Kate McDonnell [Where The Mangoes Are]
Now here's something really nice, a disc that i bought maybe a year ago, from Amazon, brand new with cellophane for something like £2, which includes postage and packing, i search through cheap discs, and if i find something which catches my eye, i listen to the samples, this one sounded good enough, so i bought it, for £25 i can easily acquire ten discs, so a year ago i gave it its first listen, and i felt it was really quite ordinary, but what a difference a year gives, i played this today, and now it sounds fantastic, her voice sounds like Beth Nielsen Chapman, when she sings harder and her voice breaks she sounds like Joan Baez, nearly the whole album are Kate McDonnell originals, some of them wouldn't be out of place on a Joni Mitchell album, she's a great Folk Singer-Songwriter new find.
Kate McDonnell is American, not well known, she brought this album out in 2005, the front cover picture [by Michael Nakao] shows a close up of her face, her hair in her eyes, along with the orange lettering, i think this is a lovely portrait, better than conventional straight on shots.
Well on this listen i now like a whole load of tracks, 1, 4-5 & 8-11, that's over half the album!, and here's a short synopsis of each,
1 Tumbleweed [4:10] - In essence a Soft Rock song, very electric, very lyrical, though unlike most of the tracks on the album, nice organ swirls on the instrumental bridge [3:01+], very sparse lyrics, almost just rhyming words only, best lyric 'greasy spoon, coffee soon'.
4 Mercy [4:15] - A certain military rhythm to the brushes on the drums, at times she can really cry, the chorus is just one word 'mercy', the track slowly builds up and up to a nice high, best lyric 'how can i love the guy next door, i don't even know his name'.
5 5:05 [5:11] - McDonnell has this ability to weave short guitar themes, which serves as a great motif throughout the whole song, about a boat on the ocean, there's a certain feel to the song which reminds me of Joni Mitchel's Hejira album, best lyric 'i'm inches from the water, but miles from the shore'.
8 Lemon Marmalade [5:55] - This is my favourite track on the album, some really good acoustic guitar work here, there's a fantastic phrase on the guitar running throughout the whole album, giving it a real Bluesy feel, the track is nearly six minutes long, giving it real time to weave its magic, it's guitar really casts its spell over a nice length, the lyrics give the album its title, best lyric 'the sun will stick to everything, like lemon marmalade'.
9 Luis [3:05] - A clever song, about a daughter who died, and the need to bury her, i guess the parents are separated, yet brought together in the death of their child, some really good mandolin work [Scott Petito], i like the way it ends fairly abruptly, best lyric 'now she's just skin and bones, it's time for her to go on home'.
10 Mayday [4:43] - I listened to this album on random, and this was the first track i listened to, a strong Soft Rock feel to it, best lyric 'now i look back on that January, and how we melted the winter freeze'.
11 Goodbye Song [4:30] - A Steve Earle song, originally called just 'Goodbye', it has a certain TexMex feel to it, makes me want to delve into Steve Earle some more, a sad song of goodbye and regret, perfectly vibed by a superb fiddle [Mindy Jostyn], best lyric 'most November's i break down and cry, but i can't remember if we said goodbye'.
Kate McDonnell is American, not well known, she brought this album out in 2005, the front cover picture [by Michael Nakao] shows a close up of her face, her hair in her eyes, along with the orange lettering, i think this is a lovely portrait, better than conventional straight on shots.
Well on this listen i now like a whole load of tracks, 1, 4-5 & 8-11, that's over half the album!, and here's a short synopsis of each,
1 Tumbleweed [4:10] - In essence a Soft Rock song, very electric, very lyrical, though unlike most of the tracks on the album, nice organ swirls on the instrumental bridge [3:01+], very sparse lyrics, almost just rhyming words only, best lyric 'greasy spoon, coffee soon'.
4 Mercy [4:15] - A certain military rhythm to the brushes on the drums, at times she can really cry, the chorus is just one word 'mercy', the track slowly builds up and up to a nice high, best lyric 'how can i love the guy next door, i don't even know his name'.
5 5:05 [5:11] - McDonnell has this ability to weave short guitar themes, which serves as a great motif throughout the whole song, about a boat on the ocean, there's a certain feel to the song which reminds me of Joni Mitchel's Hejira album, best lyric 'i'm inches from the water, but miles from the shore'.
8 Lemon Marmalade [5:55] - This is my favourite track on the album, some really good acoustic guitar work here, there's a fantastic phrase on the guitar running throughout the whole album, giving it a real Bluesy feel, the track is nearly six minutes long, giving it real time to weave its magic, it's guitar really casts its spell over a nice length, the lyrics give the album its title, best lyric 'the sun will stick to everything, like lemon marmalade'.
9 Luis [3:05] - A clever song, about a daughter who died, and the need to bury her, i guess the parents are separated, yet brought together in the death of their child, some really good mandolin work [Scott Petito], i like the way it ends fairly abruptly, best lyric 'now she's just skin and bones, it's time for her to go on home'.
10 Mayday [4:43] - I listened to this album on random, and this was the first track i listened to, a strong Soft Rock feel to it, best lyric 'now i look back on that January, and how we melted the winter freeze'.
11 Goodbye Song [4:30] - A Steve Earle song, originally called just 'Goodbye', it has a certain TexMex feel to it, makes me want to delve into Steve Earle some more, a sad song of goodbye and regret, perfectly vibed by a superb fiddle [Mindy Jostyn], best lyric 'most November's i break down and cry, but i can't remember if we said goodbye'.
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