two instrumentals showcasing their penchant for fiddle or banjo driven reels (unfortunately lacking the fire they can whip up live), this is very much song and vocal driven, Paul Johnston's sweet warm vocal put to the service of numbers that use the band's folk roots as a base from which to explore pop and jazz moods.
Opening track Sweetness is a typically catchy simple love song which, like the dreamy Blyde wouldn't sound amiss in the company of Deacon Blue or Neil Finn while Got To Go leans into folk swing, the dark lyric singalong There Is A Happy Land sways to shanty town calypso and barn dance melodies, You Wouldn't Do That To Me sits in on a brushed hot club jazz lounge shuffle and Even The Rain paints its bluesy folk tones with the tang of salty sea air and mountain mists. The stand out though is the muscular swirling Dark Outside which with its stormy raging fiddles, urgent guitars and clattering drums conjures thoughts of Men They Couldn't Hang, the sort of rousing stomper like to lift the roof live and leave everyone thoroughly exhausted.
www.rock-salt-nails.com
www.parkrecords.com
Mike Davies
(The Best of) Lee Rocker - Burnin' Love (Hypertension)
Burnin' Love is one high-octane roadster of an album from the double-bass rockabilly master Lee Rocker. The pedal's to the floor and there's no speed limit for nearly 70 minutes with tracks taken from Rocker and band's Atomic Boogie Hour, Big Blue, No Cats, Blue Suede Nights, unreleased studio and live tracks - and a nice plus, a Multimedia bonus of Blue Suede Night (clip) and Bulletproof and Evil (live). The album's 23 rocking tracks include old favourites Burnin' Love, Viva Las Vegas, That's Allright, Blue Moon Of Kentucky and Rag Mama Rag as well as songs by Rocker himself.
It's hard to believe that the already legendary ex-Stray Cat Rocker was only 17 years old when the group formed in 1979 and rode the road of rockabilly revivalism to a massive 7 millions album sales. But rock 'n' roll don't fade away. Rocker exuberantly pursues his own career; slapping and surfing his double bass and recording albums which will doubtless become the classics of tomorrow.
So, file him with your best party music; Elvis during his Sun days, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. Grease your hair, ease into that drape jacket and those leopard skin brothel creepers - and liberate your inner Lee Rocker.
Sue Cavendish
To see a young Lee Rocker playing with the best, get hold of Carl Perkins and Friends - Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session (Snapper Music DVD). Recorded in London's Limehouse Studios in 1985, it's a live session with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo, Dave Edmunds, Rosanne Cash and others playing backing group to the god-father of rock 'n' roll - and having the time of their lives! 5 stars!
This is Carl Perkins territory and a homage to him. It's 'live' rockabilly, redolent of smoky pub back rooms, hot jive clubs and memories by the score to carbon date the listener (the 50s or the 80s). You missed them? Shame! They were the real rock'n'roll times when many young musicians honed their chops for fun, to 'pull the chicks' or, if nothing else was available, a percentage of the bar!
Lee Rocker will be remembered as the slapper of the stand-up bass in rockabilly revival band Stray Cats. The Cats formed in New York 1980, then moved to London where they were signed, produced by Dave Edmunds, charted and sold seven million albums. Umpteen albums later and back in America, the Cats finally disbanded in 1994.
Along the way, Rocker (real name Drucher) had appeared in the Carl Perkins 1985 TV special 'Blue Suede Shoes' with Perkins, Edmunds, Rosanne Cash, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr. Perkins had seen something special in Rocker, calling him "a young legend", and had been working with him on various projects over the years until his death in 1998.
Blue Suede Nights is 'son of Perkins' with songs by Perkins, Authur Crudup, Hank Williams, Leon Russell and Rocker himself. It was recorded over a series of gigs in Southern California featuring Brophy Dale and Adrian DeMain on guitars and Jimmy Sage on drums. They sound like they had a real good time!
Sue Cavendish
Rocky Athas is an inductee of Buddy Magazine's Texas Tornadoes, an honour he shares with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons and Stevie's brother Jimmy to name but a few. An auspicious lot you will have to agree. In fact, Rocky achieved this status two years before Stevie Ray and it has been said that he influenced Brian May with his finger tapping style, later taken up by Eddie Van Halen. This is some billing to live up to and this latest album, Miracle, will go a long way to helping him to gain the recognition as those mentioned above.
The subdued opening title track has a kind of Bird Of Paradise vibe going on, especially in the chorus but the signs are there for the blistering fretwork to come and Larry Samfords smokey vocals set the scene for the rest of the album. Athas opens up on You Move Me, a straightforward blues-rock offering before slowing the pace down again for No More. This has a distortion-laden solo that is worth listening to the song for alone. The Long Run is electric blues through and through with Riley Osbornes keyboards adding an extra dimension. The electric blues, Chicago style, continues with Bluesville, with snappy guitar fills and the obligatory driving solo.
That Was Then, This Is Now is a departure from the blues based songs. This is essentially an acoustic rock song that contains a couple of riffs for budding guitarists to cut their teeth on and it contains one of the best solos on the album. The first song that neither Athas or Samford has a songwriting credit on is High Cost Of Loving, covered by Gary Moore during his short lived BBM project with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Athas' guitar playing here is more than the equal of Moore's. One Heartbeat is another slow track, which, although it doesn't really go anywhere, is not sore on the ears.
