Reviews
Be Good Tanyas
Hello Love
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2006-11-19
Around this time of year, the writers at TWM start thinking in earnest about what will make their list for their favourite albums of the year. (If you are Dan, you start doing this in August.) Much of the lists are already set by this time, with summer releases, gems found during the year and albums from last winter that have had plenty of time to become growers.
The problem, of course, is those fall and early winter releases, whether they're albums that rightfully just happen be happen to be done for winter or ones that have been held back or rushed so they could come out during the holiday shopping season. A lot of these albums are ones we know you're going to have to hear for the list, since the big names tend to put out releases at this time of year. I've been anticipating the new disc from The Be Good Tanyas for a while now too, but it's not because they're a huge act. It's because I downloaded and enjoyed a three-song EP a while ago, one featuring two songs off this album, and I've been playing the hell out of those songs every since. Two of those tracks -- "Scattered Leaves" and "Song For R." -- have made their way to the band's third full-length, along with eleven others from the West Coast trio.
Hello Love opens strong with the quiet (but still intense) "Human Thing" and Neil Young's more forceful "For The Turnstiles." The band hasn't reinvented their sound here; it's still country- and bluegrass-tinged folk. But they does that well, particularly in the strong harmonies between Frazey Ford, Samantha Parton and Trish Klein. The instrumentals are solid but relatively simple -- guitar, banjo, mandolin, drums. But if it isn't broke, right?
For an album of straightforward tunes with often-minimal instrumentals, The Be Good Tanyas do a good job of varying the tone and pace of the album. The album builds intensity quickly in the first two tracks. A while in, the upbeat and charming "A Little Blues" leads into the more melancholy "Scattered Leaves" -- a cover of a song by Jeremy Lindsey that I've been obsessed with for about a month now. The vocals get the bittersweet resignation of the lyrics down perfectly.
The album features several covers, in fact. The Be Good Tanyas' version of Sean Hayes' "A Thousand Tiny Pieces" is downright lovely. "Nobody Cares For Me" waltzes along with slightly quirky harmonizing, and the traditional tunes "Out Of The Wilderness" and "What Are They Doing In Heaven Today" pay homage to the origins of the band's rootsy sound.
The band was smart to make their cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" a hidden track, I think; while it's a perfectly fine cover, its pedigree could overshadow the other tracks on the album if it was highlighted front and centre, especially when this disc has so many strong original tracks and superior covers to offer.
On the whole, this mixture of originals, covers and original songs comes across as a cohesive album, and one that's enjoyable to listen to at that. As for year-end list contenders, I think I've got one here.
Score: 7.9
- Terri