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Alannah

Alannah Myles - Alannah Audio CD

A fair review of the Alannah Myles "Alannah" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Alannah Myles reviews here, or go back to the Alannah Myles tabs.

Band: Alannah Myles
Title: Alannah
Rating:

Release Date: 1995-09-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Mistress of Erzulie 2: Blow Wind Blow 3: Family Secret 4: Mother Nature 5: Irish Rain 6: Dark Side of Me 7: Simple Man's Dream 8: Lightning in a Bottle 9: Keeper of My Heart 10: Do You Really Wanna Know Me 11: Everybody's Breakin' Up 12: Sally Go Round the Roses

Alannah Myles- A-lan-nah
The process was not complicated and it was delivered within the estimated shipping time. I was pleased to receive this cd as I was unable to obtain it from a music store. Thank-you.

Myles still has the touch.
Anyway this CD is a forgotten gem too check out. Allanha Myles had a great hit with Black Velvet in 1989, but then she was more or less gone from the "hit land" and top lists. Track 1 Mistress of Erzulie, shows a more experimental side of Myles. It has more elements of folk rock, mixed together with here charateristic voice in the background. Shows here creativty to sing somthing else. The organplay in the background is great.
Track 2 Blow wind blow, is pure folk rock, with some rythmic touches here and therethat makes it funky in a good way. Track 3 Family secret, is a little winner, with it`s moody "darkside" sad somber tone to sets the quality standard all trough. Track 4 Mother Nature, is more into the "acoustic carnivalish"type of music, with a happy,happy feel. Track 5 Irish Rain, is a more mysterious thing,, With , yes the irish touch included
as the tittle suggest. Gives you a quite catchy feel in away. Track 6 Dark side is more into traditional, Allanha Myles , with touches of blues and light heavy metal and synth sprinkles here and there. Track 7 Simple man`s dream is a letdown. The catchy melody is not there, and doesn`t give you the mood. Track 8 Lightning in a bottle is a rythmic, but she sings like the voice is, yees in the bottle, but thats probably the point. Not my cup of tea. Track 9 Keeper of my heart is the folk rock winner on the CD, and shows that she knows here roots. It`s unplugged and full of joy and happiness. Track 10 Do you really wanna know me is a moody simple song. , but the energy is still intact. Track 11 Everybodys breakin up, is a letdown, and here voice is once again stuck in the bottle, that doesn`t fits here style at all. Track 12 Sally go round the roses, is a traditonal irish classic, and it`s very back to the roots. ,bagpipes included, and could have been put into the fantasy landscape of lord of the rings. Myles
is in an eksperimental mood, and for the most still has the touch.

.

Alannah tangles with blues and some folk in third release
She was dropped after this third album, which from the getgo, has a stronger, more consistent sound overall. Given how Alannah's second album Rockinghorse quickly hit the bargain bins, I was surprised Atlantic Records decided to keep her on for one more album. I get the sense of the wandering troubadour, hard-bitten lonely soul who's tasted life and all its bittersweet flavours. There are good songs here, and she even tries out some new sounds, such as folk and bluegrass, Celtic folk, and they work well for her.

She does continue to explore the lonely evening night life and its adventures in the blues rock of "Mistress of Erzulie," Erzulie being the Haitian goddess of love.

She plays with folky blues in "Blow Wind Blow", which spells out more of life's maxims. "Life comes true/in spite of/everything we do/you gotta learn to laugh/when the joke is played on you. " So for everyone, she raises a toast: "So may you never end/all my sweet and ragged friends/won't you raise your glasses, your voice/and your will to fight/cause your life belongs to you. "

Her sweeter voice comes through in the slow melodic blues of "Family Secret", about rumours that spring after a father's death and the mysterious woman that comes into his money, and how the truth is bent among the community. This sports the dark bluesy sound that made "Black Velvet" a hit, but given the subject matter, not something that would make a single.

Rocking blues time with "Mother Nature", which sports mandolin and accordion like "Blow Wind Blow. " She sings of how sweet Mother Nature tastes when two are in love, "like Tahitian orchids", according to her.

"Irish Rain" portrays the bleakness of an unfriendly Belfast, the guitar is accompanied by a tin whistle, bodhran, and melancholy fiddle, things one would find on an Enya, Maire Brennan, or early Corrs album.

"Dark Side Of Me" is another chugging blues number, made alive by Kurt Schefter's electric guitar.

"Lightning In A Bottle" utilizes a 50's skiffle beat , rolling acoustic guitar riffs during the refrain, in which she challenges how much someone is willing to embrace life and all its knocks: "Tell me, are you ready like a sparrow in a hurricane?"

With a mandolin, banjo, and accordion, "Keeper Of My Heart" straddles folk, country, zydeco, and bluegrass, the chorus echoing a campfire sound reminding me of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime. " Key line: "Remember who your princess is/your smile will be the guardian/of all my weaknesses. " Definitely a standout cut.

"Do You Really Wanna Know Me": Gosh, one of those very important questions, right? Well, one of many she asks here. And Alannah asks them tenderly in a slow, quiet ballad featuring guitar, organ, accordion, and cello. "If I bare my soul, can you accept it all?", or "Do you know what makes me smile?" "Do you care what's inside?" A nice little ditty too great to be overplayed on FM.

"Everybody's Breaking Up"-how true that is today, be it seven year itch or mid-life crisis, "looks like love's in for a run of nasty weather. " The overall reason is that "the tough are getting' goin' cause the goin's getting tough. "

Alannah then does a melancholy the Jaynetts' "Sally Go Round The Roses", which sports some Irish vileann pipes. She says the roses can't hurt, and then pleads with Sally not to go downtown because "the saddest thing in the whole wide world/is to see your baby with another girl. "

There are a few songs that are merely okay, but on the whole, with that voice that goes from rough and bluesy to sweet and melodic, she's got it. Slow blues, rocking blues, folk, bluegrass, Celtic music, this is quite an eclectic mix for Alannah Myles.

I miss this CD soooo much!!!!!
Whoever has it I hope you are giving it the care and respect it deserves for this CD is something truly rare. I had this CD stolen from car one late Sunday night and have missed it ever since.
I had liked "Black Velvet" from the first album and actually ordered it from Columbia House and they sent me "Alannah" instead. Their mistake was my fortune as I immediately got hooked on it. It was in my CD player all the time, which I guess contributed to it's eventual theft. There was much more I think of herself thrown into this one than her previous two albums and it paid off for her. "Do You Really Want to Know Me?" was an awesome song that really helped me open up to someone who I am thankful to call a friend and this whole CD is just good medicine. I'm so glad it became available again because it was hard to find for the longest time. Buy it! You won't regret it!.

Beautiful
Family Secret is one of those songs that you wish would never stop and sometimes I wish I would hear it again the way I heard it the first time I ever played it. What a great album! Starting of with Mistress of Erzulie, that needs to grow on you but now I think it's one of the strongest songs on this album. Dark Side of Me is a rocksong the way they supposed to be and Simple Man's Dream is one of those songs that will stick with me for the rest of my life I will always love that song and I will always keep playing it! Lightning in a bottle shows her raw talent for making a song her own, screaming at you to keep you focused, Everybody's Breaking Up does the same thing and surprises me not to be a monsterhit. . . there are no flaws on this album just daring explorations to see what suits her best, some of the songs are worth five stars just for the fact they are so uncommercially produced. Absolutely beautiful!.

You can see a complete list of all Alannah Myles discography, or go back to the Alannah Myles tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.