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ALLEN POLLOCK'S CD ROUNDUP
'Wake the town and tell the people' was my reaction after hearing singer/pianist Liane
Carroll had won two BBC Jazz Awards (Best Vocalist/Best of Jazz ). Her remarkably down and dirty delivery pulses with soulful power and she can effortlessly hit full throttle yet also change mood and make any ballad a tender experience. I was totally knocked out by Liane's second solo album, STANDARD ISSUE (Splash Point Records SPRO03CD-www.SplashPointRecords.com) which mixes the frantic THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC and speedily enthralling THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME with contemporary numbers by Janis Ian (AT SEVENTEEN), Laura Nyro (HE'S A RUNNER) and Lennon/McCartney (ELEANOR RIGBY); making each and every one an ornately honed experience. Ian Shaw guests for YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND while Liane skillfully delivers her idiosyncratic takes of I WISH YOU LOVE and I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU. Her previous album, BILLY NO MATES (Splash Point Records SPRO01CD) released in late 2003, features electric
performances of IT NEVER ENTERED MY MIND; DON'T BLAME ME and A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP in self-accompanied mode. For once FEVER loses its revered arrangement for something totally original whilst Liane's own songs THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND and DUBLIN MORNING are echoes of personal experience. Being a true jazz artiste, threads of soul and gospel define her esoteric wanderings in striking style, but be warned she's not for the faint-hearted!
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