anjum
My Reviews & Blog
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Tue, 04/13/2010 - 7:30am — anjum
"Topsy Turvy World" has a glorious Peter Tosh feel about it and the album finishes with a brilliant cumulative climax. The yearning "Autumn lullaby" has real gentility, while the closely spun harmonies on "I saw a ship a sailing" are an acoustic wonder. My favourite of the lot is the song based on Gerard Manley Hopkins' (Note Amazon not "Charles"!) "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child" which is 3.06 minutes of sheer perfection and a haunting soundscape.
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Tue, 04/13/2010 - 7:27am — anjum
Its hard not to start a review of "Lights" without the temptation to compile a complete list of the things that are wrong with it starting with the tacky gold album cover to the poor songs based in some cases on a template of the worse of Euro pop. "I'll hold my breath" is the primary culprit in this regard and if this is indeed her vision in terms of melding folk and pop then someone needs to go back to the design stage and perhaps buy a copy of Beth Ortons "Pass in time" on the way, or at least download the "Sweetest Decline".


Natalle
Natalie Merchant is an outspoken and prominent social activist disliked by more zealous republicans in the US and sometimes dubbed the "poster girl of the boho intelligentsia". "Leave your Sleep" is not political in any way instead it mines a rich vein of source material and subjects it to sheer musical eclecticism in the best sense of the term drawing upon Cajun, folk, old time country, jazz, chamber music, blues and Celtic music to construct an intoxicating mix.