Customer Reviews

Kate & Anna Mcgarrigle

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first heard of the McGarrigle sisters way back in the seventies when Linda Ronstadt covered Heart Like a Wheel, and suddenly discovered them again when I bought Emmylou Harris' incredible Wrecking Ball because I wanted to hear her version of Lucinda Williams' Sweet Old World (great cover but the original can't be beat). I discovered then that one of the best tracks on the Emmylou album "Going Back To Harlan" was written by the McGarrigles. I got all curious and decided to come to Amazon to find out what else they have done.

That was the best thing that happened to me the past 6 months. I first ordered this album out of curiousity and just fell in love with every single track. It is a total miracle and disgrace that this album is not on the TOP 10 ALBUM of ALL TIMES. I can remember very few albums and artists that have touched me as much, perhaps Joni Mitchell's Blue and Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels. I have a feeling that this one has legs and will remain my favorite for a long long time.

This was the first McGarrigle album that I had the good fortune to acquire. It had made Rolling Stone's 1976 10 Best List, and I'm a folkie at heart. Not knowing quite what to expect I popped it in my tape player [we used those a lot in the old days] and found myself surprised by a unique take on singer/songwriter 'folk' music which was completely different from the more polished work becoming common in the U.S. at that time.

Not that the McGarrigle sisters are anything less than consummate musicians, but they eschew some of the sound processing that often makes everyone sound the same. Instead they stay with their natural, slightly edgy voices that are almost a nostalgic reminder of the 30's and 40's. Their musical styling is northern American (U.S. and Canadian) in that you keep hearing an accordion that isn't their.

Even after all these years, this album sounds fresh and interesting. It's hard to point to any particular cut on this recording as true favorites, but I probably like 'Talk to Me of Mendocino' and 'Complainte Pour Ste. Catherine' the best. While their stylings are completely different, both take traditional approaches to interesting subjects. If you haven't heard the McGarrigles yet, this is a great place to start.

Gorgeous arrangements and the sweetest sibling voices I'd heard since Don & Phil Everly; this album burst into my world, seemingly from another era, in 1975. It came to my ears, like so many of my 70s classics, courtesy of the genial Chris Winter on Australian radio's best source of non-mainstream music,'Room To Move.' It was a generous sampling, though one song,'Mendocino' would have sufficed to lure me to the import shops the next day. Its slow surging, oceanic orchestral arrangement still puts me on edge. It also introduced to me the zaniness of Loudon Wainwright 111's writing, with 'Swimming Song', now part of our family singalongs.'Jigsaw Puzzle of Life,' & 'Go, Leave', seem to have been drawn from an ancient well. The sisters have recorded consistently over the decades & I welcomed the 'McGarrigle Hour' when it was released, with the full complement of McGarrigle couplings & progeny. They have made albums as good,'Dancer,' & 'Bruised Knees'come to mind, but none better than this stunning debut album. Its pop-leaning sensibility would lead me towards a happy decade's romance with Rounder Records, to source the roots from whence this marvel issued.

I knew of the McGarrigle sisters back in the 1970s partly because of Linda Ronstadt's recording of Heart Like A Wheel and partly because of music media buzz which showered them with hosannahs. But I never really listened to them until a couple of years ago when I heard them sing backing vocals on Nick Cave's magnificent No More Shall We Part recording. So I went out and picked up a couple of their old CDs so I'd have a sampling and in the process found out that I'd been missing a whole lot of great music.
First of all, the sisters' harmonies are positively angelic. Then there is the simplicity of the music, with its laid-back almost rural feel accentuated by fiddles, mandolins, and accordions. The combination of the two makes for an almost exotic listening treat.
My favorites here are Kiss and Say Goodbye, My Town, Foolish You, Complainte Pour Ste-Catherine, Swimming Song, and Travellin' On For Jesus. The sisters are ably backed by an all-star crew including veteran drummer Steve Gadd, the late, great Lowell George on guitars, journeyman bass player, now prog-master, Tony Levin and others.
As it turned out, Kate and Anna McGarrigle's debut was very influential in country and country rock circles when it was current. After 30 years and many albums, they remain the finest active female Canadian vocalists. If you have not yet heard these ladies sing, its time to break down and order this. I'm glad I did.

