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'. 

Maggie Holland [Down To The Bone]

Here's a disc that's making it's first appearance in my Blog, in fact it's the first time i've ever played it, i saw it on Ebay for a fairly cheap price, listened to some samples, and was impressed enough to obtain it, it's a compilation album, some of her best known songs, i guess she's a Folk Artist, a bit like Joan Baez i guess, sparse instrumentation, i admit that it's only a first listen, so a really well informed opinion of her will take more listens, but i like what i hear already.

Maggie Holland is English, not sure how old she is, but i would guess she was born in the Fifties, so putting her roughly around sixty today, this album was recorded in 1991, in fact not a compilation album per se, but rather a re-recording of all her best music, the front cover photo [by Dave Peabody] is a beaut, a close up head shot, lots of out of focus, which works so well, most important is in focus eye, it has a gorgeous stream of side sunlight on the right, bringing wonderful highlights to the mainly in shadow face, and the somewhat haphazard lettering is excellent, and well placed too.

Of these 17 songs, the one's that caught my eye / ears the most were 2-3 & 14, and i would like to talk about each here,
2 Black Crow [2:37] - She plays banjo, and sings about social and political issues, this track is really sparse just Holland singing and playing her banjo, there's a degree of talk-singing, very much the style of old Folk, yes i like the banjo, and i like the middle instrumental refrain [1:26-1:43], it's well played, and well recorded, her voice is marvellously caught as well, even though she does do covers, this isn't the one by Joni Mitchell. 
3 Levi Stubbs Tears [3:40] - A Billy Bragg song, still sparse, some nice guitar work going on here, about a lonely woman, runs away from home, marries too young, gets injured by her husband, ends up alone, it's the 'ordinariness' of the everyday that really gets to me, most people sing about something profound, but this songs hits you with lyrics like 'she takes off the Four Tops tape, and puts it back in its case', huh?, really important stuff, especially since the previous verse she got shot by her Husband!, sounds like two guitars here, making a beautiful noise, i love the way the beginning chords start up again halfway through [2:16+], a glorious moment of repetition, incidentally Levi Stubbs was the lead singer of the Four Tops, still not exactly sure what his tears are though!.
14 Company Policy [3:14] - Banjo again, and with a gentle tapping percussion, it's a Martin Carthy song, sounds like a song about the Falklands War, and some girl's love died in battle, references Margaret Thatcher at the end too, a nice lilt to the song, twelve lovely verses, best lyric 'an empty shell pressed to my ear, the only sound is the sound of cash'.

This album makes me want to explore other Artists more, especially Billy Bragg.

Various Artists [The Summer Of Love] 

Surprisingly this is the first outing for this disc in my Blog, it seems to be compiled just right, a nice eclectic mix of the songs of the era, 'The Summer Of Love' was a gathering in San Francisco in the summer of 1967, spawning the hippie revolution, flower power, and free love, the tracks on this disc range from 1965-1970, only the Joe Cocker track is really out of place, there's certainly an American bent to the album, with 7 American No1's, and 5 UK No1's, and even though i was born in 1961, this album still takes me back to the nostalgia of those open and free times, and it's great music too.

This disc was released in 1990, the front cover is a photo of a white dove in flight, the tail feathers nicely caught, and the wings nicely blurred, a great action shot showing movement, the background is a nice deep blue, but darker at the bottom as in real life, the album title lettering is written over the CND symbol, and the whole thing looks great.

The tracks that i really enjoyed were 2, 6-7 & 9, and here's a synopsis of each,
2 The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man, The only track on this disc to get to No1 on both sides of the Atlantic, it's a Bob Dylan song, and must have made him a fortune in royalties, it has Beach Boys type harmonies, twangy guitars, and i love the use of that first twang of the bass [0:04], the lyrics are quite silly ['in the jingle jangle morning i'll come following you', what!!, what's a jingle jangle morning?], the whole song barely goes beyond 2 minutes, so only one verse sandwiched between two chorus's, but it's certainly better than the Bob Dylan original.
6 Scott McKenzie - San Francisco, The song that stuck in my head the most, now i just love the use of the glockenspiel, it just adds to the twang of the acoustic guitars, and the opening vocals are just heavenly, such a great tune [0:07+], the middle part of the song changes from sweet and lyrical to more serious [1:18-1:50], and i just love the way that tubular bells start to chime, and a secondary change begins [2:26-2:37] with a monotonous bass twang, but it soon turns into the lovely fadeout.
7 Flowerpot Men - Let's Go To San Francisco, More Beach Boys harmonies, and another great tune, the wordless terraced harmonies near the end are great [2:15-2:40], and the following 'lets go, lets go...' afterwards.
9 Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction, I always thought this was a Bob Dylan protest song, like 'Blowing In The Wind' or something, gruff vocals and war propaganda, great lyrics 'You're old enough to kill, but not for voting', and 'Hate your next door neighbour, but don't forget to say grace', a nice compilation.

Runrig [Amazing Things] 

I can't believe this is the first outing for this disc in my Blog, it's one of my most favourite Folk Rock discs, easily getting in my top 50, Runrig were a band i saw in Our Price Records [remember them?], and they had a deal called 'no risk disc', you bought the disc, and if you didn't like it you could bring it back within a week, i bought this disc on that understanding, and of course i never took it back [the whole point really, to sell something they otherwise wouldn't], but Runrig were a band that i had my eye on anyway, they sing a few songs in Gaelic, and they have that slight Scottish brogue, their real skill is creating excellent melodies that are far from mere Pop music, think of a Scottish version of Crowded House, i never seemed to be able to get into any of their other albums, quite a one off disc. 

