Songbird - Review

I had a break from my CD albums over the Christmas period, it has re-commenced now though and I wonder as I write this, do I go with a revisionist version or the truth?
You see the revisionist version would say that today’s CD, Songbird by Eva Cassidy was an ill informed gift, or even an album that I bought in the 90’s as I was aware of the Washington DC underground music scene. That’s the revisionist version of events.
What actually happened was I heard a song of hers, lets say for arguments sake it was fields of gold, in 2001 and I bought the CD. I will be blunt with you here, my wife actually muttered the words, “I fucking despair”, she may have followed this up with her palm going to her forehead. She despaired OK.

You see I hate Sting, I hate that smug look he presents, I hate the work he did with The Police, his solo rubbish, this medieval nonsense that is on TV over the Christmas period, I hate him, his wife and possibly all the Stinglets that him and the obnoxious Trudy Styler have produced. Now if I hate him so much, and his music, I reiterate, I hate the man and his music, but if I hate him so much why did I buy this disc purely off the back of that song?

Mind mojo.

Purely and simply, mind mojo. Someone, possibly Terry Wogan, Terry Wogan in cahoots with the spirit of Eva Cassidy and in all likelihood Sting performed mind mojo and this mind mojo made me skip past Rock/Pop in me local virgin and settle upon Easy Listening, it was further mind mojo that made me pick up Songbird and pay £10 or a figure in the region of, and further more, the final bit of mind mojo made me play it. Bastard Wogan and his mind mojo.

So what of the album? God its sentimental, yes she died, and you cant speak ill of the dead, and I wont, that much. Really though would this collection of covers have made it out of the small clubs of Washington DC with the X Factor style story attached? They aren’t even good covers. They are light jazz covers designed to tug at heart strings. If you lean in close, and turn the volume up you can hear the chink of glasses and the distant cry of scampi for table 13.

She delivers the previously discussed Fields of Gold, but also Songbird and Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Beautiful songs that they are it all seems a little too, whats the word? Poignant? A false sense of poignancy?

Anyway, none of this is Cassidys fault, her physical being didn’t enter in to this pact with Wogan and his mind mojo so I really should be too critical for the recorded output. That all said I may give this to my mum, she would like it. 3 out of 10.



People Get Ready by Eva Cassidy