Cherry Red [Release date: 28.10.22]

From the beginning of her career in the sixties, singer Julie Driscoll had worked with the Brian Auger Trinity. And indeed she fronted that band when she scored two UK Chart hits in 1968, covers of Dylan’s ‘Wheels On Fire’ and Donovan’s ‘Season Of The Witch’.

Her ambitions then saw her moving into a world of more adventurous music, gradually migrating toward an art-rock style, adopting musical forms more familiar in theatre and “low budget” movies.

Arguably, that direction began with her self composed 1969 album, produced by her future husband, Keith Tippett, with a fluid studio band that variously included the great and the good of UK rock, pop and jazz. Including Chris Spedding, James Creggan and a variety of Trinity, Soft Machine, Blossom Toes and other highly respected studio musicians.

It was quite a left field departure, courting jazz aficionados as well as folkrock fans. She was clearly more comfortable handling complex musical arrangements, than she was transposing Dylan into psychedelic pop.

The Cherry Red Tech Team’s sympathetic remastering has added a clarity and a warmth that’s sometimes needed to soften Driscoll’s pointed lyrics.

Her beautifully crafted acoustic folk/rock song, ‘Those That We Love’ has a few sharp lyrical edges, providing effortless proof that she was a songwriter who could turn first and second hand emotions into stories worth telling. Her deep and powerful vocal phrasing might remind you of Grace Slick on ‘Lather’. It did me.

That standout track is bookended by the sorrowful jazzy tones of ballad, ‘Leaving It All Behind’, and the brittle New Wave jazz of ‘A New Awakening’, both juggling difficult memories with future promise.

There’s a strong whiff in both songs of the groundbreaking jazz rock coming across the Atlantic at the time, from bands like Chicago Transit Authority (later just Chicago) and Al Kooper’s band, Blood, Sweat And Tears, especially the punchy brass/horns, punctuating the lyrics.

These highlighted tracks are not unique. The entire album is an exceptional feat of naturalistic songwriting. The real skill Driscoll has is to make them sound relevant and personal. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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