SEE Magazine
Issue #381: March 22, 2001
Copyright © 2001. All Rights Reserved

Music Spins CD Reviews BY SEE STAFF The Swallows Turning Blue (Magnetic Angel/Six Shooter) Blue Rodeo drummer Glen Milchem is the Swallows – wind him up and watch him write the songs, sing, and play every instrument. Turning Blue is an Eels-quality solo album that is interesting, musically varied and thus far one of the most pleasant surprises of 2001. The title track gets a quiet groove going that is reminiscent of late 1990s cool dudes Spain. Other tracks belie Milchem’s Toronto indie rock roots (he was the drummer for Change of Heart). There really isn’t a weak track on the disc. If this is the music Milchem likes to play, then the question is: how the hell can he bear to play with Blue Rodeo? –Dr. Sean Sanders James Cotton It Was a Very Good Year (Just a Memory) The folks at Just a Memory Records continue their labour of love for vintage blues and jazz performances with a third James Cotton release recorded in Montreal (1967). Experience Cotton leading his five-piece through harmonica-punctuated versions of Hootchie Cootchie Man, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), I Can’t Quit You Baby, and a long version of Sweet Sixteen, among others. It’s like being there – assuming you were listening from a heating duct in the next room. Despite their "best effort and enthusiasm," the recording quality is sketchy and only recommended for diehard fans. Much of it is like having the other type of cotton in your ears. –Dave Alexander Raisins in the Sun S/T (Rounder) So a bunch of guys hole themselves up in an Arizona recording studio for 10 days. Some are producers, some musicians, some singer/songwriters. They are: Jim Dickinson, Paul Q. Kolderie & Sean Slade, Jules Shear, Chuck Prophet, Winston Watson and Harvey Brooks. Hardly household names, but recognizable enough to any mid-level record geek. What do they do? They write and record songs. Why do they do it? Because it’s what they like to do. What does it sound like? Roots rock. Did they intend for it to be released? I don’t think so. Is it any good/should you buy it? You could do worse. –Craig Elliott Maria Muldaur Richland Woman Blues (Stony Plain Records) This has got to be a sign that the Freemasons are up to no good: Muldaur’s 25th recording featuring DUETS with famous roots folks playing blues from the 1920s, recorded in the dawn of the 21st century, on a label based in a province with a PAIR of ND MLAs. How I wish my CD deck had the "backward play" option. Muldaur is at her whiskey-voiced best playing in turns with Bonnie Raitt, Roy Rogers, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Taj Mahal et al. Overall, its not as stirring as Hart’s solo material, but better than one of those interminable Saturday whiteboy blues nights at folkfest. –Dr. Sean Sanders Michelle McAdorey Whirl (Quilt) Yes, Customer Service? Yes, I’m sorry, but think there’s been a mistake or misunderstanding or something. I ordered this new Michelle McAdorey CD, but I was under the impression that we were talking about the Michelle McAdorey who was in Crash Vegas. Remember? All elfin and angsty with the cute, folky songs and the big voice? This isn’t her. I mean, the voice sounds the same, but I don’t think I expected these songs to be all tuneless and dirgey and arty with a string section and stuff. It’s really not what I had in mind at all. May I return it for something else? Yes, I’ll hold . . . –Craig Elliott

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