Matapedia: Kate and Anna Mcgarrigle: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Matapedia

2. Goin' Back To Harlan

3. I Don't Know

4. Hang Out Your Heart

5. Arbre

6. Jacques Et Gilles

7. Why We Must Die

8. Song For Gaby

9. Talk About It

10. The Bike Song

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Hard to believe it's been 20 years since the first McGarrigle album. Maybe it's because they've always floated so much on the fringe of things--not quite folk, not quite country, not quite fitting into any pigeonhole beyond lovely songwriting, harmonies, and singing. And now they're at it again with Matapedia, which includes the gorgeous "Goin' Back to Harlan" (recently covered by Emmylou), and tales of lives going by. This is the kind of music that should be made by (some) mature adults--thoughtful, often introspective, but with a joy in the passage of time. All the musical crap that seems to dog so much that's tagged as "adult"--which you could also call easy listening--has been filtered out by quality control, leaving arrangements that are lean, often sparse, and muscular, hitting middle age without any flab showing, but synapses still clicking furiously. Oh yes, and it's the perfect choice for those rainy fall days. --Chris Nickson

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Music from our Archetypes, Jan 13 2003

By

Randall E. Adams (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Matapedia (Audio CD)

I thought I'd check out these two McGarrigle chicks after hearing them on Nick Cave's best album in some years.

About 30 seconds of the title track told me that I had found a whole new musical seam to mine. Since the other writers talk about their lyrics, I'll talk about their striking musical palette. On this album you will hear accordion, violin, wonderfully old-fashioned piano, banjo, dobro and of course guitar along with tastefully applied bass and drums or other percussion. These instruments are deployed in a fashion more French than the more customary Southern country convention. Their somehow both fragile and enduring voices and atypical song structures will make you think you're hearing the best and least derivative of the youngest talents. And, then, they will turn around and give you a song with chord choices and structure that seem to come from the time of Stephen Foster. As proudly Canadian as anyone since Ian Tyson and as old time North American as anyone I can think of, the McGarrigle sisters are a fine fine wine to roll around in your ears and heart on any cold night with a warm fire. It's no surprise that Nick Cave appreciates them.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Folk Music At It's Best, Nov 12 2000

By

A Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matapedia (Audio CD)

Though I'm not a huge fan of modern folk, I have been exposed to quite a bit of it. And this CD is, song-by-song, the most beautiful collection of melodies I've heard from this genre. It only took one listen to capture my ear, and my heart. I won't regurgitate what the previous reviews have to say. They are well thought out and insightful. Simply put, the songs are at times wistful, haunting, playful, reflective, and so on..... I for one like the way they were engineered. Contrary to one previous review, I was able to easily discern the lyrics without the liner notes. The fact that the singing was embedded a little deeper into the melodies only enhanced their beauty even more. And how lovely is the fiddling on these recordings. It's the stuff that dreams are made of. My favorites are the title track Matapedia, Goin' Back To Harlan, Why Must we Die, The Bike Song, and best of all, Hang Out Your Heart. Why most if not all reviewers neglected to mention the latter tune is a mystery to me. It makes me pine for the romance of earlier years and recall how painful good love lost can be.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Everyday Listening, Feb 21 2004

By

Ian Hodgson (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Matapedia (Audio CD)

I only wish there was more of this.

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