Runrig are a Scottish Folk Rock band, formed in 1973, they are still going strong today, though they now have a new Lead Singer than the one here, they made this album in 1993, the front cover shows a sculpture by Jake Harvey, only the top right quarter is shown, on the back it shows the whole sculpture, i like it a lot, showing many elements of things, i think it's made out of wood, though it could be brass, the band name and the album title are written around the black edging, a really nice effect.

On this listen i found tracks 1, 3-4 & 6-8 to be fantastic, Runrig have made an album that is certainly not a few killer tracks, and all the rest is filler, there's a high level of invention here, ultimately the best track for me was the title track 'Amazing Things', the song starts off with the accordion making sour notes, and at points it sounds like the beginning of 'In The Light' by Led Zeppelin, but with a beat, i love that accordion sound [0:05-0:25+], right at the end of the first verse, there's some nice imagery in the lyrics,

Through stench and starvation, night never falls

There's flies on the skeletons, shapes on the wall

after the chorus, comes in the electronic midi-bagpipes [1:06+], and the second verse is decidedly a notch louder and upbeat, the tribal drumming really gets going here [1:15+], and that Scottish Military Tattoo feel really gets going [2:21-2:38], with the mock sound of bagpipes, the next chorus is sung with only the tribal drumming [3:11+], right at the end the singing and music fades out, leaving us with only the hard military drumming [4:00-4:17], i really like this ending, plus it just abruptly ends, very nice and final.

Here's Runrig singing 'Amazing Things' on YouTube.

Mary Black [Babes In The Wood]

I first heard Mary Black on the radio, i'm sure it was Radio 2, and it was the opening track on this disc, and straightway i went to the Library and hired out a cassette of this album, and of course liked it so much that i bought myself the disc, this was in 1993, it's a lovely Folk / Pop album, and she's got such a wonderful voice, i've tried other albums by her, but they just don't work for me, she isn't a Songwriter herself, she sings other peoples songs, but she really makes them come alive.

Mary Black is Irish, she's now 56, originally she started singing traditional Irish songs, but she developed into more contemporary fare, she recorded this disc in 1991.

Mary Black is very much like a Singer / Songwriter, her solo albums have the feel of being her own work, maybe that's the effect that taking a song and transforming it into her own creation makes, i really enjoyed the songs 1-3, 5, 8-9 & 12, and it's track 8 'Adam At The Window' that i'm always stunned by, the opening has a lovely sparse use of acoustic guitar [Declan Sinnott], and an even more judicious use of the piano [Pat Crowley], but it's Mary Black's delivery that conjures up the sights and smells of the song, 

Adam's at the window

staring at the apple trees on fire

waiting for the windfall

that brings the smile of kings and their desire 

It's in the second verse that the bongos start [Noel Bridgeman], and the music goes up a notch, lovely drizzle of piano [and Pat Crowley really gives the whole album a sense of dappling sunlight], and he plays the piano almost in an ad lib fashion, a smattering here and there to give atmosphere, at the end of the song there's a tease of a fourth verse, but really it's just the opening of the first verse 'Adams at the window'..., and tails off to a close, a nice inventive ending. 

Here's Mary Black singing 'Adam At The Window' on YouTube.

Nic Jones [Penguin Eggs]

Ah, now here's one of my few Folk discs, i don't have many, and i find it hard to really delve into this area as it's not a genre that i naturally warm to, i discovered Nic Jones on a Folk compilation album that i bought years ago and i no longer have, these were cheap discs that served as an introduction to a whole load of possible Artists, i would listen to the album, sort out Artists / Bands that were worth exploring further, and buy a few discs by the respective Artists, the original compilation would have no further use, this is how i got to discover Nic Jones with his Canadee-I-O.

Various Artists [Shelter - The Best Of Contemporary Singer Songwriters]

This is a double disc set, a digipak gatefold thing, on the whole i hate these things as there's no plastic to protect the card cover, but this is a good set, i bought this expressly because it has a whole load of very interesting Artists, and the idea was to use this album as a springboard to delve into the most interesting Artists on these discs, and even though i've done some of that, i actually find that this is a worthy album to keep for its own sake, there's almost a concept to the whole thing, and the inner booklet provides a really good biography of the Artists, and their prospective albums. 

This album was the brainchild of Dan Storper, collecting together 28 contemporary Singers, who mainly write their own material, there's a certain World Music feel to the front cover [artwork by Nicola Heindl], 18 windows of different simple images, mainly revolving around music, and also in wonderful bright colours, with a wood grain effect on the back, the Artists / track listings nicely stand out, one gripe is there's no track numbers, makes it hard to know what song you're listening to, but i added tracj listings with my own pen. 

Well what can i say about some of these tracks?, my favourites are 2, 4-5, 7-8, 10, 13-14, 16, 19-20, & 24-26, with the very best being 4 & 19-20, and again i would like to give a short synopsis of these three tracks,
4 Pierce Pettis - No More Sad Songs, 
19 Ellis Paul - Last At The Table, 
20  Patty Larkin - Island Of Time,