|
|
|
Reviews for "Me
to You"
FRANKIE LANE
"Me
to You"
Cois
Tine Records
Rating:
*****
Last time around,
Irish roots veteran Frankie Lane took it upon himself to breath life
into the fast-fading genre of cowboy music. He may not have resurrected
it, but the album was a great pleasure nonetheless. The same is true
of this more eclectic collection of ballads, bluegrass, waltzes and
jigs. The common theme this time seems to be that these simply are
songs that Lane loves. It comes across. And his affection obviously
was contagious because the playing, particularly that of key collaborator,
Paul Kelly, is full of soft brilliance. Many of the songs are traditional,
mostly American, but the segueing of Wedding Dress into the
hackneyed Scottish ballad Marie's Wedding shows what can
be achieved with talent and an open mind. And Lane has both in abundance.
JOE BREEN
The Ticket – The Irish Times 18th
April 2008
Reviews for "Gunsmoke
at El Paso"
Hot
Press 7th October 2003
Frankie Lane's career
thus far has been littered with firsts - the first man to attempt
to climb Everest from the stage of the Olympia, the first Irishman
to record an entire album of material on the dobro, and (almost)
the first man to put me in hospital as a result of strained muscles
from an excess of laughter on a road trip through the badlands of
Ireland.
His musical pedigree is impeccable. Long stints with The Fleadhs,
The One Eyed Rattlers and sundry other projects have been but an
apprenticeship for this special endeavour, an album of songs written
and/or inspired by Marty Robbins. Sixteen tracks adorn the landscape
creating a mix of the epic, the humourous, and the reverential,
in what is truly a benchmark recording. Here's why.
Beautifully structured, it opens with 'Saddle Tramp' - mandolin
and guitar laying the bedrock for the story of the archetypal loner
- and finishes with Seamus Begley taking lead vocals on 'Come Home
Rolling Stone'. Between the covers are to be found epic tales of
love, death and skullduggery, anchored by two pieces in particular,
'Texas Bells/San Angelo and the title track, a 10-minute tour-de-force,
which could itself be performed as, or expanded into, a C&W
operetta.
Full of risks and riches it is a life's work realised in magnificent
fashion, a unique outing from a true gentleman.
9/10
Oliver P. Sweeney
|
|
FROM RICHARD
HAWKINS-
IRISH
BLUEGRASS NEWSLETTER
This is one of the most ambitious
and (on its own ground) most successful projects on the country side
of Americana to come from an Irish artist. It’s not in any sense
bluegrass—as against the terse intensity and blues influence of
much bluegrass material, western songs tend to have long, dramatic,
narrative texts, and the tunes and instrumentation have a conspicuous
Mexican influence. Moreover, the songs on this CD are predominantly
from the era of Marty Robbins (who wrote half of them), and demand careful
and sometimes elaborate arrangement. Lane has risen to these challenges.
As a singer he conspicuously enjoys ranging his voice round these spacious
melodies; as a picker he matches the voice with his own work on guitars,
steel guitars, mandolin, keyboards,an bass; and he has assmbled a galaxy
of other singers and musicians (including Sharon Shannon on button accordion
and Paul Kelly on mandolin and fiddle) to give these songs all the weight
and richness they deserve. The notes and design are also a pleasure.
You might expect a wide gap between this project and one of my favourite
CDs, Skip Gorman’s A cowboy’s wild song to his herd (Rounder
CD 0449), an album of Western songs and tunes dating from fifty or a
hundred years earlier. In fact, there’s much common ground: on
the most basic level, both include fine versions of ‘Red River
valley’; and the last songs on both albums, Gorman’s ‘Prisoner
for life’ and Lane’s ‘Come home, rolling stone’,
suggest that if they ever met, Skip and Frankie would get along well
together.
|
FROM THE MAVERICK COUNTRY MUSIC MAGAZINE
Frankie Lane
Gunsmoke at El Paso
Cois Tine Records CTR001
Cowboy and Western Music has been going through something of a resurgence
in the last few years, leading to several talented singers and songwriters
being plucked out of regional obscurity to international acclaim. But
they’ve all been American-based, from Texas, Montana, Oklahoma and
California. Frankie Lane (not to be confused with the legendary Frankie
Laine), is from Ireland and though this self-produced collection has echoes
of Marty Robbins, it is not such a bad thing, as none of today’s
recording artists sing or perform in that style. As a long-time Robbins
fan, I looked at the song titles and shook my head in disbelief. How dare
this ‘unknown’ singer tempt the fate of my wrath by singing
songs like Saddle Tramp, Big Iron, The Fastest Gun Around, Doggone
Cowboy etc and expect anything but a contemptuous slagging-off.
But as the opening guitar run of Saddle Tramp came wafting into
my senses and Lane started to singing a smile of relief crossed my face
and I sat back, prejudices gradually receding, to enjoy what turned out
to be some of the finest versions of these songs I’ve heard since
Marty Robbins made the original recordings some 30- or 40-odd years ago.
Wisely, Lane didn’t go for some cheap’n’nasty production;
this is a labour of love and the guy has obviously spent much time ensuring
that he got it just right. With a crack team of top musicians and singers
he breathes new life into songs that are timeless. He slows Dusty
Winds down to an eerie desert-scape with shimmering harmonies that
would have Marty grinning from ear-to-ear.
The epic San Angelo is preceded by a captivating instrumental
intro that sets the scene for the unfolding western ballad. Few of today’s
singers could hold a candle to the late Marty Robbins, especially when
it comes to cowboy and western ballads, Tom Russell, and Don Edwards come
pretty close, but certainly the best must be this genial Irishman.
Yeah, against my better judgement, I have been totally hooked by this
album. Maybe next time Frankie could stretch out with interpretations
of cowboy songs not recorded by Marty Robbins. That, I think, would be
something else. AC
|
|
| THE IRISH
TIMES October 9th 2003 FRANKIE
LANE
Gunsmoke at El Paso Cois Tine
Records
****
Cowboy music is really the
runt of the roots litter, a genre seemingly only fit to provoke a patronizing
laugh. Well, prepare to change that view, because Irish roots veteran
Frankie Lane is coming to town armed with a collection of cowboy epics
that will have you reaching for your superlatives. Charmingly he describes
these blood-spattered tales as innocent. But he is right in that they
hark back to a time when the good guys were good and the bad guys were…Mexican.
Seriously, Marty Robbins, who wrote many of these 18 tracks, knew how
to tell a story and Lane, along with notable assistance from guitarist
Conor Brady, knows how to make the most of it. The production is vivid
and imaginative, renewing creaking classics such as Ghost Riders in
the Sky and restoring dignity to a genre that seemed beyond it.Joe
Breen
|
|
Contact
Frankie at email@frankielane.com
|
Copyright © 2003 All Rights Reserved.
|
|
