Melanie - Gather Me

Speaking of interesting female voices, this is Melanie. I actually had no idea who she was, but it turns out i know a lot of her songs. You've heard at least one of her songs (unless you live under a rock and don't know what roller skates are), and it's on this album. She played at Woodstock. She's mainly a pop-folk singer/songwriter and wow she made a lot of albums. I have two of them and this is Gather Me. I also have Stoneground Words, which just topped BS&T4 for weirdest album jacket/packaging, but that's a different post.

Her voice is really interesting, and there's a contemporary singer who sounds a lot like her, but i can't quite think of who i'm thinking of; maybe you know? Maybe i'm just thinking of other Melanie songs i didn't know were Melanie (shrug).

There's not really a theme or shape to this album that i can describe, other than to say it's a diverse collection of folk styles. That's not entirely true, the album slowly morphs from country-ish songs to overtly celtic songs, but that's not really a satisfying concept. Maybe she's saying these are all the various things that make her whole, the constellation of musics that is Melanie (country, celtic, blues, and the slightest hint of old time gospel). She's quite a good guitar player too.

The song that really intrigues me is "Some Say (I Got Devil)." It's very minor, but the accompaniment does some really weird stuff that i can't quite understand on first listen. I may have to transcribe it, just to figure out what i'm actually hearing.

It's a very singer/songwriter album, whatever that might mean to you, but there are some really interesting orchestrations/arrangements.  If you detest Joan Baez, or Joni Mitchell, or Laura Nyro then Melanie isn't going to win you over, but it's at least an interesting listen. I'll certainly check out the other album i have by her at some point....

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