Search - Marcia Ball :: Gatorhythms

An excellent early album

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On this set, Marcia demonstrates her skills on a variety of songs, beginning with How to carry on, an up-tempo rocker, which sees her attacking the piano in a manner reminiscent of Jerry Lee Lewis. There's nothing else quite like that here, but there is a nice mix of tempos. The mood of the album is generally upbeat.The power of love is her own song - of course, there have been many songs with this title - I've come across about ten totally different songs. The most famous was the one that was a huge hit all over Europe in the eighties for Jennifer Rush. It was a flop in America, but later became an American hit for Laura Branigan, then in the nineties it became a monster hit for Celine Dion. Marcia's song is not as dramatic, but it is still a great song.Mama's cooking explains in song why Marcia manages to avoid getting fat - she could eat plenty, but always burn off the excess by dancing the night away. The cover picture provides the proof.Lee Roy Parnell, who eventually achieved success as a country singer in the nineties, wrote two of the songs but he was unknown at the time this music was recorded. What's a girl to do and Red hot show that he could write great songs.Marcia's music should appeal to anybody who likes rock music with a touch of blues, particularly fans of Bonnie Raitt."