No Lonely Road - Angelina Grimshaw
£10 + £1 postage and packing from
Village Bike Records, Poet's Cottage, 14 Reed Street, Ryde, Isle of Wight
An independent recording also available from Ottakers Bookshop in Newport
A review by Vic King
"There's so much heat in this CD it should carry a fire risk"
This is a sumptuous offering from Angelina with her distinctive vocals impressive throughout. The album is chock full of her brother JC Grimshaw's mandolin and guitar work.
Track by track:
Lonely Road The temperature begins to build from the opener with JC Grimshaw cutting into Jerrry Douglas country with some stinging dobro.
Nightingirls Rupert Brown lays down a terrific, uncluttered, drum beat reminiscent of Paul Athey on Wight's Paris session. Lovely acoustic feel to this track, chiming rhythm. Top stuff.
Pigeons The attention to detail is a strong feature of this CD. An intricate clockwork guitar part runs through this piece. JC's playing is much in the style of his "Blood Red Roses" contribution to last years Island Sessions CD. There are Spanish phrases that suggest both Isaac Guillory and Man's California Silks and Satins. Like an afternoon out on the West Coast.
Old Jack Lightning A raucaus, infectious hoedown of a tune with Jake Rodriques harmonica stirring up a Cajun dance brew that is stewed with Nashville country like Area Code 615.
Kisses In The Rain Angelina's vocal positvely purrs. There's steamy, sultry, summery South Sea's guitar from JC hung on a ringing rhythm. Brings to mind Pete Frame's famous phrase about a guitar solo like being pelted with five pound notes.
Sinking Stone Back to the Bayou. Still hot and sticky, onboard a low-down acoustic blues chugger.
He Don't Bring Me Flowers A ballad with a more simple treatment. A clear as a bell guitar sound that is such a feature of this album. No clutter. Angelina floats like a breeze over the top.
Mountain Eagles Somewhere out in a Western desert, maybe Mexico, with a cowgirl in the sand. Dry and dusty stung with prickly mandolin. There's so much heat in this CD it should carry a fire risk. Pull a hat down over your eyes a notch to keep out the burning sun.
John Rufus Grimshaw brings
home the bacon on this record
Wheels Are Rolling Angelina and JC's father John Rufus Grimshaw wrote this for the duo's earlier Root Sap album. Coined about a tour the Grimshaw's undertook to Ireland it has the steady roll of a tinker's caravan pulling through the Emerald Isle. The vocals here are strong constantly reminding me of the quality of music the Grimshaws have been producing all through the nineties.
Mandolin Man Another John Rufus Grimshaw composition. He must have been boiling that bacon again, or had a banjo on his knee when he wrote this as its got that down home Poets Cottage (home of the Grimshaws) flavour to it.
First class Angelina. Superb JC. Is the bacon ready John Rufus?
Vic King