One of the highlights of the album is the cover of Tommy Bolin's Slow Driver. It seeps into your subconscious with its innuendo filled lyric – I'd like to drive you all night! Pounding drums and bass from Johnny Bolin and Robert Ware respectively set the song up perfectly. Play this one at full volume. This is quickly followed by excellent blues-rock of Real Bad Feeling and I Wish I Could Be That Strong. The album finishes with a trio of disparate songs, the slightly funky I Love You, the piano based That Magic and another of my favourites Long Time Gone, which is good-time blues with the message of good riddance to someone that's not wanted – not a message that we would want to send to Rocky Athas.
www.rockathas.com
www.bluearmadillo.com
David Blue
Detroit-based Sixto Diaz Rodriguez's 1971 follow-up to the previous year's debut Cold Fact was to be his last.
Decamped inexplicably to London's Lansdowne Studios he lucks into sterling support from session guitarist Chris Spedding, bongo wallah Tony Carr (Magna Carta, Donovan) and sundry members of period chart pop act The Family Dogg, while Steve (Pretty Things, PJ Proby) Rowland deploys his production skills well on a consistently strong set of wry, socio politically-observant songs spanning upbeat pop-rockers to Jimmy Horowitz's rich to syrup string-accompanied ballads by way of acoustic guitar-picked mid-tempo numbers, rounded off on this welcome reissue with three previously unreleased bonus tracks recorded in 1972 with Cold Fact collaborators Mike Theodore & Dennis Coffey.
Less hard-edged than its predecessor, the funky Bill Fay cited Coming From Reality as his vision of a 'perfect pop album'. But then Rodriguez was no shy and retiring violet: still upbeat, in the reissue press blurb we find him in a ruminative state over his rediscovery, akin he feels to that of Picasso and Monet.
August company indeed. But then opener 'Climb Up On My Music', with Spedding's memorably nagging guitar hook, is less a plea than a call-to-arms.
Whilst the album's exhumation cites it 'lost classic' status, this much bandied and abused accolade is closer to task here than for most of the seemingly endless singer-songwriter reissues of the day.
Peter Muir August 2009
Produced by Wrecking Ball's Malcolm Burn, you're left in no doubt that she's redefining herself from the opening Infinite Night, a Gary Louris co-write (with his harmony vocals) that announces itself with images of 'drug lords, crooked cops, and thieves' and proceeds to provide a muscular musical setting of snarling guitar and steamrollering rhythm to go with the steel rimmed lyrics.
The pop sassy title track (co-penned by Semisonic's Dan Wilson) lays it out again with oodles of self-confident swagger as she lets some cheating lover know she's nobody's fool and there's more of the same molten maturity of form and content on Absence, a fiddle scraping swampy blues that shares credits with Mary Gauthier, El Salvador with its low slung strummed bluesy groove, barroom piano boogie and drawled semi-spoken delivery, and a smouldering Lucinda-streaked El Dorado.
There's some effective simple strokes to the pedal steel stained heartache waltzer Rag Doll and, the other Louris co-write, soulful album closer Can't Cry Enough, while both the spare self-written Let Me In with its minimal plucked fiddle and burst of reverb guitar and the easy rolling Southern swampy blues A Big Mistake demonstrate an ability to paint with rich colours from a deceptively unfussy palette.
No longer playing, ahem, second fiddle, Rodriguez has revealed some hitherto unsuspected strings to her bow.
www.carrierodriguez.com
www.myspace.com/carrielrodriguez
Mike Davies May 2009
Having made three albums duetting with Chip Taylor, the Mexican-American fiddle player now makes her solo debut. Not that she's entirely flown the nest, since seven of the 12 tracks are written by Taylor while four of the others are co-writes. No problem with that since Chip's come up with a solid collection of material (even if writing such sexually upfront numbers for her to sing seems a bit dubious) while the arrangements move fluidly between the expected acoustic strummed bluegrass and Texicali country and more surprising shades of jazz (well, Bill Frisell is the guitar man) and blues.
She sweats things up with the bluesy hoe down Never Gonna Be Your Bride, waltzes with Border town attitude on I Don't Wanna Play House Anymore and 50s French Movie is a sleazed blues rock groove slink, but mostly the musical moods here are sultry and melancholic, languidly heated and slouched.
She's not got the strongest of voices, but she knows how to sock a number across, investing the ghost boned sensuality of Dirty Leather, the moody title track (written in memory of a friend killed by a truck while riding his bike), the wistful Got Your Name On It and the haunting He Ain't Jesus, a song about an abusive relationship, with lived in character and real rich blood. She'll make better albums, but for now this is an impressive debut that well warrants a spin on the saddle.
www.carrierodriguez.com
www.myspace.com/carrielrodriguez
Mike Davies, Sept 2006
It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Kenny Rogers has a portrait of himself stashed away in the loft, getting older, because as the cover photograph of his latest release shows, he appears to be getting younger. But this 'Dorian Gray of country' hasn't recorded 65 albums, sold 105 million of them without spotting the odd good tune along the way. However, a good song is only half the battle and, despite your cynical best efforts, you can't help but enjoy a more humble and restrained Rogers on Water And Bridges. In fact, eventually, you'll enjoy it far more than you ever could have imagined enjoying a Kenny Rogers album. On Water And Bridges, Rogers shows himself to be a master at mining the humanity in each track, and whether it's a skill that has been honed over a long career, or one that comes naturally to him, it is underpinned by an indefatigable strength. If Kenny Rogers doesn't believe what he's singing he's doing a damn fine job of pretending. What that does is make songs like The Petition, which should be just too sickly sweet for this hard-bitten age, work beautifully. It's all too easy and pleasurable to buy into it. As a bona fide superstar, Kenny Rogers can call on the services of some heavyweight company, country music's hottest producer Dan Huff brings a rock tinge to the likes of Half A Man, while Don Henley teams up with Rogers on the nostalgic and autumnal Calling Me. As you'd expect, Water And Bridges is superbly produced but not overcooked. The title track for instance is left well alone, allowing Kenny Rogers to tell the whole story. It's doubtful whether anyone does a country ballad quite as well as Kenny Rogers but the album has its flaws. Its cleverest song, The Last Ten Years is marred by slightly clumsy lyrics. The premise is a look at the huge changes which have occurred over a decade, but 'mother nature shook the planet and cellular replaced the telephone' is a bit contrived and does not do a beautiful song justice. However using all his talent, Rogers rescues the song and it becomes a jewel in the album's crown. Kenny Rogers is at a point in his career where he can afford to take a step back and do what he'd like to, rather than what is commercially attractive, the result is the excellent Water And Bridges. It's an album that is restrained and interesting enough to convert even those who think of Kenny Rogers as nothing more than a cliché for the kind of country music that takes the path of least resistance.
