Nominated by: Lewis
Music club: MNAC
MNAC playlist addition: Foolish Me
These two Canadian sisters really started with a high bar album back in the mid-seventies. I remember at the time, reading about this album in Sounds and there was quite the hullabaloo around it - I think because of the association with Loudon Wainwright III (then husband to Kate), producer Joe Boyd and Lowell George's involvement as well as the gentle harmonies from the siblings.
Mid-seventies though I was locked into heavy metal, Beatles pop, blues rock etc - so it's only now - 50 years later that I'm listening to this for the first time. I can now appreciate the nuances.
Speaking of 'locked in' - their voices don't appear to be locked in like the Everly's, but they offset each other's voices perfectly throughout most of the songs. I'm a sucker for harmony and there is something about siblings.
Standouts for me are Anna's beautiful Heart Like a Wheel - covered by Linda Ronstadt and many others, Complainte pour Ste-Catherine, Foolish You (sounds effortless), Swimming Song killed me every time, and Talk To Me of Mendocino has some lovely harmonising going on.
Actually, 'lovely' sums up the album well. As a whole it covers a lot of ground expertly - country, folk, rock and whatever Complainte is (jaunty Canadian/Cajun rock?).
Pretty remarkable that this was their debut!
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