What does it sound like?:

One of the great things about music is when you unexpectedly discover an album that completely takes you by surprise. 1988 is one of this records. It bushwhacked me. While I expected to like it, what I have found is that it goes well beyond liking. It has overwhelmed me and I love it madly.

It’s clearly an album that has passed most music magazines by, because it’s not in their top albums of the year, though I think it should be.

McKenna’s name is probably unknown to many readers here. I was aware of her for years because she is an artist who regularly popped up on Bob Harris’s radio programmes. She had never made too much of an impression on me. Back in 2016 she released an album titled The Bird And The Rifle. My wife was taken by something from it that Bob played and she bought the CD. Since then she’s got Lori’s albums as they have been released.

I then realised that maybe Bob had a point and she was worth listening to. I liked TBATR a lot as well as her last two albums; The Tree which came » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This isn’t a review of a new release as it came out in August. It is a review of what has probably turned out to be my favourite album of the year and as no-one else who posts to this site has looked at it, I feel compelled to review it.

I have been a fan of Mary Chapin Carpenter for some 30 years now (though I have to credit my wife with introducing her to me, after she bought the Shooting Straight In The Dark album). She released albums fairly regularly over the years, though after the peak of Stones In The Road in the mid 90s I would suggest she struggled for a long time to match that level of excellence.

Every album has had at least a couple of excellent songs on it, but her palette lacked the tonal variety of her best years and there were too many songs that were simply not memorable. There was little that excited me, though I persevered in the hope that her muse would return.

Indeed there was a huge change in 2016 when Dave Cobb produced her album The Things That We » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This record should come with a health warning along the lines “Contains tunes, choruses and hooks that will become embedded in your psyche, that will catch you unawares by springing to life at any time of day or night”.

Your Life Is A Record has been out for about six weeks now, but as it has become such a huge favourite in our house I felt I needed to share the love for it.

This is Brandy’s third studio album. Given that her first, 12 Stories came out in 2013, she’s not churning out material at any great rate. What that indicates, and that this collection of 11 songs amply demonstrates, is that she believes in quality not quantity. A thick seam of 24 carat gold permeates this record. One indicator for me of its excellence is that my wife will sing along with songs she especially likes (thankfully, unlike me, she has a good voice and can keep in tune) and I reckon I’ve heard her sing along to every song here.

Both 12 Stories and 2016’s Big Day In A Small Town presented songs that have similarities to Randy Newman (more of » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Here are the facts – this is a live recording of Judy Dyble and the Band Of Perfect Strangers. They are accompanied by the Ad Hoc strings. The performance was at St Barnabas’s Church in Cambridge, in September 2016.

I thought I had heard very little of Judy’s work. I’m sure I have heard her album as a member of Fairport Convention and probably some Trader Horne. Beyond that I thought I was ignorant, but according to Wikipedia (I don’t have any biography or sleeve notes to go with this) she retired from music in 1973, with a few appearances at Fairport reunions being her sole output until she returned to the music business in 2003. So it seems that there is not that much of a gap in my knowledge given that much of her catalogue since 2003 has only had limited release. Looking at Discogs the eight albums she has made since she returned in 2003 have been released on fairly obscure, independent labels.

So, potted history aside, what’s the album like, you want to know.

Can a record be too polite? In a song titled Silence, Judy sings (albeit with respect » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

At the age of 80 (she hit that milestone last May), at a time when some of her contemporaries are losing their voices and their creative wellspring is running dry, Judy Collins has produced a late career gem.

No doubt she would maintain her voice is not what it was, and I’m sure it must have lost some of the power of years long gone, yet it still sounds absolutely gorgeous, full of richness and pitched absolutely beautifully.

This collection is a collaboration, like her last release from a couple of years ago, Everybody Knows. This time, instead of the star billing with Stephen Stills, she is collaborating with the not particularly well known Jonas Fjeld. Chatham County Line also contribute, and I understand Fjeld has been a regular collaborator with them in recent years.

He sings in quite a husky baritone. He doesn’t have the greatest range, but he he contrasts nicely with Judy and they combine together to excellent effect. Let’s face it, Judy proved she can accommodate herself to all sorts, when she pioneered singing acapella along with the songs of humpback whales many years back on Farewell To Tarwathie.

Ostensibly » Continue Reading.