Caddy Cooper
Album: Outside The Wire
Label: Crosswind Records
Tracks: 15
Website: http://www.caddycooper.com

Boris Johnson has just returned from Kurdistan in Iraq, from a trip to meet some of the troops fighting on the frontline. Now, I don't wish to disparage Boris, but I'm sure if you asked the troops who they would most like to receive a morale boosting visit from, then the London Mayor probably wouldn't be high up on their list.

Caddy Cooper, on the other hand, might be. It takes a lot of courage to visit a war zone to entertain the troops, (more power to Boris), but Caddy resolved to spend a year saying "yes" to things that scare her, so as well as touring tirelessly through nine countries to promote her last album, "Snapshot", she has climbed a mountain, swam with sharks, and visited Afghanistan to entertain the British troops there.

Although you can detect the influences of her experiences in some of the tracks on "Outside The Wire", her latest album, there's also a strong feeling that her experiences haven't changed her. "Outside The Wire" is still Caddy Coooper at her effervescent best.

Very hard to pin a label on Caddy. Her musical influences and tastes are vast, and "Outside The Wire" encompasses many different genres. It opens with "Get Onboard", which is a foot-tapping, Appalachian Blues Grass song, followed by a smooth cool jazz song: "An Hour or Two". The album covers, folk, country, ballads and of course, blues, and the final track, "Crosswind" wouldn't be out of place on a Broadway musical. All songs, though, are coloured by Caddy's amazing vocals. She has a twinkle in her eye which somehow is expressed in her voice. Even when she's singing of deep despair and Hell there's an optimism that flows through.

Her previous album, "Snapshot" was recorded in both the UK and Australia: a fact which I assumed explained the large number of musicians who were credited on the sleeve, but that was not the case. Most of the musicians are back on this album, along with vocalist Paul Carella who duets with her on "Don't Say We're Through" and "Further We Got To Fall".

Despite the impressive list of musicians, "Love You In The Morning" is sung a capella, with Caddy providing her own backing vocals.

My favorite track on this album has to be the heartbreaking ballad "Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". There's a certain poignancy to this track as it involves an ANZAC soldier, and Caddy comes from Western Australia. Makes me wonder if it's based on real events.

"Far To Go" I think, is based on the people that Caddy met when she was in India. People with far less material wealth than we have in the West, but who still have hope. I also suspect that the title track, "Outside The Wire", describes all of us who are fortunate enough to be living away from the battlefield.

All told, a superb follow on to "Snapshot". A thought provoking album from the wonderfully versatile Caddy.

Pete Bradley