Alison Brown
Album: Song Of The Banjo
Label: Compass
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.alisonbrown.com

Every now and again, there's an album that comes along completely out of left field, and smacks you right between the eyes with its sheer energy and vitality. Unfortunately "The Song Of The Banjo" isn't one of them!

An album containing 9 instrumental songs, 4 with guest vocals from The Indigo Girls, Colin Hay and Keb' Mo (who really should have known better), and ultimately a collection of tunes that succeed in taking the banjo directly into middle-of-the-road, easy-listening snooze-fest territory.

Of course we all have differing opinions and tastes, but from a Grammy-winning musician and composer, and with the impressive list of guest vocalists and all-star ensemble band, perhaps I was expecting a little too much? But even after half a dozen plays I'm still struggling to find some energy and life coursing through the songs (a mixture of originals and covers) on offer.

If you were sitting in a restaurant in a Southern USA theme park, then this is the kind of music you'd hear in the background. Yes the playing is technically excellent, but ultimately there is no passion, no fire and no rough edges to ease the soporific malaise that hangs over this album.

Take a listen to the instrumental version of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", reinvented here for banjo, and you'll see exactly the direction that this album is headed. It's like a banjo version of Bert Kaempfert plays the hits of the day, back in the 70's.

I'm sure there's a big market out there for this kind of inoffensive mainstream pensioner-orientated muzak, but to these ears it is neither dynamic nor innovative. It's essentially elevator music. Avoid like the plague!

Ken Brown.
http://www.squarerootspromotions.co.uk