Customer Reviews

Once In A Blue Moon

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
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Nico's starkness, Marianne Faithful's rough edges and Sandy Denny's warmth. Brilliant!

Occupying that hazily defined area (chamber folk?) populated by works like Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left, Joe Henry's Shuffletown, and vintage Ronnie Lane, Once in a Blue Moon is a triumph of songwriting and performance. While Lal Waterson's background is in the British traditional folk scene, the album branches in many different directions from those formidable roots. It retains the rough-hewn vocal beauty that makes hers one of Britain's greatest voices, but instrumentally it is a shadowy, minimal affair, with her son's fluid electric guitar playing to the fore, building from valley to denouement in nearly complete sympathy with the lyrics and vocal. It is a "blue" album much like Abbey Lincoln's Abbey Is Blue, in that it is quiet, reflective, lyrically inventing and challenging, and ultimately joyful because of these things. It is the closest thing to a perfect album that I've heard in the 90s, one that will be whispered about reverently in 20 years.

this music wraps around me. I can't say exactly what it is that makes it so special- lal's raspy expressive voice (a highland's billy holliday!) or the odd, simple arrangements- with their birdlike swoops and eccentric phrasings. both i'd guess- the prophetess chanteuse from the sacred well!

"flight of the pelican" is flat out one of the best tracks ever made. up there with "strange fruit" and "like a rolling stone". first time i heard it was like seeing a long lost friend. its one of those songs i never get tired of hearing. timeless.

This album gets labeled as folk but that is an unfairly narrow categorization.Every track on this album is unique and melodic and they defy easy labeling,Lal's voice is strong and soaring and the music supplied by her son Oliver with additional accompaniment from a selection of other fine musicians and singers works perfectly.One of the most honest,inspired and beautiful records you will ever hear.The fact that Lal Waterson died not long after this incredibly vibrant and life affirming recording was released shows us in a way that is not easily grasped the mystery and enduring power of the human spirit.

this music wraps around me. I can't say exactly what it is that makes it so special- lal's raspy expressive voice (a highland's billy holliday!) or the odd, simple arrangements- with their birdlike swoops and eccentric phrasings. both i'd guess- the prophetess chanteuse from the sacred well!

Lovely songs, brilliant musisianship.

Just Wonderfull