Five CDs

Yesterday, five CDs arrived in the mail from Amazon.ca. Having listened to them all, here are my encapsulated reviews:

• Natalie Merchant – The House Carpenter’s Daughter: Merchant’s newest album is her first independent release, and quite a departure from her VH1-friendly solo material. This is ‘a collection of traditional and contemporary folk music’, and Ms. Merchant sings everything from a mid-nineteenth century Baptist hymn to a Fairport Convention cover from the sixties. Merchant feels strongly about preserving folk music’s heritage, so this album is much an archival and promotional effort as anything else. If historical folk music is your thing, you won’t be disappointed.
• 10,000 Maniacs – Campfire Songs: This is a compilation of the 10,000 Maniacs most popular songs, combined with a second CD of obscure or previously unreleased recordings. I own most of their CDs, and thanks to Napster and Kazaa, I’d heard almost everything on the second CD. Nonetheless, it’s handy to have it all in one place and remastered. Together, the two CDs provide a decent retrospective of this folk-rock band over their 15-year career.
• Sarah Harmer – All of Our Names: The difficult second album. Technically not her second album, as she was in a popular Canadian band for years before she went solo, but it still has the same cachet. It’s a more introspective album, and less immediately-likable than her first. Those are often the kind of albums that reward repeated listenings, and I suspect this one will be no expection. She’s an excellent, witty lyricists, and there are clever surprises in every song. Take these lines from "Things to Forget": ‘But holidays are made for reading / and remembering things that are worth repeating’. [UPDATE] Incidentally, there’s an Internet-only TicketMaster pre-sale for Ms. Harmer’s show in Vancouver (don’t ask me why) today until 10pm. The password for the pre-sale is ‘sarah’.
• Nellie McKay – Get Away from Me: Ms. McKay is a 19-year-old white girl from Harlem, and appears to be a fresher, less maudlin Tori Amos. Her debut double (!) album is just nutty–it moves from rap to lounge-singing to pseudo-seventies anthems with ease, and is concerned with, in her own words, "a love of dogs and a mistrust of men.". I’m not sure if I like it, but it’s certainly diverting, and one of the more original albums I’ve heard in a long time. She, too, appears to be something of a nut–check out the interview videos on this page (she also seems way older than 19–has she been de-aged by the fountain of youth that is the Columbia Records marketing department?). She has very ill-advised hair in those videos.
• Cassandra Wilson – Glamoured: I saw Cassandra Wilson in concert at the Chan Centre a couple of weeks ago and was blown away. Compared to her, every other vocalist I’ve ever heard has just been saying the words. I didn’t write about it at the time because it was such a perfect concert experience that I had very little to say. Her band was extraordinary, and she never missed a note. This album is her latest top-quality offering, a mix of barely-recognizable covers (because of their inventive instrumentations) and originals.