Michael Mee November 2006
Having quite often been sorely disappointed by the creative endeavours of the progeny of famous musical figures, I was understandably reluctant at first to even approach this debut CD by the son of the iconic Canadian singer-songwriter who so tragically died in a plane accident in 1983. However, it's a pleasure to report that my misgivings are unjustified. Though only just past his mid-20s, Nathan clearly has the gift for songwriting, although it's a developing gift rather than one emerging fully formed. And although vocally Nathan can definitely be heard to be, if not a dead ringer, surely "quite a chip off the old block" (especially in matters of tonal attack and phrasing), he's equally clearly his own man. Like his father, he has a keen interest in Canadian life and history, which most powerfully surfaces on Mary's Child (which deals with the harrowing impact of French missionaries on the people of Ste. Marie); Hibbing (which has a bit of a James Keelaghan feel) depicts the lives of iron-ore miners, and Tuesday Morning concerns New York firefighters. The cryptic philosophy of The Rising Tide is an oddity, but an intriguing one. Nathan's talent for (often quite savage, biting and satirical) social commentary is demonstrated in Hold The Line and the eastern-inflected Kill Your TV. Nathan's musical idiom vacillates with the song, and can equally easily encompass deft Americana, bluesy shuffle and tender folk balladry: even the tasty twelve-bar of Can't Sit Still isn't the throwaway its lyric might indicate. And importantly, Nathan's own keen musicianship is not in any doubt whatsoever – he's a pretty impressive guitarist – and he's able to command some high-quality support (from Richard Moody, J.P. Cormier, Christian Dugas, Gilles Fournier and others, with special mention for Nicky Mehta's backing vocals). I'll admit the CD begins inauspiciously with a rocking-country version of Ballad Of Duncan And Brady, a strange choice for a lead-track for a singer-songwriter, but the disc's other cover is a splendid rendition of his uncle Garnet's setting of Charles Kingsley's Three Fishers (previously recorded by Stan on his For The Family LP). Sure, even as a debut CD True Stories might seem mildly inconsistent in tenor and motive, but it contains enough indicators that Nathan's an impressive talent in his own right, and it will be worth catching one of his infrequent UK appearances, at York's award-winning Black Swan folk club on 18th June.
David Kidman May 2009
His sixth solo album begins with Calm Before The Storm, a grinding, shuffling opener with Rogers' signature slide. Patron Saint Of Pain features his swinging, laconic delivery and Little Queen Bee is a bouncy boogie. Bitter Rain is another shuffling blues based rocker and confirms that Rogers improves with age. Someone Like You shows more of a country influence but is a little weak. The jazzy Rite Of Passage has an excellent sax input from George Brooks but the follow up Rivers Of Tears is a bit nondescript. Your Sweet Embrace is a gentle acoustic instrumental whilst Requiem For A Heavyweight is just bog standard by Rogers' standards. I Would Undo Anything is unashamedly country and won't offend anyone but he's back to what he does best on Holy Ghost Moan. This electric slide boogie is played in a CCR style. It's good fun and it's the highlight of the album. Rogers closes out the album with the grinding rock of Walkin' The Levee. Brooks' sax and Rogers' guitar vie for top billing but there can be only one winner. Many take on the slide guitar but only a few become masters. Roy Rogers is most certainly in the latter group.
David Blue November 2009
Roy Rogers is regarded as one of the worlds top slide players and the evidence is here on this new live album. He opens with Ever Since I Lost You, a showstopper and it's only the first track! The Delta Rhythm Kings (Steve Ehrmann on bass and Jim Sanchez on drums) are as tight a band as I've heard for some time and the audience just know that they are in for a special night. Lieber and Butler's Down Home Girl is a charming upbeat blues and Rogers unleashes a scything guitar on Mellow Apples, which eventually gets going but is a little fragmented. Willie Dixon's Built For Comfort is played with barrelhouse piano and this is a brilliant combination with Rogers' superlative guitar – if you want authentic, you got it. There's a funked up version of Robert Johnson's Terraplane Blues to follow and Rogers uses his formidable prowess to change the song completely. You are in for a surprise, believe me. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee's I'm A Stranger Here is turned into a slinky blues with added vocal from Shana Morrison. It's just their voices and guitar only and sometimes the simple things are the best. Gertie Ruth is a rhythmic blues with Southern fiddle from Tom Rigney and good vocal harmonies. Down In Mississippi has lightning fast guitar and is quite simply a joy to listen to. Vida's Place is a punchy, throbbing blues and Duck Walk is a short, up-tempo instrumental with more of Rogers' superb guitar. Shake Your Moneymaker has me running out of superlatives for his guitar playing and the rest of the band match his performance on this Elmore James classic. Norton Buffalo on harmonica blows his lungs out and the pianist, Philip Aaberg, tries to outdo him. Both vocalists turn in a majestic piece and, did I mention that this is superb? The set finishes with For The Children and Rogers shows his virtuosity on this touching instrumental, showing that he has a soft side too.
