Murray McLauchlan – Love Can’t Tell Time

MURRAY McLAUCHLAN

Love Can’t Tell Time

True North

truenorthrecords.com

On first listen, Love Can’t Tell Time, the latest album by Murray McLauchlan, is reminiscent of the two recent albums of old jazz/pop standards by Bob Dylan. Like the Dylan albums, Murray is working with a small, tight ensemble – actually, smaller than Dylan’s with only three other musicians throughout – that offers tight, but relaxed versions of the standards in a rootsy, but nicely swinging vein.

But, there’s a big difference between Murray’s album and the two Dylan albums (plus the upcoming 3-CD set due in a couple of weeks) in that Murray not only sings standards, he’s writing and co-writing songs that fit seamlessly with the standards. In fact, Murray wrote or co-wrote seven of the 10 tracks on Love Can’t Tell Time and the original material reaches the lofty heights of time-tested standards like “Pick Yourself Up,” “Hey There” and “Come Fly With Me.”

The other big difference between Love Can’t Tell Time and the Dylan albums is the centrality of Murray’s guitar playing to the arrangements. Whereas Dylan is at the microphone fronting a band, Murray is playing as he sings so that the voice and guitar are intimately intertwined – as is the playing of upright bassist Victor Bateman, violinist Drew Jurecka and pedal steel player Burke Carroll. This quartet plays throughout with no other musicians. There’s no drummer, no horn players, no electric guitarist, etc. – and the additional musicians are not missed from this quiet, relaxed set.

Among my favorites from Murray’s songs are “The Second Half of Life,” a gentle celebration of the wisdom and acceptance – and the ability to be one’s self without having to prove anything – that comes with age; “The Luckiest Guy,” which has an infectious swing highlighted by a Grappelli-esque violin solo; and “Love Just Can’t Tell Time,” which astutely tells us that love is possible at any age.

I’ve been listening to Murray’s songs for about 45 years and it’s great to hear him making music for an audience that has matured with him over those years.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Ron Hynes -- Stealing Genius

RON HYNES
Stealing Genius
Borealis Records
hynesite.org

Ron Hynes, the pride of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, is, without question, one of Canada’s greatest singer-songwriters – a writer whose genius can be found in decades worth of great songs.

Ron calls his new album Stealing Genius because most of its songs are inspired by specific works written by several poets and novelists, mostly from Newfoundland along with one American. In some songs, Ron actually gives the inspiring writer a co-writing credit.

The album opens with “Blood and Bones,” a song inspired by What They Wanted, a novel about a family’s resettlement by Donna Morrissey. It’s a familiar story that Ron sings about: a family forced to leave their home for someplace new because the work is no longer there. In this case, presumably, it’s the local fishery that’s no longer viable as “the ocean died like late night embers in the stove.” Ron’s lyrics and his singing seem to combine poignancy with regret and a hint of anger.

Morrissey’s book, as well as Michael Crummy’s The Wreckage, inspired “My Father’s Ghost,” a song that is both a remembrance from long ago of discovering a father’s death and a brilliantly drawn contemporary portrait of a lonely life in sea coast village.

In “House,” inspired by Stan Dragland’s Stormy Weather: Foursomes, Ron sings about an old house as the shell for the lost love that no longer lives within its walls.

“I Love You More Than God” and “Love and Hunger” are two stunning love songs based on poems by Des Walsh and which are reminiscent of the great romantic poets.

One of my favourite songs in the set is "30 For 60," inspired by a poem by Al Pittman, that's a powerful portrait of a man, no longer young, damning his regrets.

One song that takes its inspiration from an American book is “Judgement,” a song based on Ron Hansen’s The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Ron sings from the perspective of Ford trying to rationalize his act.

As a singer, Ron knows exactly how to communicate the essence of the songs to his listeners and the arrangements, featuring such musicians as Paul Mills (who also produced the album), Alec Fraser, Tom Leighton and Burke Carroll, frame the songs almost perfectly.

Stealing Genius represents the finest set of original songwriting to be released in Canada this year.

--Mike Regenstreif