Customer Reviews

The Mcgarrigle Hour

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kate and Anna McGarrigle have consistently made exceptional music. This offering brings along the entire family including extended members Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstadt for an all-night sing along party. The collaborations are exceptional including the stirring Schooldays and beautifully constructed What'll I Do that has Loudon, Rufus and Kate and Anna all taking verses. They are at their best when they are transporting you to a far away place of yearning, memory, and regret. Add in a dash of fun numbers like NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and La Porte En Arriere (featuring Emmylou singing in French) and you have a truly unique listening experienc. Not to be missed!

What more could you ask for? Kate and Anna alone are worth the price of admission. But add Loudon, Rufus and Martha Wainwright as well as Rondstadt and Emmylou and you've got a folk/pop summit that succeeds on every level. Its low-key without being tedious or repetitious. Old songs, new songs: they all sound absolutely perfect. As far as having issues behind the music, Fleetwood Mac has nothing on this clan. Not only is Loudon Kate's ex, but Rufus and Martha have issues with Loudon for being not only absent but(in their young eyes) abusive as well.
I most enjoy the new songs by Rufus and Martha but the performance that most transports one to folk singing nirvana is the traditional 'Johnny Has Gone to Hilo' a gorgeous song sung here in a fantastic arrangement. A recording to be cherished.

Talk about crossing over musical boundries... Depending on your appreciation of different era's in music, this really does have something for everyone, or everything for someone. Mined from a rich musical history, there are MANY highlights to encourage further listening. There's plenty of long lost gems recreated with loving care, as well as a few brand new standouts.

Beginning with Loudon Wainwright's classic "School Day's(Delaware when I was younger), Loudon, with the McGarrigle sisters' thoughtful and assured harmonies let you know whats in store.

"Alice Blue Gown" will sweeten any sourpuss, owing as much to bouncey turn of the century standards as it does to Melanie in the 60's and 70's.

The whole family (Rufus and Martha Wainwright included) raise the old time standard "What'll I Do" to the level of modern classic. Lush instrumentation and perfect vocals inhabit every bar. This shows just what roots planted in such a fertile musical heritage can reveal.

Rufus's comedic tragedy "Heartbreak or Heartburn" is perfectly short of "over the top" pop/cabaret with all it's romantic sarcasm and self mocking wordplay.

"NACL" is one of the best motor-cruising songs I've heard since Mongo Jerry hurried down the highway. There's a foot tappin' baseline and fun harmonies to keep your attention throughout. Who would have thought you could find such a cool song about - salt?

Martha (Wainwright) absolutely shines on "Allez vous en". It's kind of a barroom/folle/cabaret ballad with a perfectly seductive accordian to transport you directly into a Paris cafe in 1920.

Emmylou Harris turns in a nice cameo with the bluegrassy "Green Green Rocky Road". It becomes a soulful newgrass hymn with Loudon and the McGarrigle sisters gentle harmonic sense.

Martha's shy "Year of the Dragon" seems a bit out of place here, which is further evidence that she should have a label of her own. What a Talent! People should know.

"Mendocino" will appease even the most jaded folk cynic. It's that pretty! If "My Johnny's gone to Hilo" doesn't send you reaching for the scotch, then you are already too drunk. It's that powerful.

"Goodnight Sweetheart", with all the family and friends on hand, appropriately closes what I hope you will agree is one the most charming hours in recorded music history.

This should grace the shelf of any serious music collection, but ANY listener will find something to really enjoy!

This is a wonderful collection of songs and singers, families, relations, and different tracks in life. I recently saw the whole crowd perform a selection at The Bottom Line in New York City. Kate and Loudon teased their son, Rufus, endlessly. A powerful singer and even better show-off, Rufus was unshaken. Meanwhile, their daughter, Martha, stole the show with her beautiful rendition of Year of the Dragon...truly haunting. All four rallied for What'll I Do, which was delicate and tortuous in the way that this family, now separated by various lines, can harmonize both with each other's heartstrings and vocal chords. Each of these songs reaches high and low, and through tales of woe or blissful decrees, banjos, fiddles, and honest voices speak truth to the magic of families and old friends.

Got this album today, and all in all a very well sung(as you would expect) piece of work. Nice to hear the family members, especially the girls have such good voices. I was first turned on to the McGarrigles by hearing Kate I think singing a track called "House in the Country" on the Albion Band record of the 80's "Rise Up Like The Sun" and was struck by the sweetness and kinda vulnerability in her voice.
I then didn't hear a lot more of the sisters until the T.V. programme Transatlantic Sessions, when their version of "Talk to me of Mendecino" was just about the greatest bit of harmony singing (and a great song)that I had heard in a long time. The version on this CD did not move me in the same way, so I was a little disappointed, but good singing just the same. All the tracks are well worth a listen, and this is undoubtedly a very good album, which will reward listening for many years to come.

Life is a misery without a new McGarrigle to help lube the rough spots. Come back, Kate and Anna, even if it's just to do a CD with nothing but Stephen Foster songs.

I am a long time fan of the McGarrigles and Loudon Wainwright as well as many of their collaborators on this Cd. I am new to hearing Rufus and Martha and think they're terrific too. If you like wit, poignancy, sweet melodic voices, and beautiful tunes, give this a try. I can't pass any of their music up.

I am not sure why I love their music so much, it does not demand attention the same way as the music of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan or Lucinda Willims. But the Mcgarrigles write and sing witty and sensitive songs better than anyone else can and I am totally mesmerized by it. It brings me back to to another place and time, when people still cared about things (you know, pre-MTV, Survivor, etc, etc). This album has a couple of stand out tracks, and of course Rufus W takes over whenever he appears on a track but that's cool, because they are all so talented and so under appreciated. Get this if you want to treat yourself to some really amazing music that sounds like it was recorded around the fireplace somewhere in Montreal.

This was a gift -- never heard of these folks and wouldn't have said I was interested in "this kind of music" (whatever this eclectic collection might be called). Got hooked right away, and I'm not an easy sell for music. The song choice is decidedly odd, cabaret and traditional folk and french-canadian dance music; a song about Baltimore's Great Fire; love songs from show tunes; even a song about the periodic table. My only criticism is that sometimes they collaborate to the detriment of a song; "Green Green Rocky Road" is sung by the McGarrigle's in piercingly sweet harmony, their voices blending perfectly for the mixed lightness and poignancy of the song; but one of the guys hops in for a verse & mars it. Really well produced album tho.

Such a warm, charming album. It's as if Garrison Keiler handed over the stage of "A Prairie Home Companion" to the McGarrigles, and they refused to give it back for a whopping 21 songs.

The selections are eclectic--including titles from Stephen Foster, Irving Berling, Cole Porter, the McGarrigles, and a host of traditional tunes--yet work together to create one grand harmonious form, like a giant American quilt.

I sound a bit NPR-ish, I know, but I was so surprised at my reaction to this record that I push it on everyone I know. If you're a fan of good singing, or American traditional music, or just plain good music, you will love THE MCGARRIGLE HOUR.