Roy Rogers is a guitar player's guitarist, listen to this and you'll understand why.
David Blue June 2007
Roy Rogers - Slideways (Evidence)
Sheer genius! From the opening track Avalanche you know Roy Rogers is back with a vengeance, with an outstanding all-instrumental album of slide guitar, sharp enough to slice, dice and fry you alive. Slideways is not about laid-back twelve-bar blues - here are 56 minutes of tight, hard-driving rhythm and grooves, funk and soulful melodies, all shot through with Roy's searing slide - and there's not one 'filler' in this diverse collection. It's as good as anything he's ever recorded - probably his best.
Such power and intensity is not what you might expect from someone who's been playing the blues for the past 30 odd years. During part of them he was John Lee Hooker's guitarist and band member and producer of JLH's last four albums - the Grammy winner The Healer and Mr Lucky, Boom Boom and Chill Out. And his creative prowess has not mellowed one iota despite the fact he's touring much of the year with various combinations of 'friends'.
'Friends' on Slideways, giving a helping hand, are his sometimes recording partner Norton Buffalo on harmonica on six tracks. Then there's Scott Mathews (who co-produced the album with Roy), Jim Sanchez, Francis Clay and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste who share the drumming/percussion honours; piano/keyboards from the excellent Phil Aaberg; plus Freddie Roulette, master blues lap-steel guitar who's there on a couple of tracks, and Steve Evans lays it down and keeps it together on bass. "We wanted this recording to have an edge throughout - I think it does". It does!
Roy Rogers is one of the nicest guys around - he's also one of the best rocking blues guitarists you'll ever hear but have probably never heard before. But you can do something about that right now.
Sue Cavendish
World renowned slide guitarist Rogers and acclaimed harmonica player Buffalo join forces for an album of original songs that brings simplicity back to music. This is their third album together and what they have produced is a seemingly effortless set that, on the whole, is as laid back as you can get.
Tracks such as the opening Don't Throw Your Changes On Me and Under The Rug are perfect vehicles for their collective talents. Requiem chugs along with railroad rhythm whereas they change the tempo completely for If I Were A King with its tale of everlasting love. The duo share lead vocals throughout and although they don't have the greatest singing voices on the planet what they do is make the listener think 'Hey, that could quite easily be me singing there'.
There are two instrumentals included. The first, Ritmo De Las Almas (Rhythm Of The Souls), is a Latin tinged effort which has Buffalos mournful harp and Rogers rhythmic guitar vying for prominence. Making New Love Out Of Old is a straightforward country song - check out the title for a start!
It's difficult to pick out favourites from this album but the gentle Long Hard Road has to figure. There seems to be a religious strain running through the album and Trinity continues the theme although this song shows up mans ability to use it for a reason for war.
A return to a more up-tempo beat and a New Orleans style shuffle brings us to Deny And Down The Distance with Rogers on his 12-string and mandolin. The 12-string is also used to good effect on All I Want and Seven Hearts and gives a fuller sound. The album finishes with Highway Bound and the second instrumental, Happy Go Lucky. The former is a funky saga of man leaving woman and hitting the road while the latter is exactly what the title says - a fast moving, not a care in the world, ripsnorter.
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee for the 21st century? You'll have to decide but I'm sure that the old masters would approve of the easy on the ear, country blues of Norton Buffalo & Roy Rogers.
www.roy-rogers.com
www.norton-buffalo.com
www.blindpigrecords.com
David Blue
Roy Rogers & Shana Morrison - Everybody's Angel (Roshan)
Here is a surprise pairing: Roy Rogers, one of the greatest slide guitarists in the world, John Lee Hooker producer and sometime band member, and Shana Morrison, Van Morrison's daughter and new emerging songwriter talent. Together they have released an excellent album. Sassy-voiced Shana's jazzy blues delivery and Roy's country-edged vocals work warmly together - and those arrangements, wow! The darkly laid-back opening track 'Molly O & Dog Boy' with its steel guitar touches and acoustic percussion leads you into an album which demonstrates the incredible versatility of Rogers' guitar and confirm what many know - that Roy is a superb producer.
Previous albums from Roy can flay you alive with their slide riffs. Here he is never bludgeoning, never subservient, just scarily perfect in his discretion and appropriateness. Tight musicianship: drums and percussion from Jimmy Sanchez, accordion and keyboards from Phil Aalberg, bass from Scoop McGuire, Dana Pandey's tabla and Robert Powell's pedal steel, underpin a great collection of songs and a must-have album. What can I say? It's so good I bought it twice.
