Search - Be Good Tanyas :: Hello Love

Be Good Tanyas: Warm Up & Chill Out

Peter Walenta | Long Island, New York USA | 07/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I missed the live shows when The Be Good Tanyas opened for Blue Rodeo a few years back so I've never seen them live. Last week I picked up a copy of their latest record, "Hello Love". Not being familiar with Frazey Ford's somewhat garbled vocal delivery, I kind of wondered what I'd just bought. After repeated listens though, Frazey's voice grows on me and I definitely like their laid back but tightly sprung blue grass/new grass style. They do a nice cover of Neil Young's "For the Turnstiles" and the hidden track at the end of the record is an interesting bluegrass version of Prince's "When Doves Cry" that actually gives Prince a run for the money. Now if they'd only done a cover of The Beatles' "Don't Pass Me By", I would have been in blue grass heaven or at least I would have gotten my rockin' shoes on! Some of the traditional numbers work and others are so-so, but the instrumentation is solid throughout this disc.



Trish Klein's electric guitar flourishes add a nice warm texture to otherwise fairly stark bluegrass and old mountain tunes. These ladies do not veer too far into Cowboy Junkies territory, as they only do one blues based tune ("Out of the Wilderness") which could be good or bad depending on how much you like the Cowboy Junkies. Actually, this 'Wilderness' song sounds (to me anyway) more influenced by Kurt Cobain's tortured rendition of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on the great 1994 record, "Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York". And "Out of the Wilderness" eerily and poignantly segues into a tune about a relative who is also a recovering addict ("Song for R.").



All in all, this is a solid record and on this warm July night, I am chilling out and warming up to these tunes by some very talented Canadian ladies. Two thumbs up!

"