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MUSIC REVIEW: BEAUTIFUL STAR -THE SONGS OF ODETTA
Posted by Laura on January 2, 2010
Tags: Activism, Music
Don’t let the punk cds fool you, I like my easy listening too and the chilled-out, stripped back nature of this compilation was right up my street. Beautiful Star: The Songs of Odetta, curated and released by Wears The Trousers, is a tribute to Odetta Holmes (1930-2008); an American musician and human rights activist. Holmes was named the “Queen of American folk music” by Martin Luther King Jr in 1961 and her music encompassed not just folk, but blues, jazz and spirituals – a range of styles represented so well by the artists in this tribute. The 16 tracks featured are each unique, yet what unites them is a ‘realness’; each track has feeling and a sense of genuineness in the words, the music and the voices. And the diversity of tracks compliment one another perfectly. From the pared-down, country-esque Gemma Ray on ‘900 Miles’ to the husky, sultry tones on ‘What A Friend We Have’ from Katey Brooks to the frankly amazing Sandy Dillon on Can’t Afford To Lose My Man’; a rasped genius of a singer that makes you think of a care-free Macy Gray gone wild (why haven’t we heard more about this woman?!). Each track was thoroughly enjoyed and the compilation did not disappoint, plus all profits from sales of the album will be split evenly between the Fawcett Society and The Women’s Resource Centre. What more could you ask for?
Track Listing
LINDA DRAPER, ‘Sail Away Ladies’
ANE BRUN, ‘If I Had A Ribbon Bow’
GEMMA RAY, ‘900 Miles’
ANAÏS MITCHELL, ‘All My Trials’
HAUNTED STEREO, ‘Santy Anno’
MADAM, ‘Waterboy’
SANDY DILLON, ‘Can’t Afford To Lose My Man’ [live]
ORA COGAN, ‘Motherless Child’
JOSEPHINE ONIYAMA, ‘The Gallows Pole’
PEPI GINSBERG, ‘Beautiful Star’
SOCIETY OF IMAGINARY FRIENDS, ‘Another Man Done Gone’
MARISSA NADLER, ‘All My Trials’
KELLI ALI, ‘All The Pretty Little Horses’
KATEY BROOKS, ‘What A Friend We Have’
LIZ DURRETT, ‘Chilly Winds’
ARBOREA, ‘This Little Light Of Mine
A limited number of physical copies of Beautiful Star: The Songs Of Odetta will be made available directly through the Wears The Trousers website, to pre-order here.
Tags for this post:Activism, Music