Sue Cavendish
www.rohan-k.co.uk
www.hobgoblinrecords.com
David Kidman December 2007
Already I hear readers' cries of "Oh no, not another brat-pack of self-evidently mega-talented youngsters from the north-east!" - but Roll A Penny aren't merely following in the illustrious footsteps of 422, Ola etc etc. They're prominently endorsed by none other than Kathryn Tickell, and rightly so – for this, their debut CD, shows more than early promise as they're already well on the way to becoming recognised with recent showcase slots, eg at The Sage Gateshead and the Black Swan in York (at one of that folk club's prestigious Young Performers' Nights, naturally!). Roll A Penny (aka Katie Doherty, Roger Purves and Andrew Cadie) achieve an amazing degree of variety and power within a seemingly basic fiddle/trumpet-mandolin/bouzouki-piano lineup; their playing is notable for its spirit and attack yet they don't appear to feel the need to compete with the speed merchants to make an impact. For instance, there's a dynamism in Katie's piano playing that allows the rhythm and melody aspects to coexist credibly (no junior-school plonkery here!), while Roger's fluid bouzouki and mandolin work proves the perfect mid-range foil between Andrew's fiddle and Katie's piano. Swingin' Hinnies contains among its ten tracks just four tune-sets; these are mostly trad-arr as far as repertoire goes, yet taken pretty quirkily all-told with a distinct knack for refreshingly innovative twists and turns in their ongoing presentation. Additionally, a reel also gets interpolated into Buy Broom Bezzums to good effect. As regards the six songs here, well no less than three are composed by Katie herself - and very fetching pieces these are too; I particularly liked the way Katie's songs take an adult, and quite pensive, view of a traditional situation or concept when bringing it into the contemporary world. Vocals are shared between Katie and Andrew. The only arrangement that didn't entirely convince me was Black Is The Colour, which is taken at somewhat too rushing a tempo. Summing up, RaP are unusually imaginative for such a young outfit (and I don't mean to sound at all patronising when I write that), and they have lots of good ideas; I await their second CD with great interest.
David Kidman
Just another Stones compilation? Well not quite – this is actually a fairly handy gathering-together of tracks from virtually the whole of the band's lengthy career, a feat not before accomplished (the twain of the Decca and EMI/RS years never previously allowed to meet). The first disc covers 1964-71, the second 1971 to the present day (Wild Horses and Brown Sugar providing the useful link between the two discs). Both discs mix hits with album tracks, all claiming to have been remastered (although I didn't notice great differences generally, except for obvious details like the longer take of Paint It, Black, say); it's perhaps curious that the second disc probably achieves greater stylistic consistency if at the expense of purely musical interest or innovation. The liner notes trumpet somewhat brazenly, but there's no denying that "such eternal songwriting collaborations as Satisfaction, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar are required listening for any Rock 'n' Roll 101 course load and every worthwhile post-graduate seminar as well". But it's equally hard to justify the apparently random sequencing of the tracks, which satisfies neither as a chronological survey nor in respect of balanced tempi. Having said that, this collection might save some fans from purchasing whole albums just to get at the later nuggets hidden within what latterly has become an increasingly uneven musical output (although one can admire their longevity of course) where technological gloss is no substitute for raw creative energy. Cynically, one might observe that the true marketing purpose of this package is to persuade Stones completists to purchase it just to acquire the four "new" tracks that appear scattered through disc two. Although these new offerings aren't exactly a disgrace to the Stones brand-name, and the latest single Don't Stop in particular inhabits an attractive enough retro groove, by and large it must be said that these most recent tracks are unlikely to overly inspire any die-hard Stones fan, and the choice of the untypical barroom ballad Losing My Touch (complete with Keith Richards' cracked, Lou-Reed-wannabee vocals) as an album closer probably says it all quite unintentionally ironically – nay, prophetically … But, if regarded as The Rolling Stones Story, a kind of overview, this set will doubtless provide more than a modicum of satisfaction, though I really don't feel it can be regarded as "definitive" like the box sticker claims.
David Kidman
Gifford's an accomplished singer and songwriter who's been around the Wakefield (West Yorkshire) scene for some years, but he's remained very much on the fringe, both in terms of exposure and acceptance, since his special brand of performance doesn't easily fit into either the traditional folk club or the burgeoning modern acoustic scene. For all I know, he probably started out playing Dylan covers - he has an obvious and wholly natural feel for that type of material, as he shows on the one non-original on this well-filled CD (Girl Of The North Country), where he brings his own beguiling stamp to the interpretation. On his own material, though, Giff's much more of a chansonnier by nature. He's a talented artist too by the way (one of his paintings forms a backdrop to the box cover); this artistry informs his songs, which are strongly visually evocative in the way they depict characters and their experiences. As the insert blurb proclaims: "it is an album of light and shade, where legend and fact are overlaid in carefully crafted songs and stories". Nowhere is this more apparent than on the opening track, Northernsong, where Giff's attractive, drawling delivery creates and maintains a mood that's very akin to the weary, pensive dusty troubadour ambit of early Michael Chapman.
Giff's voice may not have quite the richness of the gruff timbre of Chapman nor the wild cutting edge of Dylan, but he's no bad singer either! The other side to Giff's coin is his clear, deep and honest affection for certain stage and screen idols, whose characters he chooses to explore in song (Piaf, James Dean In The Rain), though the more uptempo offerings (like Chaplin and Harry Houdini) seem (at any rate by comparison with the others) a touch lightweight, even simplistic maybe in their choice of imagery and expression. Throughout, the instrumental settings are admirably restrained, and fully in keeping both with Giff's performance style and his chosen subject-matter - principally just his own guitar with harmonica embellishments, but creatively augmented by Ian Fairbairn (wonderful swooping fiddle work on She Didn't Come Home and finely judged mandolin, lead acoustic or electric guitar elsewhere), and cameo appearances by Michael and Rosie of the illustrious Doonan Family, also Dave Rogers and Leah Powell. And the sterling guiding hand of producer Alistair Russell, at whose studios the album was recorded, adds a further imprimatur to Giff's artistic credibility.
