Carry on (Mel Parsons)

Mel Parsons - Slow Burn (2022) ***

Nominated by: Kevy

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Darkness

This is Mel Parson's 5th album apparently. None of her other albums have reached my ears. I guess because The Sound doesn't playlist her work, and there aren't any C'Mon/ Radio With Pictures/ Grunt Machine TV shows featuring music these days (I don't think - I no longer watch TV One/Two/Three).

Luckily, I have the WTWMC album choices to keep me up to date (Kevy is the hip one amongst us - in more ways than one).

NZ music has come a long way. Outside of Split Enz/Crowded House/Hamilton County Bluegrass Band I can't think of too many other NZ bands/artists who have done 5 albums. Back in the day, most bands flamed out or broke up after one or two albums.

So, good for her, Mel is sustaining a career, and is still going strong (Kevy reports that she's just released her sixth!) 

Slow Burn, the album, has a nice sound. Slow Burn, the song, is an early standout track with lovely piano and pedal steel (I think). She has a great, easy to listen to voice. No worries mate.

Generally things go swimmingly until the middle section - Headland sounds like she's aiming for a Florence and the Machine approach which I'm not that keen on and then Tunnel Vision is just a meh song.

Things immediately improve with the country rock Lone Justice style songs -Tired Of Being You and, even better, Darkness. Ordinarily, I'm a day person but there is a light and shade to the album that works well. On Darkness she carries of that trick of sounding perky but singing about something negative - in this case darkness crawling into 'your heart'.

Well done Mr Simms - a fine discovery!

The bird in the gravel.

Jane Siberry - The Walking (1987) ***

Nominated by: Tom 

Music club: MNAC

MNAC playlist addition: The White Tent The Raft

I wasn't familiar with Jane Siberry before Tom nominated this one, outside of the discussion on The Album Years podcast. I bet they used the word 'beguiling' when outlining their review of The Walking.

They love the term, but it absolutely fits for Jane and this album.

She had me from The White Tent The Raft and it just got better from Red High Shoes onwards.

I was trying to think of other female artists that she reminded me of as I listened, and I didn't come up with much, apart from Kate Bush (which Tom suggested). Mind you I'm not sure what was happening musically in 1987 as we had two young children under 3 commandeering our time. I think this means she's a unique kind of talent. Actually, each track seems quite different from the one that comes before.

Remarkably for an album recorded in the late eighties it didn't seem to have any of the horror production tropes associated with that decade. I was actually a tad shocked when I saw it was from 1987 when I returned to Spotify to listen to it again.

Tom's preamble suggested this was her experimental album and I kind of see why - Goodbye appears to be an exercise in bravery, for instance.

All up - something of a stunner.

Favourite tracks: the first two, Lena Is A White Table, the title track (very Bush-ish). Actually - I couldn't find anything I didn't like (although 10 minutes of the Laurie Anderson style The Bird In The Gravel stretched my patience a tad).

Thanks for the introduction, Tom.