http://www.catherinehowe.co.uk
mail:gracenotes@virgin.net
This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 7/06
I am some 3 years Catherine’s senior, so I can
remember her the first time round. She achieved a modicum of fame here
in the Britain of the early 1970s and then disappeared off most
people’s radar. Why she disappeared is easy enough to explain: despite
promotion and tours with Andy Fairweather-Low, Chris de Burgh, David
Soul and later with Randy Edelman, the albums and singles didn't sell
enough.
So she returned from the big capital city of London, to that fine
Yorkshire town of Halifax, where she had a baby daughter (now grown to
be a young woman) and launched herself into a life of domesticity,
coupled with studying for an extramural university degree.
And now in 2006, she has returned to the big city and come up with an
album of her own songs that may well persuade some of us that a major
talent has been neglected. Certainly, Charles Donovan, Arts
Correspondent for Women & Home (who wrote the liner notes) is one
such. He goes on to liken her talent to the Laura Nyros and Carole
Kings of this world. He talks of her “naggingly enjoyable melodies and
scalpel-sharp lyrics”. [Here I swallow hard.]
Forget the “naggingly enjoyable melodies” for a moment (I am still
trying to get my head around that one). Let us zero-in on the
“scalpel-sharp lyrics”.
They ain’t.
What they these songs are, is a collection of well-crafted lyrics that
go some way to chronicling Catherine’s family’s move from the East End
of London to West Yorkshire (and in her case, back again) over 150
years with emigration to America thrown in. And the songs do not just
cover the GEOGRAPHICAL distance but the ever-changing EMOTIONAL ground
that such a period invariably contains.
The song lyrics contain good use of rhyme and rhythm. I salute her for
her effort. But come on please: let us retain terms like “scalpel-sharp
lyrics” for Cole Porter or Stephen Sondheim.
But, with those bees now firmly buzzed OUT of my bonnet, I can honestly
say that I really enjoyed the album. She has surrounded herself with
some tasty musicians, and producer Kevin Healy got it all together at
Grace Note Studios in Pinner, UK. Mentioning Kevin Healy, incidentally,
I should also add that he is responsible for all the musical
arrangements, and they are top-class.
And there inadvertently, I have hit on the word I would use to describe this album. CLASSY.
Catherine is a very pleasant singer, and she has a decent gift for
composing melody, even if it’s true to say that there is not one melody
here that you would really go to the barricades for.
Of the 13 songs, it was the last one, “Yorkshire Hills” that I found
the most arresting. A sort of updating and reworking of that great
traditional song “The Dalesman’s Litany”.
I wish the album well. I have played it a lot these past two weeks, and find it a sublime choice to chill-out to.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England
daigress@hotmail.com
Copyright © 1998-2008 Kevin & Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews. All rights reserved.
Ownership, copyright and title of this UK folk music CD review belongs to 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: