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The Be Good Tanyas
Hello Love
(Nettwerk)
First Appeared in The Music Box, October 2006, Volume 13, #10
Written by John Metzger
The Be Good Tanyas may have replaced the Townes Van Zandt and Peter Rowan
covers of Chinatown with material by Neil Young (For the Turnstiles)
and Prince (When Doves Cry). Yet, its latest effort Hello Love
still manages to retain the haunted, rustic essence that clung so tightly to
each of the group’s first two endeavors. Traditional, gospel-imbued songs such
as Out of the Wilderness and What Are They Doing in Heaven Today
alternately are filled with chillingly ominous overtones and a sense of wistful,
weary warmth, while streams of sunlight succeed in filtering through the
instrumentation that graces the moody melancholia of Mississippi John Hurt’s
Nobody Cares for Me.
Nevertheless, Hello Love also finds The Be Good Tanyas continuing to
push its music ever so slowly in a more contemporary direction. Its
modifications are subtle, yet the rock ’n‘ roll undercurrents undeniably are
both present and effective. Hints of Young’s work hover over the hushed,
ethereal piano ballad Song for R., and they blow through the harmonica
accompaniment and droning chug of Human Thing. Elsewhere, Ootischenia
settles comfortably into its rolling, country groove, while Old Crow Medicine
Show assists in adding some extra propulsion to the backwoods bluegrass of A
Little Blues. The highlight of Hello Love, however, is a tender cover
of folk singer Sean Hayes’ A Thousand Tiny Pieces. Here, The Be Good
Tanyas combines an intimate, bare-bones arrangement with delicate vocal
harmonies in order to convey the wondrous beauty of the universe.
For the record, there is a fractious quality that lingers beneath the surface
of Hello Love, and it’s likely that the collection was stitched together
from individual components rather than assembled by The Be Good Tanyas in a
fully cooperative fashion. A little tension within a group isn’t necessarily a
bad thing, though, and for now at least, it has helped drive the competitive
spirits of the ensemble’s individual members, thereby keeping the overall
quality of its recordings aloft.  ½
Hello Love is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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