Description

Given how Alannah's second album Rockinghorse quickly hit the bargain bins, I was surprised Atlantic Records decided to keep her on for one more album. She was dropped after this third album, which from the getgo, has a stronger, more consistent sound overall. I get the sense of the wandering troubadour, hard-bitten lonely soul who's tasted life and all its bittersweet flavours. There are good songs here, and she even tries out some new sounds, such as folk and bluegrass, Celtic folk, and they work well for her.She does continue to explore the lonely evening night life and its adventures inmore… the blues rock of "Mistress of Erzulie," Erzulie being the Haitian goddess of love.She plays with folky blues in "Blow Wind Blow", which spells out more of life's maxims. "Life comes true/in spite of/everything we do/you gotta learn to laugh/when the joke is played on you." So for everyone, she raises a toast: "So may you never end/all my sweet and ragged friends/won't you raise your glasses, your voice/and your will to fight/cause your life belongs to you."Her sweeter voice comes through in the slow melodic blues of "Family Secret", about rumours that spring after a father's death and the mysterious woman that comes into his money, and how the truth is bent among the community. This sports the dark bluesy sound that made "Black Velvet" a hit, but given the subject matter, not something that would make a single.Rocking blues time with "Mother Nature", which sports mandolin and accordion like "Blow Wind Blow." She sings of how sweet Mother Nature tastes when two are in love, "like Tahitian orchids", according to her."Irish Rain" portrays the bleakness of an unfriendly Belfast, the guitar is accompanied by a tin whistle, bodhran, and melancholy fiddle, things one would find on an Enya, Maire Brennan, or early Corrs album."Dark Side Of Me" is another chugging blues number, made alive by Kurt Schefter's electric guitar."Lightning In A Bottle" utilizes a 50's skiffle beat , rolling acoustic guitar riffs during the refrain, in which she challenges how much someone is willing to embrace life and all its knocks: "Tell me, are you ready like a sparrow in a hurricane?"With a mandolin, banjo, and accordion, "Keeper Of My Heart" straddles folk, country, zydeco, and bluegrass, the chorus echoing a campfire sound reminding me of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime." Key line: "Remember who your princess is/your smile will be the guardian/of all my weaknesses." Definitely a standout cut."Do You Really Wanna Know Me": Gosh, one of those very important questions, right? Well, one of many she asks here. And Alannah asks them tenderly in a slow, quiet ballad featuring guitar, organ, accordion, and cello. "If I bare my soul, can you accept it all?", or "Do you know what makes me smile?" "Do you care what's inside?" A nice little ditty too great to be overplayed on FM."Everybody's Breaking Up"-how true that is today, be it seven year itch or mid-life crisis, "looks like love's in for a run of nasty weather." The overall reason is that "the tough are getting' goin' cause the goin's getting tough."Alannah then does a melancholy the Jaynetts' "Sally Go Round The Roses", which sports some Irish vileann pipes. She says the roses can't hurt, and then pleads with Sally not to go downtown because "the saddest thing in the whole wide world/is to see your baby with another girl."There are a few songs that are merely okay, but on the whole, with that voice that goes from rough and bluesy to sweet and melodic, she's got it. Slow blues, rocking blues, folk, bluegrass, Celtic music, this is quite an eclectic mix for Alannah Myles.

Tracks

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Info:

Category:

Music > Albums

Case Type:

CD

Release Type:

Retail

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Alannah Myles - Alannah (1995) Retail CD

Part:

Inside

Dimensions:

1434 x 1427 px

Size:

400 KB

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Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

15/05/07 by Donski

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