Folk & Country > Singer/Songwriter Folk & Country > by Studio / Live

Eat this!

Advantages: Some great tracks
Disadvantages: Dreary packaging-- be best if you download the album!

Hailed by many as the new Bob Dylan, Willy Mason sure has a lot of weight to bare on his shoulders with this album debut. It's a little bit folky, a little bit country, a little bit rock; but all of it is very Willy Mason. One of my favourite things about this album is the fact it sounds so natural and unproduced, but in a good way. It does lack polish, but this is what makes it all the more likable. Part of this comes from Mason's voice, which ...
...out of time with the glorious music he is playing. This is not the only thing that people have compared to Dylan. Mason's lyrics also have a sense of urgency and passion which I haven't heard the likes of in a while. There are political undercurrents sprinkled through the album; on one song he may be criticizing George Bush (this is hardly original, but the way he does it definitely is) and on another he bemoans the priveleged, American middle classes ...

Rosebud1985 18.07.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Where The Humans Eat - Willy Mason

Get Demented!

Advantages: Pure unaffected Singer
Disadvantages: Her voice will not appeal to everyone

Infamous Angel 1992 I've always enjoyed singers with unique voices Iris Dement would definitely fit in that category, her voice is pure unaffected and can send a shiver up your spine like few present day singers. That said her voice is not for everyone, my wife for one can't stand her, no accounting for taste! Anyway I think this is a suburb album by one of the best current female country artists. To label Iris simply as a country artist would ...
...style and sound. The emotion she can put into a song is breathtaking especially the brilliant "Our Town" which will appeal to anyone who comes from a small town which has seen better times. This is not a commercial country album the instrumentation mainly acoustic is traditional and the harmonies are right out of the 1950's. Think 'Oh Brother, where Art Thou' soundtrack' to get some idea of the instrumentation. All Iris's songs cover traditional ...

sigmatech 23.11.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Infamous Angel - Iris DeMent

Bound to make you both happy and sad

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

Every review I've ever read about Jeff Buckley tells what a great singer he was. Well he got it from his dad, Tim, and whatever was in the Buckley family vocal genes I'd like to have some of that too please. This album, originally released on that great old LA label Elektra in 1969, and co-produced by The Lovin' Spoonful's duo of Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, is one sweet, sweet trip through the extraordinary vocal talents of this man. Born in ...
...lady on 30 June 1975. Oh, the good ones they do die young. Buckley had an amazing range, going right from falsetto all the way down to a deep snarl. I don't think I've ever heard a male singer capable of doing the same. Yes, so much of this album sounds like the boys just set out camp in the San Francisco panhandle, smoked some dope and dropped some acid, then got on with the business of making a record, but remember this was 1968! Paris was burning, ...

pinkmatchstick 17.06.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Happy Sad - Tim Buckley

A suitable case for investigation

Advantages: Always entertaining, sometimes hilarious
Disadvantages: No real disadvantages

Ivor Cutler's third album for Virgin, originally released on vinyl in 1976, continues his highly idiosyncratic trawl through life with the usual mixture of tall tales, some presented as unaccompanied prose speech, others sung (although the word is used advisedly) with piano or harmonium. It's a long way from the hippie Virgin fare of that era - only his labelmate Robert Wyatt (with whom Cutler collaborated on "Rock Bottom") comes remotely close. ...
...more accurate reference points. Ever the miniaturist, Cutler crams over thirty vignettes into the album. The perpetual "Life in a Scotch Sitting Room" has two more extracts included here, both of which are wonderfully bizarre evocations of a childhood of porridge, country walks and learning about the development of Glasgow's sewage system. Of the songs, "Rubber Toy", where Cutler parodies his Jewish upbringing with a Topol-style wail, and "Everybody ...

wiseowl96 30.03.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Jammy Smears - Ivor Cutler

Two Buckley albums for the price of one.

Advantages: Lyircal completeness, 2 albums in one
Disadvantages: Not everyone likes this sort of thing

...of the album taken from Tim Buckley, his first album. Both these albums have the story telling magic of lyricist/poet Larry Beckett, and the vocal's and musical wizardry of Tim Buckley. Tim's music was (early in his career) knwon for a strong and atheletic voice capable of reaching any high's or low's, and is said to have had a 5 octave voice. Track listing 1. I Can't See You 2. Wings 3. Song Of The Magician 4. Strange Street Affair Under Blue ...
...but astonishing lyrics about how Tim left his wife. Although not the greatest of subjects perhaps, the lyrics give the song a soft and easy feel of love of the mother of his child, but also a feeling that he can't go back to her. Beckett's lyrics here really do stand apart from most lyricist's since. A song anyone would be proud to do a half decent cover of, due to how well Buckley produces the goods. 10/10 Song of the magician, The simple musical ...

iamasadlittleboy 22.06.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Tim Buckley/Goodbye And Hello - Tim Buckley