Rating: 5/5
Review:
Not a great album
This album has its merits, but I have reservations about it.
Willa Mamet has a nice voice and Paul Miller is a very
decent guitarist; they have taken a variety of songs and made what are
generally very pleasant recordings of them.
They have no accompaniment other than Miller's guitar, so it's a very
intimate, relaxed feel with some good harmonies and some very nice guitar work
on some songs like Wichita, for
example. As an album, though, this has
some pretty sever limitations. For example,
if I'd heard their version of The Eagles' Desperado in a club I'd have thought
it was a pretty good adaptation and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it's worth
repeated listening and the same is true of much of this record.
More seriously, they have changed the tune in Dimming Of the
Day. I think this is one of the most
beautiful songs of the last 40 years or so; the original Richard and Linda
Thompson recording is magnificent and Alison Krauss's cover is very good, too,
so it can be done well by others.
However, I find it hard to forgive the desecration of such a lovely tune
by changing it, presumably because Willa Mamet can't quite reach the high notes
they've altered. You don't do that to a
great song: as anyone who has performed at whatever level should know, if you
can't sing a song well, then don't sing it.
It's a shame, but there it is; you just have to find songs you can sing. I'm sorry to be harsh, but what they have
done here is just wrong.
Apart from Dimming Of The Day, there's nothing wrong with
this album but it's a bit ordinary to my ears.
Others may enjoy it more than I do, but I can only give it a rather
lukewarm recommendation.
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