David Kidman
Roman Candle - The Wee Hours Revue (Hollywood Music 2004)
Anyone who has heard North Carolina's Roman Candle on Bob Harris will know this album as Says Pop. The Wee Hours Revue is the remixed version, on another label and it will be The Wee Hours Revue which will be released in the UK.
Now we know where we are, how we got here is far more interesting. Formed in 1996 by brothers Skip and Logan Matheny, the band produced 300 copies of an eight-song demo using a CD burner and cutting out the artwork themselves. In time-honoured tradition, by 2001 Skip Mathany was working in a warehouse while his wife Timshel, who had joined the band, was employed as a dishwasher.
It was then that fate and football (the American kind not real football) took a hand, in the shape (very large would be my guess) of Denver Broncos defensive tackle Trevor Pryce who heard that demo on a website and, as luck would have it, had just started his own label. The rest, as they say, is history.
While the birth of The Wee Hours Revue is fascinating it's what's under the covers that's really important and this release shows that not only can Pryce play football he can spot a band as well.
With the word 'pop' lurking in the background, many may be put off. Don't be, this has absolutely nothing in common with the homogenized goo that passes for pop music these days. The Wee Hours Revue is bright, fresh and highly original.
It is also the album of a young band ready and eager to stake their claim. The fact that this is second time around for the songs and that Roman Candle toured the album for a year, hasn't dulled their enthusiasm, it has tempered both the band and sound.
The Mathenys also have more in common with 60s Britain than they do with their own country. As they say on Merciful Man they have 'London in their lungs'. And it's the London of the Stones and The Kinks. New York This Morning is ripped from the same heartache as Angie, while Help Me If You Can and Baby's Got It In The Genes displays the same lyrical razor's edge of Ray Davies at his angry young man best. And on Winterlight and I Wish the vocals have the same hard-edged, cynical snarl of a young, hungry Jagger. As a band Roman Candle can point to illustrious parentage.
But it's the fullness and richness of sound that the band capture that is the hook. They never let you rest for a minute, prodding and poking the listener with a driving guitar riff or an incisive lyric. But it's not just wave upon wave of noise, Something Left To Say - which opens the album - is powerful without being overpowering.
Are Roman Candle a pop band? Yes, in the same way that Travis and Coldplay are. But with Wee Small Hours Revue they are a band ready for the fight and that makes them a dangerous and exciting prospect.
Make no mistake this is not the debut of a band full of promise, it's just the first in a long line of great albums.
Michael Mee, Editor, The Hawick News
Janie Romer - Darkest Before Dawn (Terrapin World of Arts)
Some sixteen years ago, having quit her job as graphic designer and stylist for New York Vogue, Romer was working as a commodities broker in the Twin Towers and doing occasional session vocalist for musician friends in her spare time. Which is where she was when a call came asking if she'd fancy adding backing vocals for a Chas Jankel song. That became a hit which led to live dates which led to Romer joining Cajun outfit Loup Garou which led to her own group, Romer. Then suddenly marriage and motherhood came along and music took a very back seat.
Now though she's back. Encouraged to learn guitar and get her writing juices flowing again by Bert Jansch who'd discovered her via a cassette-book of children's lullabies she'd done, they started playing together, Romer winding up providing backing vocals on his When The Circus Comes To Town on which he also included one of her songs, No-one Around. From here contacts led her to meet Wes McGhee which brought a country flavour to her writing and his involvement as her comeback album's co-producer and guitarist. Jansch is there too, lending his distinctive jazz-folk acoustic guitar playing to a couple of tracks, including Romer's own version of No-one Around, originally written 15 years ago for "some cool guy" in New York.
Drawing on a variety of styles but mostly hovering around a country-folk axis, they'e basically variations on finding, losing, missing or desiring lovers, including one which cleverly compares life's turbulence with white water rafting. Her dark, sometimes Judy Collins, sometimes Emmylou meets Sandy Denny tones are deep and pure, veined with a longing and an ache, McGhee's various guitars understated but evocative, especially the moody Spanish tones of the mournful title track and the TexMex flavours of Fool's Gold. Dizzy kicks up a pair of dance heels that likely harks back to her Loup Garou days, but otherwise the approach is slow waltz melancholy, beautifully rippling through Jasmine, shuffling through the rays of dusk on a breathy Surrender, Unsuitable Boy conjuring wide open prairie spaces and mountain streams.
With more time now to record and perform, she says she's ready to be seen and heard. She's ready. You should be waiting.
Mike Davies
2002's Cajun tribute album Evangeline Made, produced by Ann and featuring some collaborations with Linda, was a stunner, and the two evidently got on so well that they decided to record a full duet album as the Zozo Sisters - and it turns out to be every bit as good. The two ladies' voices do indeed soar like the Creole "little bird" of their epithet, and they blend so darned well you'd have thought them born just for singing with each other and sharing their emotions so closely. And the choice of material on this new collection is second to none; based around the theme of love in all its forms and its tender place in our hearts, the set includes a few songs that Ann admits to having sung around the house for years, like the 30s hit Parlez-Moi D'Amour. Amongst the highlights are the sturdy yet achingly plaintive bluegrass of Chas Justus' Rattle My Cage, the equally plaintive title track (a gorgeous setting of a traditional ballad originally popularised by fiddler Arthur Smith) and a deeply engaging cover of Kevin Welch's Too Old To Die Young. There's also fine covers of two Richard Thompson compositions (King Of Bohemia and Burns' Supper). At least some of the album's distinctively sumptuous ambience is down to the wondrous lustre of the vocal blending, of course, but almost equal credit must be given to the rich musical settings provided by the backing crew (Nashvillers Sam Bush, Andrea Zonn, Dirk Powell, Byron House, Stuart Duncan and Sam Broussard) with fabulous string textures that arise from an extension to the traditional string-band complement by dint of classical violin, viola and cello and bass (arranged by Kristin Wilkinson) that enhances tracks like Linda's really refreshing new take on Walk Away Renée. The unusual timbres of resophonic viola and David Schnaufer's bowed dulcimer complement the low-tuned guitars to impart a uniquely mournful sound-world that perfectly accords with the sentiments expressed in the songs. Buddy Miller guests on Linda's sublime rendition of Julie Miller's I Can't Get Over You; and then, on the lusty Cajun waltz of Plus Tu Tournes, Ann brings on her brother Joel and Christine Balfa who naturally are utterly steeped in authentic Arcadian tradition. This is one brilliantly conceived and executed thematic album that I can't praise enough, a real peach of a disc, and I hope it sells enough copies to ensure a successor in the not too distant future, for Linda and Ann are ideal collaborators.
