Customer Reviews

Iron Flowers

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3 star:		(1)
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This is the first album I have heard from Grey Delisle. I am going to have to get all the rest now. She has a beautiful voice, top-knotch delivery, and is an excellent songwriter in several different genres.

Many people will probably be put off by the fact that the first track on this album is a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, but they shouldn't. DeLisle actually she treats it as a song, rather than as a kitsch icon, and almost pulls it off. The song probably has too much cultural baggage to overcome, but DeLisle comes breathtakingly close.

The rest of the album is all originals, and there isn't a weak track on the whole album. It's comparatively short - ten tracks in less than 45 minutes - which makes a nice change from 70 minutes albums with 40 minutes of filler.

Highlights include the gorgeous pop of Right Now, the hedonistic country of The Bloody Bucket, the loose garage rock of Blueheart, and the hard-hearted ballad Who Made You King.

Grey DeLisle is not only an absolutely amazing singer but a beautiful and talented autoharpist as well. Her group covers about the first third of "Bohemian Rhapsody" but it sounds like a single complete song, as the original had distinctive breaks, Grey's cover only uses the saddest and slowest part, and it is executed so well that it sounds like an original song.

The rest of the album bleeds from country to folk to gospel seamlessly. Grey's lyrical capabilities are on par with such songwriters as Bob Dylan and George Harrison. Many of the tracks are depressed and dark, the sorrowful lyrics complimented by moaning mandolin and slide guitar. When i first heard "Bloody Bucket" (the saddest song ever recorded) I immmediatley was reminded of Led Zeppelin's "All My Love", at least so far as the acoustic instrumentals were concerned.

All in all, an excellent buy, not a single bum track on the whole record!

"Iron Flowers" is my first set by Grey DeLisle. My favorite track is "Joanna" with Don Heffington's castanets giving it a distinctive flavor that adds to the melody and DeLisle's excellent lyric, "She hitched her life to a rusty El Dorado and let the warm wind blow across her bones; and in the night, you can hear somebody cryin', 'Joanna won't you please come home.'" Grey takes a tune by Marvin Etzioni, the founder of the band Lone Justice, "Who Made You King," and drags it into a somber slow protest. Grey takes a song penned by Reverend Charlie Jackson that appeared on an album by him called "Way Over Yonder" and makes it a somewhat uncertain statement of faith, perhaps inspired by DeLisle's evangelical mother. Grey writes with Marvin Etzioni on the excellent track "The Bloody Bucket" with an arrangement that kicks into full gear halfway through, "If you're looking for a fire darlin' let me be the spark, you look like a good way to break my heart." "My hands are chained together in the penitentiary; oh, sweet little blue bird, sail the skies for me," Grey sings on the slow sweet folk tune "Sweet Little Bluebird." The excerpts from another song don't add to a song that stands well on its own. The set ends with a strong tune "Inside Texas," "When he sits on the front porch & strums that guitar, makes it feel just like Texas wherever you are." Some tracks resonate less well for me. The cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" would be good to compare how differently two artists can treat the same material. The title track and "Blueheart" also let my mind wander. Overall, this is a good effort whose high points indicate promise. Enjoy!