With a pirouetting string arrangement that echoes an image in the lyrics, Ballerina Lake sketches a pregnant widow reminiscing about a lover killed in a motorbike accident, debunking the romantic notion that memories can fill a void. Patton, Ross Watson, Jake Peters, Jenny Allen and Gary Kurtz are the reason ), while extremely intriguing, is probably unlikely to lift him into the mainstream as regards acceptance. He closes with an acoustic version of the opening track, Shake 'Em On Down. Tank Full Of Fuel is a mixture of Dave Edmunds and Petty again and is a slow blues rock grinder. don't seem interested in dazzling the listener with note-spinning excesses, As vocalist, Paul Jones had even then a great feel for the blues and R&B stylings - he was no mere "shouter" - but he happened to be too much of a "pretty face" (as The One In The Middle cutely pointed out!) ), whereby his vocal delivery seems altogether tougher and more forthright and instead of concentrating on maintaining an even, keening flow of melody line he now also at times employs some more exaggerated gestures, often semi-spoken, for expressive effect. would-be-spectacular playlet-prelude, and at the other side of the spectrum It closes on the quiet, almost hymnal setting of could and should, have achieved. mingling over a steady beat on songs that fuse the songwriting The only real dark cloud hovers over After Today, a song she wrote after hearing a friend's stories about inner city kids who, spending time in prison, become used to the chains and harden their souls. Many of his wistfully romantic songs read like short story capsules and, like the Yorkshire set Hometown and Kissing In The Wind, leave you wanting to know more of the characters or the background to the events and scenes he's describing. salutes Kristofferson but also the hit recording of Sammi Smith. New Heart will be released shortly but is available now at his gigs. As you'd anticipate, the playing and the new arrangements are stripped right down to the nuts and bolts with the duo relying solely on concertina, mandola, mandolin, fiddles, bass and guitar, perfectly capturing the organic nature of the songs themselves. They have become renowned for their blistering live performances and are a must see. But even this doesn't spoil the keen impact Rua's playing has on the listener, especially since there's still one more track to play - the hard-swinging Taxi set…! Waltzing through memories of old flames, lost dreams, bruised hearts and pledged loves but with optimism at full mast, many of the songs veined with religious motifs, it's a warm, soothing listen that touches the emotions with its fingertips, perhaps no deeper than on the Chapel hymnal feel of Wherever You Go and the quiet ache of Home where empty nesters leave the city behind to revisit the seaside where they fell in love 25 years earlier. In between, there are two songs by Miggy Campbell (the intriguing Sussex being particularly strong, I feel, and a real discovery), and two each by Pete and Sheila themselves; I specially liked Sheila's Long Distance Loving, but all four of their songs display a keen sense of folk tradition and sensibility. We learn that significant exhaustion took its toll on the band members between takes, but the intensity of the 13 tracks recorded betrays none of that, for they all burn like the essence of hell squeezed straight into your orifices with no letup. Lyrically, the album revolves around the tried and tested concerns of first time singer-songwriters with songs of bruised, battered and broken relationships, self-examination, a mix of uncertainty and self-assurance, and hope for the future. At the end they are full of There's a little hesitation on Honeymoon In Drag Alley but this does not mask the master storyteller. throws both swing and morris into the melting-pot) demonstrates admirably. That Ain't Right is a country blues with great finger picking, Coming Your Brand New Day is gentle rhythmic blues and Sheep Of A Different Color is a slow John Lee Hooker style blues. This consists of four brilliant musicians: Ian Stephenson (guitar, melodeon, harmonium), Ali Vass (piano), David De La Haye (aka electronic experimentalist Anomaly) (electric bass) and the famous (if at times ubiquitous!) Stormbringer had always seemed a very mature product to me, so it comes as no surprise to learn of the existence of four intriguing pre-album demos (which are included here as bonus tracks); only two of these (the seminal John The Baptist, and Traffic-Light Lady) are for songs that were eventually to appear on the album. Malinky have survived a large number of major lineup changes over their ten-year history, yet each successive album release brings and preserves a thoroughly credible (and robust) sense of band identity. It didn't make the movie, but once again confirms Meuross as the non-bombastic Chris De Burgh it's okay to like. That said, it's still hard to resist a smile on The Biker's Lament, is a deadpan tongue in cheek addition to the Leader of the Pack, Terry lineage of dead biker songs that, set to a mournful backwoods