David Kidman December 2006
Linda Ronstadt - Hand Sown..Home Grown/Silk Purse/Linda Ronstadt/Heart Like A Wheel (Capitol)
There's sadly no bonus rare or unreleased material, but this is still a welcome CD reissue of Ronstadt's first four solo albums following her 1968 departure from LA folk outfit the Stone Poneys with whom she'd scored a Top 20 hit covering Mike Nesmith's Different Drum.
Never a songwriter herself, these albums are testament to her and her producers (in chronological order Chip Douglas, Elliot Mazer, John Boylan and Pete Asher) to pick the best songs by the cream of America's finest contemporary songsmiths, and her ability to make them her own.
Looking on the back sleeve like a refugee from a Melanie impersonators contest, her solo debut was a fairly tentative move towards country, playing safe with such chestnuts as Silver Threads and Golden Needles, John D Loudermilk's Break My Mind and The Only Mama That'll Walk The Line. To be honest it wasn't the most auspicious debut but even here there's signs of her stretching out and taking chances, tackling Randy Newman's bluesy Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad, giving Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight a honky-tonk makeover and closing out with Fred Neil's subtly complex The Dolphins.
A year later though her country rock confidence and vocal power had clearly grown, taking Lovesick blues by the scruff of the neck and dragging it round the barroom before making her way through solid versions of Mickey Newbury's Are My Thoughts With You?, Paul Siebel's Louise and, evoking Gram and Emmylou, the Bernie Leadon/Guy Clarke classic He Dark The Sun. There's a couple of misfires, a plodding I'm Leaving It All Up To You (pre-empting Donny and Marie by four years) and a clumsy Spector gone country Will You Love Me Tomorrow that sounds like Mazer was trying to make her a pop Dolly Parton.
Come 1971 though and, a singularly ill-advised version of Fontella Bass hit Rescue Me aside, her eponymous third album had pretty much ironed out the creases. Teamed with a session team that would mutate into The Eagles and sounding far more relaxed, it opened with a splendid cover of Jackson Browne's Rock Me On The Water before proceeding to notch up some classic Ronstadt moments with her takes on I Still Miss Someone, Livingston Taylor's excellent In My Reply, Neil Young's Birds, Eric Anderson's I Ain't Always Been Faithful (with Buddy Emmons on keening pedal steel) and even a slowed down, world weary cover of Woody Guthrie's Ramblin' Round.
1974 though was the year it all came together to produce the seminal fourth album and with it a Best Female Country Vocal Grammy for her cover of Hank Williams's I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) with Emmylou on backing. That may have earned her a gong but it's only one of several great performances here. With musicians that include Henley, Frey, Tim Schmidt, Kenny Edwards and, over the album like a rash, Andrew Gold (who's also behind most of the arrangements), she moves from the funky You're No Good to the loose limbed rockier shores of When Will I Be Loved and Little Feat's Willin' but it's the ballads that make this a true classic with heart searching versions of Dark End of the Street, James Taylor's aching You Can Close Your Eyes and, to my ears, the album's two masterpieces, Paul Craft's Keep Me From Blowing Away (with Craft himself on guitar) and, with Maria Muldaur on harmony back ups, the (mistitled) title track, the world's first introduction to the music of Kate & Anna McGarrigle whose own version wouldn't appear until their debut album two years later.
Ronstadt would go on to further explore country rock, AOR, jazz, children's lullabies, standards and even opera before returning to her country roots for her collaborations with Emmylou and Dolly, but it was in these four albums that she laid the foundations for a career that has lasted and flourished for some 35 years.
Mike Davies
Recorded in Nashville and Berlin, it again keeps the musical fabric varied, opening with the ringing, 60s shaded low slung guitar country rocking Simple Touch Of The Hand, riding the Johnny Cash rhythm rails in classic Nashville style with Trouble From Tomorrow (apparently a track reflecting her compulsive anxiety), and rocking out with the bass glowering All These Pretty Things where, the vocals shifting from snarl to whisper and the guitars and drums spitting flames, she could well be talking about controlling record labels ("they tie your feet then want you to dance") as lust or defiant explosive rage.
The sense of a troubled soul in the closing song is echoed elsewhere on an album that's steeped in anger and pain. Gathering around a repetitive piano phrase and keening steel, Sad Ride Home has its roots in the recent deaths of her brother and father to "the cruel design of living" while the plangent, doomy chords of The One You Wanted, the quietly resigned emotions of six minute yearning heartbreak Third Time's A Charm and the swaggering Strange where she sounds like a cross between Sheryl Crow and Dylan (not least because her delivery recalls Like A Rolling Stone), all treat on love desired or denied.
