Skip to main content

MCC - The Calling

I first discovered Mary Chapin Carpenter on a TV special featuring MCC, Nanci Griffith and Rosanne Cash just sat on stage armed only with their acoustic guitars [Can someone PLEASE put this on YouTube!] I saw it around the time Griffith's Little Love Affairs album came out I think.

Up until this point I had no idea who MCC was. What I saw however was an artist with a sly smile, a great sense of humour and some great songs. The version of 'The Moon and Saint Christopher' on this show remains one of my all time favourite recordings (as whilst a great song, the original album version - Shooting Straight In The Dark - arrangement does not do the song justice)

Anyway, from that point on, I was a fan. Great album after great album followed and then came 2004's Between Here and Gone. I just couldn't buy this record. It failed to grab me at all, and I had to face the fact that MMC may join the ranks of those artists I once loved but whose new material I may never buy again.

But, now we have 'The Calling' and I am pleased to say this is MCC back close to her best. It gets off the great start with the title track and bar a few miss-hits along the way delivers the goods especially on stand out track Houston which deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina "Mama’s got her baby sleeping in a grocery cart / Daddy’s eyes are hazy wondering where they are / Waiting for the buses waiting on some providence/ once we get to Houston maybe it will all make sense"

Also worthy of note is: On With The Song (dedicated to the Dixie Chicks) "This isn't for the man who can't count the bodies/can't comfort the families, can't say when he's wrong/claiming I'm the decider, like some messiah/while another day passes and a hundred souls gone"

Twightlight and Why Shouldn't We and It Must Have Happened are among other strong songs on this record.


A welcome return to form.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pop Hall of Fame

“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll anymore anyway,’’ he said. “What we used to call rock ‘n’ roll – the original term, defined by DJ Alan Freed – meant to refer to a certain kind of music that Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Elvis [Presley] were playing, and it was distinguishable from ‘popular music’ at that time ...What you have now is a pop music hall of fame, and I don’t care if I’m in the Pop Music Hall of Fame or not’’  Todd on why he's not especially a fan of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame as told to the  Plain Dealer
3 comments
Read more

Pull in Emergency @ Camden Barfly 23/07/10

I like to get out and see new and up and coming bands and last night I went along to the album launch for a Band called Pull in Emergency. As is the case most times for these types of gigs, there were also 3 other bands on the bill, and I have to say that all had something to offer. Hella Better Dancer http://www.myspace.com/hellabetterdancer The night began with a bunch of 16 year olds, fronted by Tilly Scantlebury. They are a band that mange to fuse elements of early Cure, and PJ Harvey in a pleasing manor. I really liked the guitar work by Soph Nathan. Like all good guitarist she adds colour where it is needed without over powering the songs. Of the songs they played I really liked 'The City Sea' and new rocky song 'Say it' ? This is certainly a group worth keeping an eye on. They don't quite have the stage presence mastered yet, but time will bring that, and I'm already looking forward to what they'll sound like in a few years, but don't wait until t...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Wizard , a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio

New book due out later this year by Paul Myers, looking at Todd the Producer. Includes exclusive new interviews with Robbie Robertson, Patti Smith, XTC, Sparks, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk, The Psychedelic Furs, The Tubes, Steve Hillage, all members of Rundgren's legendary band, Utopia, and many other key Rundgren associates.
4 comments
Read more