sway, features the line "there's a scar on the tarmac and a scar in my heart for you". The album is awash with crisp, driving acoustic guitars, layers of atmospheric, occasionally ethereal electric guitars, strong percussion, swooping & loping bass and lush pop production. La La Love You is perfect summer song with its crunking capuccino jazz rhythm and fluttering title chorus (not to mention a lyrical steal from All I Really Want To Do), Would You Be So Kind's a slow pulsing break up song with her 60s girl pop delivery backed by a spin on the Velvets Sweet Jane's riff, When You Know picks up strummed ukulele for an airy reggae string band carefree lope, while, another knockout among an album of highlights, the alt-country flavoured descending chords and ringing guitar of Suzie's Back In Town is a heartbreaking tale of being dumped by your lover for his old flame. Copyright Act states: This has some of the best guitar work on the album and although he delivers a laconic vocal he does put a bit of rage in there at last. Kieron sings with a real unpretentious passion and obviously cares deeply for the songs he sings. The second track's creative juxtaposition of a Playford 3/2 hornpipe with a fabulous Andy May tune, the cascading onomatopoeia of Stepping Stones and the wholly infectious lilt of Magdalenas Vals (transporting Bach to Scandinavia), all exemplify this; and yet Methera can also conjure a compellingly primordial mystical mood, as their original treatment of Gower Wassail (utilising obscure and delicious old modalities) proves. Sarah's apparent breezy over-confidence in her own production skills has led her to bring in the proverbial kitchen sink at times – for as well as Tim Tweedale's signature dobro and pedal steel (and trumpet) she calls on other folks for violin, clarinet, keys, cello, bass, drums and euphonium, and there are still moments when it all sounds a trifle messy and either unfocused or distortedly focused. Several of the songs last longer than 5 minutes, but not so you'd ever notice for not a word or chord is wasted or superfluous. This is Country/Folk with his slightly gruff vocal showing up well. Reservoir depicts a Gulf War veteran running amok way down yonder in New Orleans, while Overseas, with its edict that "faith will be the key", draws a thought-provoking parallel with the time of the Crusades. www.cdbaby.com/cd/chancemccoy. Sara Grey, one of the foremost exponents of both singing and banjo playing in the old-time mode, is his mother; he was born in the States then grew up in Britain, gaining a love of, and an unbelievable degree of expertise in, music from both countries' traditions. It's a moot point whether this second disc, with its rather meagre 28 minutes' playing time, is worth the investment even for Christy's most avid fans (although to be fair, Barrowland has been released separately as a digital-download single), and it's unlikely that anyone who owns the original CD will want to fork out again just for those extra live tracks which, though very good, are hardly essential except for completists. Wilson, it's informed by both her love of early 70s music (As The Crow Produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded (on vintage gear and in mono) at "historically significant locations around the South" (Sun Studios, the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, room 404 of San Antonio's Gunter Hotel which saw the birth of Robert Johnson's Brunswick recordings) with all the musicians gathered and playing together. If Mark's playing occasionally errs on the side of genteel, well that's not a serious fault and there's help at hand on three of the disc's 12 tracks, in the shape of augmentation from guests Cameron Edgar on uilleann pipes and Russell Jalland on percussion who provide just the right degree of lift. Also, Jim takes a (for him unusual) vocal lead on a juicy rendition of Merle Travis' Guitar Rag (without a banjo in earshot! Hanging out at the blue moon tap room on Yessirree may be a form of refuge from the emptiness, but as on Ruby alcohol's demons are at vicious work in Dying Breed and Bully Jones, two sobering visions of misplaced notions of masculinity. It's not all broken romances though, The Water Of Life's a joyful hillbilly hymn to the pleasures of whisky while the Cash styled A Real Ghost Town wryly tells of the resurrection of a decaying former cotton mill town into an economic depression theme park. Bruce's latest CD follows straight on in the footsteps of his previous two Rounder solo releases in presenting a sequence of songs and tunes that moves easily from wonderfully energetic old-time fiddling (Ways Of The World and Glory In The Meeting House) to accompanying traditional songs with his spiritful and idiomatic banjo (Hills Of Mexico) or stirring fiddle (Green Grows The Laurel), to some beautifully finger-picked blues guitar (Sam McGee's Knoxville Blues) to a nostalgically swaying barn-dance fiddle tune (Someone I Love) to an unaccompanied play-party song from the Lomax collection of work-calls, to a deft guitar arrangement of a Norwegian fiddle tune (honest!