Search - Maggie Bell :: Queen of the Night

Maggie's Debut Solo CD

gassy goon | 01/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Maggie Bell could sing up a storm, and this album contains some good material. The legendary Atlantic producers wanted Maggie & signed her to the label after her Scottish rock band STONE THE CROWS busted up. They were considered one of the top bands in the UK, and Maggie garnered many Top Female Singer wins in the UK music papers. So here , Maggie was brought to the US to record, and this album has some varying qualities to it in terms of material chosen to record.



I have most all of Maggie's recordings, and this album has some great, some good & some poor choices of material. What I do like about it : the opening song CADDO QUEEN , a rocker all about a ship down on the bayou, and Maggie sings it great. AS THE YEARS GO PASSING BY is a standout track - a slow blues number that Maggie sinks her voice into , and it builds up to a big powerful ending. The highlight of the whole album is the title song QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, written by ex-Stone The Crows Ronnie Leahy. This is Maggie in her prime, a totally essential, rock theatre type song, and the backing female vocalists singing " She's the queen of the night " really adds to it. Quite a song & performance. And objectively, this is the kind of original material that Maggie should have had more of here. SOUVENIRS is a five minute ballad that is really enhanced by Memphis/Stax styled horns, and that really gives this folk number written by John Prine a big boost in production terms. YESTERDAY'S MUSIC, WE HAD IT ALL, and THE OTHER SIDE are more traditional pop songs, but Maggie excels at making them her own. OH MY MY is the Ringo Starr song , and AFTER MIDNIGHT is the Eric Clapton hit - both good songs & well done, but what was the point of doing them? They are good, & not knocking them. Original material written for Maggie like the title track would have been fresher.



Now here is what I don't like on this album. I can't believe that after CADDO QUEEN , the pace slows down to Maggie's mundane version of Janis Joplin's A WOMAN LEFT LONELY. Frankly, for Maggie to do a song of Janis', and from PEARL, which was a only 3 years old at the time and a worldwide hit, just invited comparisons to Janis even more, and Maggie's reading of it just can not compare to Janis'. Someone should have told Maggie to leave a Janis song alone. It doesn't move at all, and even if Janis didn't do this one, it still sounds boring here. This version sticks out as the only sore spot on an otherwise good album. Thank goodness you can now program the CD, rather than having to pick up the tone arm & skip this disaster. TRADE WINDS is a much better ballad & the album closer , a social commentary on the times, also done by Roberta Flack, The Three Degrees and other artists. I think that recording in the US , Maggie sounds somewhat not at home on some of these songs. SUICIDE SAL, the follow-up is a much stronger album, and recorded in England. That album I think is a notch or two better than this one. Maggie was received with accolades for this album. It's a good one. But thinking of how much better it should have been, I have to give it one star less."

Great Record from the Scottish Janis Joplin

Stephanie DePue | Carolina Beach, NC USA | 12/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Queen of the Night"(1974) was the first solo album released by white, soul /blues belter, Glasgow-born Maggie Bell, sometimes called the Scottish Janis Joplin, and it's one for that mythic desert island. Bell, formerly lead singer of the well-known Scottish group "Stone The Crows," has a voice unrivalled for its passion and power. She came from a musical family, began singing with local dance bands as a kid, and went to Germany in the late 1960's, to sing at the American bases, where she certainly picked up a few songs for the repertory. But let me make one thing clear, upfront: Bell concerns herself, in the repertory I know, at least, with women's issues. To make another thing clear upfront: I have loved her work so well and so long, that I am sitting here looking at this album in vinyl, one with the notch through the side, that I managed to find, and I don't mind telling you, it's gotten me through some long and lonely nights.



The album, by Atlantic, was produced by the famed Jerry Wexler (they did "Suicide Sal," as well.) And Atlantic just threw high-priced, top-drawer talent at it. Though, Bell says, "The funny thing about `Queen of The Night' is that I made two previous albums for Atlantic in New York - one with Felix Papalardi of Mountain, and the other with Felix Cavaliere of the Young Rascals - which were never released." And the studio threw top-drawer talent at those, too: Luther Vandross backed her.



Nevertheless, the talent on "Queen" was superb. Reggie Young and Cornell Dupree played lead guitar; Dupree, who later took up residence in England, played the rolling thunder piano on "As The Years Go Passing By." And I prefer their take to Albert King's. John Hughey played pedal Steel; Chuck Rainey, bass; Steve Gadd, drums; the Sweet Inspirations, a Stax group, backup. But the true glory of this record is the eleven songs that are its content.



It opens with "Caddo Queen," Confederate rock. "Oh My My," was, of course, written by Ringo Starr of the Beatles. The title song was written by Ronnie Leahy, keyboard player with Stone The Crows. "I always had it in mind to do that song," Bell has said, and no wonder, it certainly has functioned longtime as her signature. Then there's "A Woman Left Lonely," country-western, also done by Rita Coolidge. "Souvenirs" by John Prine, followed by "After Midnight," by J.J. Cale, also done by Eric Clapton. "We did a Latin American treatment on our version with lots of percussion," Bell said. "'The Other Side' was done in a kind of Mae West style. 'Hey Mister - can you help me! I'm looking for a ride over to the other side.' It's got a very American, razzmatazz feel." "As The Years Go Passing By," the best. "Yesterday's Music," "We had It All," "Tradewinds." A few years ago, my darling partner was gifting me with all the Maggie Bell then available at Amazon, and he remarked that, according to the company, he was sending me the last available copy of this record, sitting in a Glasgow warehouse. But they've remastered and rereleased it. Don't miss your chance, girls.









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