The Album
Eddi Reader, songwriter, rises Phoenix-like with the sparkling, sonically dreamy Vagabond.
Where previous Reader solo releases have consistently featured a few of her compositions, doubtless inspired by husband/musician/songwriter John Douglas, the Glasgow-born songbird’s name is appended to eight tunes on the 14-selection Vagabond. Twenty-six songs were recorded — let’s just say that the residue will eventually enjoy public exposure.
Produced by Reader herself (she’s also on lead vocals, guitar, piano, concertina, glockenspiel), the album is supported by Douglas (guitar, ukulele, piano, clarsach, vocals), plus stalwart regulars Boo Hewerdine (guitar, piano, vocals), Alan Kelly (accordion, piano), Ian Carr (guitar), Ewen Vernal (double bass, piano, vocals) and Roy Dodds (drums). It was recorded mainly at Kyoti Studio, and guest contributors include John McCusker, Michael McGoldrick, Phil Cunningham, and Karen Matheson.
“I’ll Never Be The Same” deserves the accolade “American Songbook Classic”, having begun life as the Matt Malneck/Frank Signorelli jazz instrumental “Little Buttercup.” Circa 1932, Gus Kahn added the lyric. Eight decades later, cover artists include Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra ,and Diana Krall, and this torch song launches Vagabond. Featuring the voice of her maternal, Tralee (Ireland)-bred, grandmother, Madge Nammock, the lyric to Reader’s “Back The Dogs (Dancing Down Rock)” is founded upon the recollections of a seasoned gambling ancestor.
Adapted from the John Masefield poem “Vagabond” (it appeared in the poet’s first published collection Salt-Water Ballads c. 1902), the title song was co-written with Douglas. Therein, the narrator reflects upon God and life on “the dusty road.” Reader’s current Irish songwriter of choice is undoubtedly Declan O’Rourke, and “Married to the Sea” is a wistful tale of love that, in time, is fulfilled. O’Rourke titled the song “Marrying the Sea”, andVagabond is the third consecutive Reader release to feature material from Dublin-born O’Rourke’s Since Kyabram album from 2006.
The Reader/Douglas waltz-paced, love ode “Edinah” is one of those compositions that Reader undoubtedly relishes performing. This is amply confirmed here by her vocal extemporisations. There’s also a dream-like quality to the ensuing Reader/Douglas/Hewerdine ballad “Snowflakes In The Sun.” Adding Carr’s name to the foregoing trio, the percussive “Baby’s Boat” was inspired by American children’s author Alice Riley’s Slumber Boat, a lullaby co-written, circa 1898, with her friend and composer Dorothy Jessie L. Gaynor.
Dundee musician/composer Michael Marra passed in late October 2012 as Reader was preparing to undertake her annual end-of-year U.K. tour. In tribute to this literate and musical Scot, Marra’s love-themed “Macushla (My Darling)” appears here.
Gustav Ljunggern’s saxophone and Cunningham’s accordion introduce Reader’s 30-year-plus recollection “Midnight In Paris 1979.” Shifting from contemporary covers to traditional tunes, the arrangement of “Buain Na Rainish (Fairy Love Song)” features a Matheson backing vocal, and is followed by the well-known Scottish song “In Ma Ain Country.” Credited to Reader/Douglas “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” finds the narrator repeating “It’s a wonderful life”. Then it’s on to the seasonal and cyclical “Here Come the Bells.” After all these years, a Reader album devoid of a Hewerdine composition would seem incomplete. So, Vagabond closes with his slow-paced, starlit delight, “It’s A Beautiful Night.”
FOOTNOTE. The foregoing text is based on my review that appeared in the Jan./Feb. 2014 issue of Maverick — a nationally distributed U.K. music magazine.
The EP
As predicted, some of the unreleased material from the Vagabond sessions has surfaced.
In anticipation of her 2014 Fall U.K. tour, Reveal Records have released a five-song EP that opens with an edited single version of “Back the Dogs.” Three of the four remaining songs are credited as having been produced by Reader and were recorded at Kyoti. So, they doubtless hail from the twenty-six songs I referenced in the opening paragraph of the above album review.
Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Leuan — a.k.a. the Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals — are credited with penning “Juxtaposed With U,” a dreamy-sounding concoction in Reader’s hands. Composed by the late Amy Winehouse, circa December 2007, “Love Is a Losing Game” was the final song issued as a single during her lifetime. It failed to enter the U.K. Top 40 Chart, and here Reader wrings every ounce of emotion from this torch song. Nat King Cole spent eight weeks at # 1 during 1950 with the Ray Evans/Jay Livingston composition “Mona Lisa,” a tribute to Da Vinci’s famed painting. Here Kelly’s accordion prominently supports Reader’s sparkling vocal interpretation.
Produced by long-time sideman Boo Hewedine, the Oscar and Grammy winning Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer waltz “Moon River” has been a Reader in-concert staple, and fan favourite, for many years. Not before time, Reader has finally included it on an official release.
Brought to you from the desk of the Folk Villager.
