1. Night Owl
2. Stone Soul Picnic
3. Something in the Way He Moves
4. Vegetables
5. Cat Food
6. Wave
7. I've Got it Hidden
8. Country Pie
9. Love Story (You and Me)
10. The Gentle Rain
11. Crickets Sing for Anamaria (Os Grilos)
12. Rondo à la Turk
13. Love Peace My Brother
14. Free the People
Annie Ross - Vocals, tambourine, whistle
Dave MacRae - Electric piano, organ
Gordon Edwards - Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
Rick Laird - Bass guitar, acoustic guitar
Sean Lynch - Jaws harp (track 8)
Dave Montgomery - Drums
This album was originally recorded in 1971. You might guess that
date roughly from the songs that Annie Ross sings, with hippie anthems
like Stoned Soul Picnic and touches of love and peace in the
last two items. The date is also given away by the boogaloo rhythms
and the jazz-rock in many items. Yet somehow Annie Ross transcends
any particular time, as her vocals have long-lasting appeal.
Of course, she is best known as an exponent of vocalese in the trio
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, but she left them in 1962 and has since
continued her career as a solo singer and seems inexhaustible: still
wowing audiences at the age of 79. This reissued LP was recorded at
Decca's No.1 Studio with an invited audience, re-creating Annie's
one-woman show in Hampstead. The variety of the repertoire proves
that Annie is much more than an exponent of vocalese. With equal skill
she handles psychedelia (Stoned Soul Picnic), jazz-fusion (Night
Owl and Cat Food), the bossa nova (Wave and
The Gentle Rain), and songs from composers as diverse as Bob
Dylan (Country Pie) and Randy Newman (Love Story).
Several songs illustrate Annie's comic ability (after all, her brother
was Scottish comedian Jimmy Logan). Vegetables is a ridiculous
Beach Boys song in which she imitates the smouldering voice of Simone
Signoret. I've Got It Hidden is introduced by Ross as a number
sung by a burlesque entertainer she saw in California "billed
as Florence of Arabia" and Annie performs it in the high-pitched
style of such "ladies". And Rondo à la Turk
is Mozart ("one of his biggest hits") with humorous pattered
vocalese lyrics by Bill Solly.
However, Annie can also sing ballads with sensitivity - like James
Taylor's Something in the Way He Moves (a delicious song different
from the Beatles' Something). And she performs the bossa novas
with true jazz feeling. As Tim Rice's sleeve-notes on the original
1971 LP said, Annie is a jazz singer "but she's everything else,
too".
Ross is well served by her accompanists, especially keyboardist Dave
MacRae. On Country Pie there is a funky guitar solo from Gordon
Edwards and the unusual sound of the jaws harp as played by Sean Lynch.
The album is sub-titled "An evening with Annie Ross" and
it will make you want to spend several evenings with this versatile
vocalist.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Vocalion CDSML 8451
