Album reviews: Brandi Cailile | Sparrow and the Workshop | James Galway | Eilidh Mackenzie | The Monterey Quartet |

Published on Sunday 22 November 2009 21:25

BRANDI CARLILE: GIVE UP THE GHOST *** RCA, £12.72

US country rocker Brandi Carlile hasn't quite crossed over in the UK to the same degree as blander, younger singers such as Taylor Swift but, despite a couple of beige numbers, her third album proves that you can make commercial country without completely blunting your edge. It helps that Carlile is a ballsy singer, with some of the steeliness of Lucinda Williams. On Give Up The Ghost, she comes across like the Stateside answer to KT Tunstall, capable of reconciling her love of a rootsy kick with her obvious pop sensibility. Carlile was raised on the music of the Grand Ole Opry but, surprisingly, her musical hero is Elton John. The man himself lends his vocal patronage on one of the album's best tracks, the rollicking, catchy love song, Caroline.

SPARROW AND THE WORKSHOP: INTO THE WILD

****

DISTILLER RECORDS, 6.84

GLASGOW trio Sparrow and the Workshop swiftly follow their "short player" Sleight Of Hand with another mini-album which just as confidently showcases the indie-psych-folk-country chemistry arising when you bring together talented players from Scotland, Wales and the US. Frontwoman Jill O'Sullivan and drummer Gregor Donaldson make a dynamic vocal pairing, with the former coming over like a sassy Linda Ronstadt on Jealous Of Your Heart – "why can't you be as miserable as me?" – and current single A Horse's Grin, a dry paean to her undesirable man.

CLASSICAL

JAMES GALWAY: CELEBRATING 70

****

RCA RED SEAL, 8.80

I'M NOT sure what the accepted viewof James Galway is among the flute-playing fraternity, but personally I've always found his performances, on that famous gold flute, to be a little on the fruity side. If you like it, there's plenty of enjoyment in this celebratory compilation for his forthcoming 70th birthday – recordings from as early as the 1970s and as recent as last year. The musical styles are as extreme, from his own arrangement of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, a magnificent Bach's Badinerie and Gossec's exuberant Tambourin, to such soft-spun folksy collaborations as Ashokan Farewell and the cool eccentricity of Claude Bolling's Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano. Galway fans will lap it up, especially as he's due in Glasgow in May for a 70th birthday concert.

FOLK

EILIDH MACKENZIE – BEL CANTO

***

MACMEANMNA, 12.72

NOT Italian opera, but a contemporary Gaelic (mostly) song cycle based on Ann Patchett's award-winning novel of the same name, about opera, terrorism and the power of music. In this intriguing and often beautifully sung album, if rather bemusing to those who don't know the book, the tale is transposed to Gaeldom by Eilidh Mackenzie, one of the singing Mackenzie sisters of Gress in Lewis, who takes most of the lead vocals, with other singing contributions from Anna Meldrum, James Graham and Michael Marra (sounding somewhat stretched here). Styles range from the delicate Suidh San Oisean and the poised ensemble swing of Cait an Robh Thu Ghealtaire Ghallda? to the country-ish Gentle Kisses, while a fine core band features Brian McAlpine on piano, Ged Grimes on bass, Gordon Gunn on fiddle and mandolin and Christine Hanson on cello.

JAZZ

THE MONTEREY QUARTET: LIVE AT THE 2007 MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL

***

MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL RECORDS, 9.78

This live recording was the first outing of a stellar quartet featuring bass maestro Dave Holland, saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and drummer Eric Harland, currently touring under the name The Overtone Quartet, with Jason Moran replacing Rubalcaba. Each of the four musicians contributes two original compositions, and the opening energised cruise through Harland's Treachery sets the tone for a high-level dissection of the material, exploring both sinuous up-tempo post-bop and more measured and spacious ballads. There is little in the performance to suggest it was a debut outing, just as you might expect from such a virtuoso crew, but if there is a criticism, it is perhaps that at times it sounds a little too complex and virtuosic – the cumulative effect over the whole disc tests the listener's concentration.