This review is written by Dai Woosnam,daigress@hotmail.com, 10/06
Do you know how it is when you get a new box of wine gums on Christmas Day?
Don’t you want to just SCOFF all the black ones, and leave all
the other colours for the visitors who arrive on Boxing Day?
But you don’t, because it is against the Christmas spirit somehow.
However one Christmas I accidentally did something far worse. Rather
than commit the “raiding the wine gums” equivalent on a giant box of
chocolates (still beribboned and glowing in its cellophane), I decided
to resist going for a swift commando raid on the Caramel and the
Turkish Delight. Instead I put the whole box away for several months,
until my birthday fell the following summer.
Such self control! My Orson Welles waistline of today, is
living proof that such self-restraint is not a regular trait of mine!
But that said, occasionally I can surprise myself with my degree of discipline. Take this album for instance.
It arrived on my desk quite a while ago. It was as you will see
above - from this fine duo based in Minneapolis. And thereby hangs a
tale.
You see, about 54 months ago, I reviewed a rather wonderful previous CD of theirs.
http://www.icogitate.com/~celticfolkmusic/fr-CurtisandLoretta.htm
What a charming album that proved. Real healing balm for the soul.
Even BEFORE you play it.
For as you will see if you read that review, these people are the
ABSOLUTE MASTERS in knowing how to present an album for review. I swear
to God that the Archbishop of Canterbury did not put the Crown on to
the young Queen Elizabeth’s head back in 1953 with any more reverence
than Loretta presents her new CD to potential reviewers.
And with this new album, their impeccable standards of presentation have not been lowered one iota.
So what has this got to do with boxes of wine gums/chocolates, you ask?
Easy. This CD of theirs was just as tempting.
I have had it an age on my desk, with it almost IMPLORING me to open up
the ever-so-stylish packaging. But I have stood fast. After all, I
always tell the often doomed aspirants out there, that I
have a policy of reviewing CDs strictly in the order they are sent me.
So, I really HAVE to look at myself in the mirror and say NO to my
cravings, sometimes.
But three days ago, the witching hour came when Curtis & Loretta
got to the top of the pile, and golly, I have SO enjoyed the last three
days.
Unlike their last album I reviewed, which concentrated on traditional
songs from the British Isles (I refuse to be politically correct and
call it “songs from the UK and the Republic of Ireland”, because it is
a GEOGRAPHICAL name and not a POLITICAL one!), this album features at
least 50 % self-penned material (usually by Loretta) plus one or two of
the great Folk “standards”.
And it is a delight from start to finish.Stop! Strike that word
“delight”. There are moments when you feel the tears start to
well-up.
But generally the mood is upbeat and they pull off with aplomb most of what they attempt.
Where to begin? Well like my famous fellow-Welshman said “To begin at
the beginning”. Track 1 sees the duo setting out their stall. Showing
you how well their voices blend: her voice could be taken for Anne
Hills (and on a good day at that!) and his is a curious mix of Andy
Irvine crossed with Burl Ives.
A good song that welcomes you into the record and tells you that you needn’t take your shoes off.
But it is track 4 that sees the album really come alive with a very
moving tribute to her dad (and mum indeed). The words really
register.
Melodically perhaps it is in need of a stronger tune, but then
I think that this somewhat indistinct melody is PERFECTLY expressive of
the blurred edges that come with Alzheimer’s.
A real masterstroke is track 8. Now, normally, I would be tearing a
strip off Curtis and Loretta for having the chutzpah to call a 21
second slot a “track”. After all, I have just reviewed an album which
sees Dave Swarbrick asking in live performance “How are we doing for
time?”, and those bounders have the audacity to call it a track!!
(There was another similar little stunt pulled on the same CD. And all
it ends up doing, is making some po-faced professional complainant take
the CD to his local Trading Standards Office and accuse the label of
trying to claim two more tracks for the album than were actually there!)
But, as I say, Curtis & Loretta are exonerated here. Why? Well
their 21 seconds is just the inspired and indeed MAGICAL use of a
voicemail message. And WHAT a voicemail message!
Whether it was the fact that I have just come back from visiting that
hell-on-earth of a place called Auschwitz, I know not, but one thing
for sure, the voicemail touched my heart. It was the message of a
now-octogenarian heroine of a death camp of WW2, who had just made
contact for the first time ever to say that she had so liked the song
that Loretta had written about her.
And then we come to Track 9, that very song, made even more poignant by its juxtapositioning with the phone message.
But it is track 11 that sees the album reach its artistic zenith.
“Harps in Heaven” sees Loretta really write a gem: and more to the
point, the duo deliver it with brio (helped by Sandy Njoes on bass
fiddle and Bill Philipp on banjo and accordion). A hugely catchy tune,
and boy, can she not play that Celtic harp!!
(Incidentally, I love her upper-class English accent for the gatekeeper
at the Pearly Gates! That is ME roasted then when it comes to my turn,
what with my South Wales Valleys’ accent!)
The other song that pushes track 11 close for the Palme d’or, is track 13.
A really authentic bluegrass sound with Peter Ostroushko in fine fettle with his fiddle.
Any quibbles? Well, the liner notes are I feel a bit wasted. How come?
Well, like everything to do with this classy duo, they are handsomely
produced with black print on a white background. No stupid “myriad
colours in the background” for them (thus meaning the whole thing would
become impossible to read!)
No, the liner notes have the HIGHEST production values. Pity is, that they are wasted with lyrics.
Look, if my house was on fire and I needed someone to rattle my address
down the phone to the fire brigade ultra quickly, then ‘tis these two I
would choose!
Their diction is top-drawer. Thus, the space used by lyrics would have been better used by the duo talking more about each song.
But that is a minor caveat. Otherwise, I can hardly fault the album.
Buy it from the artistes direct. You will not go wrong.
Dai Woosnam
daigress@hotmail.com
Track List:
LS = Loretta Simonet
CT = Curtis Teague
Copyright © 1998-2008 Kevin & Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews. All rights reserved.
Ownership, copyright and title of this folk music CD review belongs to me, Dai Woosnam. Ownership, copyright and title are not transferable or assignable to you or other parties regardless of how or if you or other parties use, copy, save, backup, store, retrieve, transmit, display, publish, modify or share the CD review in whole or in part. Please read the "Terms, Conditions and Disclaimer" section on my web site for additional information about using, quoting, or reprinting this CD review.
Return to Kevin and Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews home page.
To return to the last web page you visited, click the "Back" button that appears immediately below: