Search - Jackie Cain, Roy Kral :: Beautiful Sea

"No moaning of the bar"

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 04/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rex Reed's informative and heartfelt liner notes capture the freshness and artistry of this effervescent duo and remind some of us why it was such a privilege to be in the audience during their intimate live performances. But this album does, after all, amount to a sort of valedictory by the pair, and there's an unmistakable sense of the sea's irresistible claim on all human identity--as the source and end of life. The elegaic quality reaches its emotional climax in Johnny Mandel's and Peggy Lee's "The Shining Sea," sung by Jackie with a yearning, wistful urgency, retrospectively all the more moving because of Roy's passing. Taken as a whole, Jackie and Roy's water music represents no Beach Boys detour or dismissable sidetrip but an important if not culminating chapter in their musical odyssey. Jackie's voice is still as exhilarating as the dawn, and Roy is there as usual to offer his support, if for the last time. For Jackie and Roy followers, this one may well rank with their early collaborations with Charlie Ventura as a satisfying recording. It's at times sad--both in its evocation of temporal moods and surrender to archetypal forces. But true to the musical characters of the performers, it's never heavy or depressing: "May there be no moaning of the bar, / When I put out to sea...When that which drew from out the boundless deep/ Turns again home.""