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| Track list: 1. Best Bit 2. Skimming Stones 3. Dolphins 4. Lean On Me 5. Touch Me With Your Love Running time: 24 minutes Released: 1997 |
Staying in 1997 for what I think is a little gem. I loved Beth Orton's debut LP Trailer Park, still do to a degree, and I love the voice of the late Terry Callier, who guests on two of these songs (one being a tune of his). I base the gem comment on just 3 of the 5 tracks. Of the other two, one is from Trailer Park and I cannot remember the differences in the versions, and the other I recall nothing. It should be a short, sweet reconnection.
The plucked hook of the title track is one of those that sit with me long term, and there is something wonderfully affirmative about the song. The tempo is positive, the vocal intuitive, the themes catchy and these things coalesce into a very pleasant and ultimately accessible piece. I find myself nodding along and tapping a foot until the latter stages. It is hardly a groundbreaking song, but its structure is pretty well managed. Late in the run there is a whispering over the top of it and the vocal degrades to non-lyrical notes, but the flow of the song remains so it is somewhat excusable. It isn't an approach that always works out well, but it is one that Orton used a fair amount, and it opens Skimming Stones too.
As this second track gets moving it does rekindle some kind of memory of it, but one that seems to be limited to the vocal lines and the structure behind the verses. The musical structure of the song was lost to my mind - and listening to it now, I think that's because there is not much there worth remembering. In places it supports the vocal well but when left to stand alone it is decidedly underwhelming - over reliant on simple and unengaging snippets rather than building a nice layered tune. As the song departs - overlong at just under 6 minutes - the best bits of the EP come in.
Dolphins - of which I heard the original only recently on the soundtrack to the film Calvary (its great, highly recommend) - is a gentle arrangement, and a sublime duet. Orton's voice - with a slight tight strain to it - contrasts wonderfully with Callier's warm croon, and both are offset by the arrangement, a sort of constant and comfortable crucible in which their words can burn bright.
After the dolphins depart we have a cover of one of my favourite Callier songs. Lean On Me is just a wonderful, wonderful song. Or rather it is a fantastic chorus supported by a really pleasant tune, decent verses and one of my favourite vocal performances in all of music. Yes, the song perhaps is a little over-reliant on repeating "Lean on me" as a lyric if you are being picky, but I defy anyone to has an ounce of soul to listen to that chorus the way Callier's voice carries it and not smile a little. OK, there will be some sourpusses out there who wont get it, but that is there problem, not mine.
Just like that we arrive at the final track, a re-imagining of a song from Trailer Park. The original was all dark, backed by a lot of electronica. Here we are much brighter, Orton supported only by her guitar line. It actually makes for a pretty good contrast with the album track (at least as I can think back to it without playing it). I think I prefer this version, there is more positivity, more hope and optimism, a stronger performance enabled by the lack of anything to obscure it. I was not expecting this at all, and am really pleasantly surprised. Not only is the vocal clearer and brighter but the guitar melody, which I think is unchanged from the original release is much firmer, confident and forms a bigger part of the piece. The overzealous strumming that form the close feels a little too put on, unnecessary given the tone of what had gone before, but then again it also ushers in the silence that is the end of this listen.
I am in two minds about whether to ditch Skimming Stone; whilst I like the vocal the arrangement leaves me cold, and it is long for what it is. Writing that out, convinces me that it really ought to go. There is no question that the other 4 tracks are keepers; as I said up front, this is a little gem - just like the lettuces I bought this morning.
The plucked hook of the title track is one of those that sit with me long term, and there is something wonderfully affirmative about the song. The tempo is positive, the vocal intuitive, the themes catchy and these things coalesce into a very pleasant and ultimately accessible piece. I find myself nodding along and tapping a foot until the latter stages. It is hardly a groundbreaking song, but its structure is pretty well managed. Late in the run there is a whispering over the top of it and the vocal degrades to non-lyrical notes, but the flow of the song remains so it is somewhat excusable. It isn't an approach that always works out well, but it is one that Orton used a fair amount, and it opens Skimming Stones too.
As this second track gets moving it does rekindle some kind of memory of it, but one that seems to be limited to the vocal lines and the structure behind the verses. The musical structure of the song was lost to my mind - and listening to it now, I think that's because there is not much there worth remembering. In places it supports the vocal well but when left to stand alone it is decidedly underwhelming - over reliant on simple and unengaging snippets rather than building a nice layered tune. As the song departs - overlong at just under 6 minutes - the best bits of the EP come in.
Dolphins - of which I heard the original only recently on the soundtrack to the film Calvary (its great, highly recommend) - is a gentle arrangement, and a sublime duet. Orton's voice - with a slight tight strain to it - contrasts wonderfully with Callier's warm croon, and both are offset by the arrangement, a sort of constant and comfortable crucible in which their words can burn bright.
After the dolphins depart we have a cover of one of my favourite Callier songs. Lean On Me is just a wonderful, wonderful song. Or rather it is a fantastic chorus supported by a really pleasant tune, decent verses and one of my favourite vocal performances in all of music. Yes, the song perhaps is a little over-reliant on repeating "Lean on me" as a lyric if you are being picky, but I defy anyone to has an ounce of soul to listen to that chorus the way Callier's voice carries it and not smile a little. OK, there will be some sourpusses out there who wont get it, but that is there problem, not mine.
Just like that we arrive at the final track, a re-imagining of a song from Trailer Park. The original was all dark, backed by a lot of electronica. Here we are much brighter, Orton supported only by her guitar line. It actually makes for a pretty good contrast with the album track (at least as I can think back to it without playing it). I think I prefer this version, there is more positivity, more hope and optimism, a stronger performance enabled by the lack of anything to obscure it. I was not expecting this at all, and am really pleasantly surprised. Not only is the vocal clearer and brighter but the guitar melody, which I think is unchanged from the original release is much firmer, confident and forms a bigger part of the piece. The overzealous strumming that form the close feels a little too put on, unnecessary given the tone of what had gone before, but then again it also ushers in the silence that is the end of this listen.
I am in two minds about whether to ditch Skimming Stone; whilst I like the vocal the arrangement leaves me cold, and it is long for what it is. Writing that out, convinces me that it really ought to go. There is no question that the other 4 tracks are keepers; as I said up front, this is a little gem - just like the lettuces I bought this morning.
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