I can't think of any other album I could compare this to and that's one reason it holds such an attraction for me. The songs are so lovely and heartfelt, even the most cynical listener will be moved. My personal favorite here is the amazing, "Talk to Me of Mendocino" but anyone who can listen to "Go, Leave" without crying is tougher than I'll ever be. Hearing Kate sing, "Could it be that you are stalling?/Hearts have a way of calling, when they've been true" is as heartwrenching an experience as I've ever had listening to music.

talk about a part of the soundtrack of your life-this is it! Talk To Me Of Mendocino...that song alone is worth the price of admission. These women are two of the best songwriters around. Their later work has unfailingly kept pace with this one. Idiosyncratic to a lovely degree-personal and intimate like the creases in an old shoe, they are truly themselves, and that is pretty rare in any age.

There was a time in the 70s when Little Feat's Lowell George could do no wrong. Every album on which he and his magnificent slide guitar guested turned to gold: for instance, Robert Palmer's 'Pressure Drop', Jackson Browne's 'Pretender', and this delightful debut. Here he appears on just two tracks, along with such session aces as fusion drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Tony Levin (pre-King Crimson!).

But that fleeting appearance was sufficient to bring this record to the attention of the critics in the UK, particularly on the NME and Sounds newspapers. Very quickly this became an impossible-to-categorise cult album. It still appears in compilations of the Top 500 albums of all time. There are waltzes, there are love songs, there are dirges, there's a strong folk flavour running throughout. No singles were released, as far as I can remember.

Now here's the rub: though I've been aware of the album for a quarter of a century, I had never heard any of it until I bought the CD late last year. I am not normally a fan of folk, but I simply adore this album. It took some listenings for me to cast aside my jazz/prog leanings, but it is a gorgeous record that deserves much wider acceptance. You can play it almost anywhere and on almost any occasion.

I'm told the follow-up, 'Dancer with Bruised Knees', was a disappointment, simply because this LP set such a high standard.

This LP/CD is pure listening pleasure. An absolute joy. Each song is very distinctive (instrumentation changing constantly) and some of them, as seen in previous reviews, are truly touching. Kiss and Say Goodbye, a joyful funky smile-on-the-face opener. Blues in D, glorious with its piano syncopation and clarinet. Mendocini is a song like no other, the best harmony I ever heard. Go Leave, truly touching in its simplicity. Honestly, I can think of only one better way to spend 45 minutes.

Two Sister Songwriters and a handful of flavoursome covers make up this debut. Kate & Anna appear to have had the same upbringing musically but each songwriter possesses their own touch and uniqueness. Songs such as "My Town" (Anna's finest moment on this album) and "Tell my sister" reach out with all the pure romance of a Montreal winter. Anna's songs are able, wistful and emotional; "Heart Like a Wheel" borders on sentimental/easy-listening but it stands on its merits of being a truly fine song. Kate McGarrigle is a Master of Song, the finest female singer/songwriter ever. The supreme majesty and dazzling radiance of "Talk to Me of Mendocino", "Tell my sister", & "Blues in D" are incomparable, by any standards. "Kiss and Say Goodbye" feels very Toronto which harks a little to the style of Carole King, and "Go Leave" is a very fine ballad. "Foolish You" sung by Anna is infectious and brilliant. This is all very masterful and a wonderful listening experience, most recommended.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle's CD of twelve songs, first produced in 1975, is in my view one of the most beautiful and moving collections ever made. The songs are mostly about relationships with parents and with boyfriends, but there are also lovely ones about swimming, religion, travel, and the French-Canadian community. Perhaps the greatest is called 'The Jigsaw Puzzle of Life'. All the songs are superbly accompanied by guitars, banjos, piano, and many other instruments, and the harmonies are complex and often surprising. Every time I listen to the twelve songs, they bring tears to my eyes.