James
Delaney; Pawel Grudzien. Instruments not
listed but I heard tenor sax, keys, guitar, trumpet, pedal steel guitar. Album recorded live in Galway, Sydney and The Olympia Theatre, Dublin
(Review
by Ann Alex)
Yet another CD that I
feel privileged to review. I was given
this album at the Mary Coughlan concert at Caedmon last week. I had gone there with some trepidation as
Mary Coughlan is a sort of ex-folkie so I didn’t know what to expect. What a marvellously powerful performance – I
couldn't help but warm to this woman’s strength and enthusiasm, and the CD is
no disappointment either.
Mostly sad songs, as at
the concert (quote from Mary ‘I don’t do many happy songs’) but worthwhile
songs sung with such power, such as Magdalen
Laundry, about the Irish laundries where ‘wayward’ girls were made to do
laundry for the Catholic church, with its note-bending pedal steel guitar
accompaniment. My Land Is Too Green, a searing criticism of
The mood is lighter for the jazzy opening
track, Cole Porter’s Laziest Girl, and
for Nobody’s Business done as a
danceable tango, and tender for Jacques Brel’s Hearts. Other notable tracks (all 16 are notable really) are Heartbreak Hotel, done as a slow ballad
nothing like Elvis’s version, so the listener gets a chance to notice the
lyrics, for example the graphic ‘ the desk clerk’s dressed in black’. This lady certainly knows how to choose good
songs, and because this album is recorded live, we get the immediate feel of
audience response. And the musicians are
superb, skilled tenor sax and trumpet and flowing keys, with a jazzy feel on
most tracks even though just a few tracks are actually jazz tunes. The CD is rounded off with a heartfelt
version of Joy Division’s song of faded love Love Will Tear Us Apart.
I suppose this album was
released ages ago, on Hail Mary Records (get the joke?)
Ann Alex.
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