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Title: Eleanor McEvoy – Snapshots (1999)
Genre: Folk Rock
Format: SACD ISO

Irish singer/songwriter Eleanor McEvoy returned with her third release, Snapshots, with ’80s fixture Rupert Hine (the Fixx) at the production helm and lending guitar, keyboard, percussion, and background vocal assistance. Musically, the tone is light and breezy with Julia Fordham and Everything But the Girl’s Tracey Thorn being touchstones both vocally and lyrically. “All I Have,” co-written with Caroline Lavelle, chugs along nicely and “Wrapping Me Up in Luxury (Until the Morning Comes)” is an engaging midtempo shuffle about the comfort and security of being in love. The highlights are “Did You Tell Him?” which is dead-on in its literate description of the mixed emotions felt when a friend has bumped into a former lover, and the sax-driven “Please Heart, You’re Killing Me,” a jaunty track as inviting as a warm, summer day. McEvoy even spices things up with the dance beat of “Territory of Poets.” McEvoy is a talented and insightful writer with a pleasant voice that is capable of firepower, and Snapshots is an impressive display of her abilities.

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Title: Eleanor McEvoy – Yola (2001)
Genre: Celtic, New Age, Pop Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Celtic pop singer/songwriter Eleanor McEvoy was born in Dublin on January 20, 1967, beginning piano lessons at age four; she took up the violin two years later, and as a teen joined the Junior Irish Youth Orchestra. Upon graduating college, McEvoy was tapped for the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, but after four years she quit to pursue a career as a pop performer; in 1992, her “Only a Woman’s Heart” highlighted the anthology A Woman’s Heart, which went on to become the best-selling album in Irish chart history.

Yola was Eleanor McEvoy’s follow-up to the lavishly produced pop record Snapshots, but the two records could hardly be farther apart in instrumentation. Recorded semi-live, set entirely in sparse piano-guitar-and-drum arrangements, and conceptually centered around McEvoy’s partnership with classically trained pianist Brian Connor, Yola seems to find its guiding principle in its final song, which celebrates “something so wonderful, something so pure.” The purity of the arrangements is indeed wonderful. McEvoy sings “Seasoned Love” in a piano-only performance that sounds like a number from a Stephen Sondheim musical, and goes a step sparser on “Isn’t It a Little Late?,” which is backed only by drums. But despite the vast change in instrumentation, very little separates McEvoy’s songwriting on Yola from her Snapshots work. Most of these songs could easily be padded with strings, electric guitar, and synthesizers and hold up well on the earlier album. The minimal settings on Yola demonstrate what so many other barebones efforts have shown: that good songs are still good when stripped to their essentials, that less is often more, and that complexity isn’t always an improvement. But then, neither is simplicity. Simple arrangements showcase an artist’s fundamental strengths — in McEvoy’s case, her beautifully and skillfully crafted melodies and evocative vocals — but they can also reveal an artist’s weaknesses. Snapshots seemed an attempt to cast McEvoy as a new Sarah McLachlan, but the former lacks the latter’s proficiency as a guitarist and intricacy of lyrical expression. McEvoy seems to write about only two subjects, lost love and found love, and she tends to rely on well-worn clichés like rain as a symbol for hardship and “me and you” as a central rhyme. Still, those weaknesses only contribute to the directness and purity of the recordings, and McEvoy’s melodies are easily strong enough to stand on their own.

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Title: Eleanor McEvoy – Out There (2006)
Genre: Rock, Folk, World, Country
Format: SACD ISO

This new studio album from Ireland’s most accomplished female singer songwriter features twelve brand new tracks, including “Quote I Love You Unquote” written with Dave Rotheray of the Beautiful South. This collection of upbeat songs take a wry view on life, love and modern society. Eleanor does it all on this album, contributing vocals, guitars, mandolin, keyboards, electric bass and percussion on the disc! Highlights include covers of the Marvin Gaye classic “Mercy Mercy Me” and Lowell George’s “Roll Um Easy” and “Non-Smoking Single Female.”

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Title: Eleanor McEvoy – Early Hours (2004)
Genre: Rock, Folk
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

This is another superbly produced and crafted album from one of Ireland’s most accomplished female singer-songwriters – it’s a very fine collection crossing over into many musical styles – Celtic, country, folk, jazz and blues – and makes for intensely rewarding listening. Eleanor McEvoy’s voice has you enthralled from the first moment – from the mellow piano and trumpet of the opening track You’ll Hear Better Songs (Than This) to the album’s haunting closing song Anach Cuain. McEvoy’s voice has a raw, bluesy, pure edge that completely hooks you from the start. The title song is pretty apt – you may well hear ‘better’ songs than these, but few will be so superbly crafted and exquisitely produced.

The album’s production and recording qualities are outstanding – it’s recorded in multi-channel stereo surround and offers much to the audiophile. McEvoy’s strong, often raw, Irish-accented vocal comes through with remarkable clarity and grabs your attention throughout – I was somehow reminded of a whole host of female singers as I listened. Musicianship is excellent – McEvoy’s guitar playing (both acoustic and electric) forms the backbone to these songs (she plays fiddle on one track only, the raw-edged, traditional, but very lyrical Driving Home From Butler’s). Album co-producer Brian Connor accompanies her on piano, Hammond, and all manner of keyboards – his contribution is exceptional throughout. Drummer/percussionist is Liam Bradley, Calum McColl also plays guitars, bassist is Nicky Scott, and Lindley Hamilton plays trumpet – superb on the opening track. Classically trained McEvoy is probably best known for her 1992 album Only A Woman’s Heart, which broke a good few album sales records in Ireland. Her song writing continues to be classy, mature, and crafted, and makes for immeasurably satisfying listening – McEvoy has written 10 of the 13 songs on Early Hours. Hard to pick out a favourite amidst such quality. There are superb covers of Chuck Berry’s Memphis Tennessee and Bert Jansch’s Where Did My Life Go? but it’s McEvoy’s compositions that stand tall. Slower numbers such as The DJ, Make Mine A Small One and the very beautiful Ave Maria reveal great restraint – and thereby have all the more impact on the listener. Edgier numbers include the superb I’ll Be Willing, Slipping Away, and Days Roll By – these are great songs, dominated by rhythmic guitar and piano. What with albums like Early Hours and Karine Polwart’s Faultlines to contend with, it looks like 2004 is turning into a vintage year for female vocalist releases – I honestly can’t fault this beautifully crafted album. – Review by Debbie Koritsas

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