Mary Gauthier - Rifles & Rosary Beads

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A fine, important album

This is a very powerful album from the great Mary Gauthier.  The material here was written in collaboration with US military veterans and the result is something rather special in its way.

Gauthier has always been a remarkable songwriter; such intimate work with people whose real experience she wants to express means that the songs here are some of her most raw and heartfelt – which, after albums like The Foundling and Trouble & Love is really saying something.  She captures here the internal experiences of war, but also of returning to the psychological challenge and sometimes devastation of the aftermath.  We get a variety of experience and a fine collection of songs; for me, two of the most striking are Brothers and Iraq, which deal with the experience of women soldiers among a predominantly male cohort.  They are both unsettling and brilliant, I think, and the rest of the album is in the same class.

Musically, this is unmistakeably Mary Gauthier, with her trademark straightforward, powerful tunes.  (The opener, Soldiering On, carries more than an echo of both Blood Is Blood and Trouble & Love, but that's fine by me.)  The lyrics don't always reach her normal exceptional standard because they come from other, less experienced sources, but in the context that doesn’t matter one bit to me.  In Morphine 1-2, for example, lines like "She was a fearless pilot with a heart of gold," aren't great lyric-writing, but the song is nonetheless moving and powerful – possibly more so because some slightly inexpert phrases remind us that it comes from a heart which has genuinely felt these things.

Rifles & Rosary Beads isn't an easy, relaxing listen, but it's a really rewarding one.  It's Mary Gauthier at her best, doing something she truly believes in, working with people whose stories she wants to help them express.  It's a very fine (and important) album which I can recommend very warmly.

(For another very fine album on this theme I would also strongly recommend War Surplus by Becky Warren, one of my favourite albums of 2017:

  )

Doc Watson - Good Deal! Doc Watson in Nashville

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Guitar brilliance

I have yet to hear a Doc Watson album which is anything short of brilliant, and this is well up to standard.  Here we have Doc playing some country/bluegrass with a group of Nashville's finest session musicians in 1968 – which means some of the finest musicians anywhere.  It's a pleasure from start to finish; there's a good mixture of instrumentals and songs (which find Doc in very good voice) and as always it's his breathtaking guitar work which stands out. 

Listening to this I'm either smiling or have my mouth hanging open in wonder at the sheer genius of his playing.  It's not just the breathtaking speed and dexterity (although that would be enough in itself) but he just makes those lightning licks sound so effortlessly joyful.  There's perfection in the rhythm and phrasing and just a simple delight throughout, somehow.  For me, country guitar doesn't come much better than this.

In short, this is an absolute gem of an album and very, very warmly recommended.

Trees - On The Shore

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Still a very fine album

On The Shore remains a very fine album.  I still own and treasure my old vinyl copy which I bought in the early 70s after I was transfixed by hearing Murdoch on the radio. 

The album is a mixture of traditional and newly composed songs.  It's all good and at its best it is quite outstanding.  Celia Humphris' slightly aetherial vocals and the excellent Bias Boshell's musical inspiration give it a lovely overall feel and the musicianship is excellent.  Murdoch is still a superbly atmospheric song, there's a simply beautiful version of Geordie and Sally Free And Easy is simply stunning – the final verse, "Think I'll wait till sunset…" gives me goosebumps every single time.  And so on.

Don't miss this album if you like early 70s folky stuff with a bit of a rocky feel.  It really is a bit of class and very warmly recommended.

Tampa Red - Bottleneck Guitar 1928-1937

Rating: 5/5

Review
A terrific collection

This is a terrific collection of some of Tampa Red's recordings from 1928 to 1937.  There's a variety here, with Red playing with his own band and collaborating with others like Ma Rainey, Frankie Jaxon and others.  The music is a mixture of solid blues, ragtime, jug band and even boogie piano, but it all features Tampa Red's superb bottleneck work

The sound quality is good considering the age of these recordings; there is obviously some hiss and crackle but it's never too intrusive and the whole disc is just a pleasure to listen to.  Much of the time I can't help smiling with sheer enjoyment.  In short, it's a great disc and very warmly recommended.

JJ Cale - Naturally

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Brilliant

Back in the 70s sometime, a friend of mine waved a copy of Naturally at me and said "You'll like this."  I hated the cover (I still do) and expected to hate the album, but he put on Side 2; a few bars into Crazy Mama I was hooked, during After Midnight I realised that I was in love and after River Runs Deep I was a lifetime fan.  Quite simply, the man is a brilliant songwriter, a fine singer and beneath the laid-back sound is a truly great guitarist with a lovely, lovely touch.

Naturally remains a classic album for me.  Great songs, superb performances and an atmosphere of Southern cool which few can match.  No wonder people like Eric Clapton regard him as a major influence.  This is sheer class and a hugely enjoyable listen.  Very, very warmly recommended.

Chuck Berry - St Louis to Liverpool

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Still a very good album

This remains a very good album.  It's the 1964 release with three bonus tracks, none of which, frankly, add much to the original.  On that there are some incomparable classics like No Particular Place To Go, Promised Land and You Never Can Tell, with a good deal of very decent blues with a distinct Berry feel.  There are one or two weaker tracks like the opener, Little Marie – it's a sequel to the brilliant Memphis, Tennessee but isn’t in the same league at all.

However, almost every album has its weak spots and overall this is a very fine release which stands up well after more than half a century.  It's a true great of Rock & Roll doing some great things, the sound is very good and I can recommend this warmly.

Various Artists - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell

Rating: 2/5

Review:
A real mixed bag

This album is a very mixed bag.

The contributions here range from the excellent Prince version of A Case Of You which is full of soul, meaning and respect, to the absolutely dire Bjork atrocity of the Boho Dance – all about Bjork being winsome and quirky and with a self-absorbed contempt for Joni Mitchell's depth, subtlety and extraordinary musical creativity.  From the sublime to the ridiculous indeed.  In between we get very good versions of The Magdalene Laundries from Emmylou Harris and Blue by Sarah McLaghlan, pretty ordinary contributions from people I'd expect to do far better like Annie Lennox, k.d. lang and James Taylor, and some frankly poor, mannered stuff from several others including Elvis Costello.

So, for me a real curate's egg of an album which I can't really recommend overall, in spite of three fine tracks.  The rest just isn't worth it.

Mary Hopkin - Earth Song, Ocean Song

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Still a very decent album

I was trying to be far too cool and into Traditional Folk Music (with capital letters, of course) to buy a Mary Hopkin album in 1971, while probably just being a pretentious 17-year-old pillock.  Such are the follies of youth, but I tried this now mainly because of the cast list of excellent musicians: Ralph McTell, Dave Cousins, the brilliant Danny Thompson and so on, plus Tony Visconti as producer.  It's not a classic and sounds slightly dated in places, but it's a good album.

Mary Hopkin was a good singer.  She's not one of the greats, but she had a very good voice and there's far more to her delivery than the rather winsome, innocent, once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-tavern impression she has left on a lot of us.  There is some good material here and she delivers it very well; There's Got To Be More sounds sincere and pretty powerful, for example (and also features some terrific bass playing from Danny Thompson) and there is plenty more on this album to make me take notice.

If you're interested in the more folky sound of the early 70s, I think this is well worth a try.  There are some good songs sung by a more-than-decent singer, with excellent backing musicians and production.  Recommended.