Customer Reviews

Tired & Emotional

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

 

 

In 1987, in San Francisco, we were fortunate to have one of those mythical radio stations, KKCY-FM, with DJ's who were pure alchemists. (Go to the website [..] to read the station's obituary.) You could always count on hearing amazing music from artists you knew and artists you would have otherwise never heard about. One evening I heard "The Beach" by Mary Coughlan. A very witty bossa-nova style piece featuring a tasty, smoky vocal. I ran over to Tower Records and there, in the import section, I was lucky enough to find Tired and Emotional, Mary's first album. Suffice to say, KKCY had done me right.

Mary takes chances with both her choice of material and her approach to each song. Occasionally it doesn't work, but most of the time she makes it happen: Even the two-star review here admits that Meet Me Where They Play the Blues and Mama Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long, are outstanding cuts: languid, late night blues by someone whose heart has been broken and who has spent more than a few mornings waking up with a hangover after a late night at the pub. There are dark cuts, such at Nobody's Business/The Tango. But Mary never loses herself in bathos, she's too witty, too self-aware. Songs like Seduced and the previously mentioned The Beach, plant a grin on your face.

This is not a five-star effort. But any album with five outstanding performances by a unique artist is worth at least four stars. In fact, this album would be worth four stars on the basis of "Meet Me Where They Play the Blues" alone. Sample thirty seconds of that song. If it speaks to you, you're going to wind up a Mary Coughlan fan. She will let you down now and then, I mean she is full on Irish. But give her a chance and she'll make it worth your while. She's something special.

I bought this on good old vinyl when it first came out over a decade ago. It has worn out. I was captivated by Mary's voice when I heard "Double Cross" playing on radio over here in England. She has a voice that is unique, bluesy, jazzy, folky.
This CD is a good place to start if you want to buy one of Mary's. Other stand-out songs are "Seduced" "Meet Me Where They Play The Blues" and "Nobody's Business" but my favourite of all her many songs is the first one I heard all those years ago on the radio. Thank-you Roger Scott for playing it.
I haver been fortunate enough to see Mary in concert several times, she is beyond doubt, someone who deserves to be a star. Why her record company don't promote her more is a tragedy.

This was the first Mary Coughlan album I heard, from a friend who had seen her live in Dublin. I liked it so much I tracked down a distributor in the US (who only had a tape version available). I listened to it so much, the tape wore out.... When another friend was going to Ireland, I begged him to go to a music store and find me copies of any albums she had. Thankfully the Big Music Guys seem to have caught on and have been making her albums more easily obtained!

You have to check out Seduced, Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long, and Nobody's Business Tango. (This page doesn't have any tracks that can be listened to, but if you check out her Live in Galway album, there are some live versions there.)

I saw her sing in San Francisco, too -- great performer! If you get a chance to see her, go for it!

A friend of mine from Ireland gave me this cd. He said, "She's an unapologetic, no-holds-barred pub singer who has been there, done that. You'll love it." I did.

Coughlan sings with weary emotion and dry Irish humor on this cd. The simple arrangements are totally hummable for days after you hear them. The songs make you feel like you're in a small, smoke filled pub with both you and Mary on your 4th pint singing the blues.

When I need a psych-up song, I listen to the moaning horns and Mary telling me that it "ain't nobody's business what I do."

I was playing this cd in my house when the bell at the outside gate went. It was a French journalist in the company of his mother and girlfriend - no, not to complain about the volume - but to enquire who the singer was. I particularly like Seduced.

PS I don't wish to imply that his mother was his girlfriend! There were three of them in all, the journalist, the mother, and the girl.

my only encounter with MARY COUGHLIN was a version of ELVIS COSTELLO'S ''BABY PLAYS AROUND' that i thought was pretty sensational,mind you,it is one of ELV'S best compositions and MARY did it proud.The problem with this set is the lack of songs of that quality.MARY has a smokey,bluesy seductive quite heavenly voice,that at times,reminds me of JUNE TABOR(another fine female artist) and that voice deserves better material than whats on offer here.Out of the 10 songs here the few worthy of note are DOUBLE CROSS,MEET ME WHERE THEY PLAY THE BLUES and the splendid MAMA JUST WANTS TO BARRELHOUSE ALL NIGHT LONG.
Its a pity because with a voice like this ladys this could have been a true classic.