DAVE'S DIARY - 18 MARCH 2005 - MARCIA HOWARD REVIEW
LIVE
CONCERT REVIEW - 2004
MARCIA
HOWARD
CORNISH ARMS HOTEL, BRUNSWICK.
 Marcia Howard & Band - Basement Discs 2004 |
When Marcia Howard launched her second solo CD she had moral support from
774 AM host Derek Guille.
MC Guille had more pleasant news than when he told Texan troubadour Billy
Joe Shaver on February 13, 2002, that mentor Waylon Jennings died suddenly
at 64.
So it was easy for the Warrnambool minstrel to kick-start a triumphant
Melbourne return with I Don't Mind - a revamp of traditional Irish
song The Morning Star.
Howard's pristine vocals were a vibrant vehicle for Stonewall and
haunting Angel Full Of Grace.
She introduced Wild And Free, penned by brother Shane, by announcing
another brother Damian was en route from sporting duties.
And on cue the Ploughboys singer joined up mid-song on piano and vocals
and stayed for Love Will Always Lead You Home - a tune he penned
with siblings Shane and Marcia.
They performed a version of William Blake poem Poison Tree that
Marcia cut with Irish singer Mary Black, before gum leaves lit up for
album title track Burning In The Rain.
The leaves, scooped in Parkville, stayed ablaze as Howard bared her heart
and soul in the Butterfly Song and I Was Only Talking To Myself.
By now the band - drummer Archie Cuthbertson, fiddler Adrian Barker, bassist
Glenn Board and guitarist John Hudson - was wired and inspired.
Marcia's version of Donovan tune Catch The Wind slowed the tempo
revving up a notch for original songs Holding On and Lonely
For Love.
This was a healthy hybrid of country, folk and Irish love songs with spirituality
honed in the family's chart topping Goanna era.
Unlike the album there was no didgeridoo, uilleann pipes, flutes, harps
or whistles but a choir, including Dixie playwright Marie Lourey, for
the climax.
That's Dixie - near Terang - and well south of the Mason Dixon line.
And every country girl needs an encore - this time it was a spirited version
of Dylan song Forever Young and reconciliation song Sorry.
Howard, 44 and fifth of seven siblings, burned in the rain but this was
not Death In Brunswick.
CD REVIEW - 2004
MARCIA HOWARD
BURNING IN THE RAIN (www.marciahoward.com.au)
 |
When
Shipwreck Coast singer Marcia Howard cut her second solo album long
after a six-year sojourn with Goanna she enjoyed the luck of the
Irish. < Marcia Howard |
Howard,
like the best writers, bares her heart and soul on a disc whose therapeutic
theme may or may not be recovery from divorce and white-hot ashes of love.
She exorcises faded love in the entrée title track and provides
shelter in spiritual healing of Stonewall.
They segue into Howard-Black collaboration on William Blake poem Poison
Tree, reprised from compilation disc A Woman's Heart.
The haunting leaving song Angel Full Of Grace is a sibling of sorts
of the highly personal Lonely For Love.
Brother Shane's tune Your Love is a perfect segue to Like A
Girl Again - a post divorce freedom gem - and the optimism of healing
in Holding On.
A revamp of The Morning Star as I Don't Mind is a sardonic
stab at a departed lover.
Whether the interpretations are right or wrong matters little - this is
one of the best female albums of the decade.
Howard breathes life into Donovan classic Catch The Wind and finishes
with Sorry - personalised comment on stolen generations from outback
teaching and Warrnambool childhood - and Cooney instrumental Caoineadh
Chotmcillle.
Howard deserves airplay and exposure on a much broader tableau than the
unlucky radio country can offer - a genuine diamond in the rough.