Maybe that's got something to do with her single choice of cover, duetting with Hedley and getting back to the basics of love on the self-examining, world weary but upbeat Luckenbach Texas. It's such a stunner of a version you might even forget the Waylon classic.
It's not the only nod to the music of the Lone Star State. Why Am I Awake?, a 'wake up to reality' railing against talentless 'singing birds', self-interested politicians, bands (well, the Stones actually) who only do it for the money and anyone living in the past or under the delusion they make their own choices, waltzes through the honky tonk to the tune of Hank Thompson's Wild Side Of Life.
All of these make for a career defining album, but all are overshadowed by one track. With Hedley proving harmonies and fiddle, Silver Cradle is a spare, haunting backwoods gospel that moves from self-castigating confessional ("I'm hard at work breeding devils....I harbour jealous angels bound by glamour to my wrist") to a moment of vocal nakedness and a soaring climactic discovery of salvation and the calming balm of faith, a silver ladle "holding water to my lips." Were she never to record again, those six minutes would be an enduring monument. A rare bloom, indeed.
www.myspace.com/eileenrose
www.eileenrose.com
Mike Davies December 2009
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
I guess there are two reasons why I would sit down and write a review which is not going to add to my slimline bank account. Either it's a CD from a big name artist which could be good or bad though, either way, you should know about it. Or, it's a drop dead great CD from a relative unknown.
Never heard of Eileen Rose? Can you guess the rest? OK. The queue forms here behind band members with credentials from Del Amitri to Wreckless Eric (......now, there's an unsung hero). Eileen originates from Boston but is now resident in the UK which probably explains the breadth of influences found on this record. Music described elsewhere as 'twisted folk and bluesy country' actually takes on a whole load of influences. Take, for example, 'Shining' whose lyrics spawn the CD's title. Those girly oo-a-ooh's at the end sound like they've come from tape found lying around the studio after The Stones recorded 'Beggar's Banquet'.
Indeed, good old rough'n'ready rock'n'roll is never far from the surface despite that pleasant interview she did for Radio Four's 'Womans Hour'. From all this, you'll gather that there is a depth and maturity here that surprises for a debut album. I can't find any track that I would call weak and the opening track, 'Rose', is something of a minor classic. It gets followed by a swaggering tale of redemption in 'Still In The Family' before moving into a delightful ballad in 'Silver Ladle'. The latter getting beaten by a nose in the great ballad stakes by the closing track, 'Find Your Way Out'. This skips over the rocking 'Trying To Lose You' which is well worthy of a mention. Also, just in case you think I've forgotten that 'twisted folk and bluesy country' quote, there is a lovely country swing to 'Will You Marry Me?'. On the evidence of a live performance of the latter, a queue of single gentlemen is also forming.
Ladies and Gentlemen, trust me, this record is a worthy investment whether you're single, married or happily partnered.
Steve Henderson
www.timrose.net
www.marketsquarerecords.com
David Kidman
Tim Rose - Snowed In (The Last Recordings) (Cherry Red)
In the reissues that followed his comeback and untimely demise, if someone could put together a compilation of his singles and B sides, so that those of us with now precious but scratched vinyl can finally listen to such lost nuggets as Long Haired Boy, then Rose's sadly underestimated legacy would be complete.
Mike Davies
The Rosellys are an accomplished Nottingham-based duo who play music that's best described as Americana good 'n' true. Lead singer/guitarist Rebecca Rosewell and guitarist/fiddle player Simon Kelly released their debut CD Drive Through The Night in 2006, and One Way St. is the followup, honed in the studio following wider experience and inspiration gained on a coast-to-coast American tour later that year.
And it really does feel shot through with the authentic vibe of the musical idiom, which Rebecca and Simon clearly have in their veins: One Way St. takes us from genial acoustic-country to contemporary bluegrass to thoughtful balladry (Moon And Stars) and cajun (Redwoods). It comes as no surprise to learn that Simon's been playing fiddle with zydeco/swamp-rock band The Bon Temps Playboys since age 12, while Rebecca is expert on cello and piano as well as guitar (and she comes from a musical family too). At times there's a hint of Alison Krauss in Rebecca's voice, perhaps also Gillian Welch, but Rebecca's gift for phrasing and expression is entirely her own and completely natural: even so, arguably her finest performances on this disc are those where she stretches out emotionally, like the plaintive and touchingly sad Mary, the heartfelt yet succinct Rescue Me and the tenderly hopeful American Dream. Elsewhere, Rebecca cuts it just fine on the uptempo numbers, breezy Caught Me At A Bad Time and the spry opener Only Way She Knows, the latter driven by a killer riff that verges on rockabilly, Rebecca's bold yet seductive vocal increasingly multitracked as the number draws to its close (on two other cuts, including the lovely You Stole My Heart, backing vocals are handled by her sister Natasha).
And in praising Rebecca's singing I wouldn't want to underplay the sheer excellence of her - and Simon's - guitar playing: what a combination! Their own comparatively sparse but tuneful backings are gently augmented by Chris Clarke (double bass) and Alan Kelly (pedal steel, squeezebox) and Rebecca's mother Helena (cello). This disc is a great discovery: one that will doubtless lead me straight to tracking down its predecessor.
David Kidman January 2010
The Rosinators' début CD is a bit of a goodtime classic. Bluegrass, old-time, gospel country, cajun, a smidgen of dusty blues - all confid