Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See

MINE

I was really pleased the other morning that it was raining while I made my way to work, listening to Mazzy Star.  Not because I like the rain - dammit this is supposed to be summer - but because it reminded me of when I like to listen to music like this.  Which is curled up on the sofa with a good book, the rain coming down outside and me snug and warm inside.

It also made me think about my niece, who's recently left home, and is the first of the young 'uns to leave the nest.  She's all about the horses and a lot of her musical tastes run to the country.  So I thought to myself, YourZ and I ought to get together an alt-country playlist for her.  There's a bunch of stuff we've reviewed this year that fits nicely into that genre, including this band, Cowboy Junkies, Love Me, M Ward, Nations By the River... we could have fun!

Anyway, there's a bunch of things Hope Sandoval's voice got me thinking about - and that's another reason I love Mazzy Star.  It lets your mind wander in the best of ways.  Love it.

VERDICT:TURN IT UP

YOURZ

I don't think I ever noticed how much parts of this CD remind me of The Doors.  In a good way, too.  This album, while best known for the hit single, Fade Into You, has a creeping, bluesy quality in parts where vocalist Hope Sandoval sounds like a female reincarnation of the Lizard King himself.  But then she does this whole whisper singing thing as well and sounds more like a country chanteuse, full of bitter passion.

It also sounds positively art cinema, so much so I'm waiting for someone like Jim Jarmusch to make a film using this as the soundtrack.  There's the dirty, almost falling apart blues of Wasted, the languid groove of She's My Baby, a folky, violin-fuelled spareness called Into Dust and, of course, the wasted elegance of Fade..., with that irresistible, velvet slide guitar line.  It is a thing of beauty.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to http://www.myspace.com/mazzystar68 

Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses

MINE

Why is it, after listening to the Cowboy Junkies, that I just get KD Lang in my head?  There's certainly some similarities between Margo Timmins' voice and KD's, and I guess the soft alt-coutnry stylings of the Junkies are pretty close to Ms Lang's catalogue.  Or is it because they're all Canadians?  No, that can't be right, otherwise we'd own some albums from a certain pointy-headed screecher whose name I can't even be forced to place on this blog.

Generally the Cowboy Junkies are more bitter than sweet, unlike KD.  For example, the song that I bought this album for - 'Cause Cheap is How I Feel -  is a great Christmas song with no happy or jolly about it.  It mentions looking for a present - For something small and frail and plastic, baby/ 'Cause cheap is how I feel

There's also a cover of Neil Young's Powderfinger - but to my shame I have to say I'm really unfamiliar with the original.  Altogether I think this is another album to pull out when the cranky pants are making me frown, and it helps to really listen to the lyrics, as they're often interesting and never ordinary.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

The Cowboy Junkies are a band who've essentially passed me by.  I haven't even heard the lauded album, The Trinity Session, which is, apparently, a marvel of recording and engineering.  But I wouldn't know. 

So the anticipation of listening to The Caution Horses was fairly high for me as I thought it was going to be a bit of treat.  I'd been led to believe the Junkies were somewhat like Mazzy Starr, a band I used to have a lot of time for and which provided a nice change for the usual loud rock guitar music I liked.  But the reality is quite different.

This band doesn't sound at all like Mazzy Starr.  In fact, it sounds like a ballady country band.  Oh sure, they do it all well, and Margo's voice is lovely and shares a similarity to Beth Gibbons (from Portishead), the songs are just a little bit too country for my liking.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For further information go to: http://latentrecordings.com/cowboyjunkies/