Shawn Colvin [Cover Girl]

This is my favourite Shawn Colvin disc, as the title suggests, this is a covers album, Colvin singing other peoples songs, none of them are particularly 'famous', apart from the first track maybe, she started out singing other peoples songs, and she still likes to sing the odd song live, so it made sense for her to do a whole albums worth, it was a great idea, what makes this disc extra special is that she goes off the beaten track with some of her own personal favourites, it therefore also doubles as a great exploratory disc, there's Artists and songs you can check out, and further your musical searches and loves, Colvin recorded half of these tracks in the studio, and the other half live [they're mixed up, rather than first half studio, second half live], usually this is a recipe for recording disaster, but here it works seamlessly with aplomb, i love the live involvement, most songs are wonderful gems, the instrumentation is fairly acoustic and intimate, this resides roughly at No 50 in my all time favourite discs.

Shawn Colvin is American, born in 1956, making her 55 today, she recorded this album in 1994, the photography throughout the booklet is by Cathrine Wessel, the booklet is a foldout six page long affair, with Colvin regaling her experiences with each song.

Playing this disc again was a beautiful experience, the album has a lovely variety to it, i so much enjoyed the late middle of the album, tracks 8-10, here she gets really intimate and emotional, and i would like to give a synopsis of these three songs,

8 Someday - a Steve Earle song, i originally heard the Earle version first, and the Colvin version is quite similar, maybe Steve Earle sings it more like 'i'm tired of this place, and i just want to get out!', Colvin is a bit more restrained,

9 Twilight - 

10 If These Walls Could Speak - 

Various Artists [It's Electric]

Here's a disc i bought from a second hand shop in London in the mid Nineties, it's featured fairly heavy rotation in my disc player, it is in fact the original first 'Electronic' hits compilation album i bought, and this spawned interest / acquiring a whole load of others, every one of these hits is a classic, not a dud in sight, it's the near perfect Electric anthology, and everytime i play it i'm wowed by the sheer invention of the music, those were the years [late Seventies to the mid Eighties] when the Pop charts had really decent music, this disc is in my all time top 100 discs, i played this over the park as i watched the world go by.

The tracks that really hit me were 2, 12-13 15 & 19, i'm 'shocked' at the genius of layers in a lot of these tracks, so multifaceted, here's a synopsis of each of these tracks,

2 Kraftwerk - The Model, lovely electronics, i think all the instruments on this track are electronic, even though there's drum machines hit with sticks, only the voice is human, a very simple song, sung in the German accented English, and i just love those simple lyrics, almost silly robotic words, but they fit the music perfectly, Kraftwerk are a quartet, and it sounds like four computers, rather like Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass sounding, and the different layers are superb, i like the way the vocalist has to fit maa-gazine to the music! [2:52], and the final outro synth is really satisfying [3:21+].  

12 Talk Talk - It's My Life, the intro sounds like jungle synth sounds over a chugging beat, the vocals are quite lazy sounding, the chorus is fantastic, the synths go into the treble, and the voice rises up an angry level, right at the end the chorus is repeated twice, and it really develops an intensity.

13 Tears For Fears - Mad World, this time the intro is less than inspired, but the chorus is the best thing, it has a nice intensity to it, right at the very end there's this tambourine outro [3:26-3:31], strange yet enjoyable.

15 Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric, 

19 Ultravox - Vienna, 

Kathryn Williams [Old Low Light]

This album was a lovely revelation today, i went to the park to write in my Journal today, and i took this disc with me, it's only the second time i've played it, the first time i felt 'hey!, there's really something special here', but on a first listen you just can't truly peel away the layers properly, but on a second listen it starts to reveal its beauty, there's a promotional sticker on the front of the plastic case which says 'a sly little fox of an album' from Q Magazine, and that really sums it up, it slyly slips into your heart in an unnoticeable way, it doesn't grab you by the lapels and beat you into submission, the third listen should be phenomenal, here we have an album that could become truly cherishable to me.

Kathryn Williams was born in 1974 in Liverpool England, making her 37 now, she released this album in 2002, it's her third album, i take it the cover photograph [by Margaret Williams] is of herself with her Mother, so must have been late Seventies, one of those matte / vinyl type holiday snaps, i like it, it's as unassuming as the album, a clever creative shot with lots of interest, and a 'faraway / yesterday' feel to it.

So on to the music, like i mentioned before, certain tracks take more time than others to 'conquer', but already my faves seem to be tracks 3 & 5, and i can see others begin to reveal up their treasures, it's a very acoustic album, i find it has parallels with Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily, the acoustic Double Bassist Jonny Bridgwood seems to have a prominent place on the album, and there's a tendency to hear Jazz instrumentation here and there [though not Jazz music particularly], so let me give a synopsis of these two tracks,
3 Mirrorball - this is my favourite track so far, there's a 4 second percussive intro, barely audible, but when the piano / bass / percussion instruments start, it's like a lovely explosion of melody [0:00-0:14], a tremendous start to the song, Kathryn Williams voice is soft and mesmerizing, the percussion perfectly compliments the lyrics / voice, like a wheel ticking away with something gently striking the spokes, lovely acoustic guitar, you can hear the influences of Nick Drake, where she dips into the minor key, the second verse is another lovely kick [2:02+], and the opening lyrics are meaningful and esoteric, 'moonlight is so overrated, complete darkness is so embracive', you can hear the fingers moving on the guitar fret [2:28+], right at the end the piano along with the percussion takes us out on a down to silence outro [4:43-5:06].
5 Daydream And Saunter - here's the track where the Double Bassist must have learnt a trick or two from Jazz, a lazy yet very acoustic intro [0:00-0:26], there's a delicious reverberant twang at [0:06-0:08] absolutely stunning!, with an atmospheric muted trumpet from Graham Hardy, 'i know there's no more in you than you', 

Here's some samples from the album from the Kazaa website.

Brahms - Piano Concerto 1 [Donohoe/ Svetlanov-The Philharmonia]

Brahms,s original old warhorse, dubbed by some as 'the Symphony for piano and orchestra', and this work showed the world his credentials, a major orchestral statement, in the minor [D Minor, my favourite key], i've played this so much [mainly Brendel], but i still find something new and wonderful each time.

Peter Donohoe is English, now 58 years old, he recorded this work in 1989, the booklet front cover is wonderfully creative and inventive, a silhouette [by Tobi Corney], with a green hue over everything, the lettering nicely over the dark piano.

The first movement is phenomenal, it has this agitated darkness, full of trauma, even anger, the opening orchestral introduction uses a timpani flourish, and violins that sound anguished [0:00-0:57], but it quiets down into a string bleakness [0:57-1:44], but the orchestra erupts again as at the start [2:31-3:36], this time there's even more ferocity, and especially the violins are really on their toes [3:03-3:25], so it takes three and a half minutes before the piano comes in, just goes to show what a mammoth  movement it is [nearly 22 minutes here], and you can certainly hear the beginnings of a Symphony in this orchestral introduction, but Brahms wasn't ready just yet,

Here's Leon Fleisher playing the first movement on YouTube.