Search - Mellow Candle :: Swaddling Songs

A lost gem - a work of staggering beauty!

John Dewey Stewart | Park City, KS United States | 06/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a work of art.Imagine a parallel universe in which the Beatles only made one album - Sgt. Pepper's - and broke up. Now come back to this universe, in which Mellow Candle only made one album - Swaddling Songs - and broke up. You have the same sense of wonder (where did they GET this music, these ideas?) and the same sense of loss (over what-might-have-been) that you would have if Sgt. Pepper's was all you had to judge the Beatles by.You might label the style as "Irish Psychedelic Folk-Rock" - imagine Jethro Tull, with Mary Hopkin singing instead of Ian Anderson, and you get a rough idea of the sound. But it's more, and different, than that. And the sound is timeless - it hasn't dated at all! This could easily be some hot, new band recorded last month.This CD went straight to my "Desert Island" collection, along with the Left Banke, Mary Hopkin, and Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man. If you like any of those artists, or Pentangle, or Nick Drake, you owe it to yourself to listen to Mellow Candle! I can't believe I'd never even heard of them until the Amazon "People who bought this also bought . . " feature suggested this CD. (Thanks, Amazon!) What a find!"

Amazing album, long forgotten

K. Ralske | NYC, USA | 07/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's amazing that an album this good could be lost to the ages. This was given to me by a friend who likes all sorts of B-level 60s and 70s music....he likes stuff just because of its 60s or 70s-ness. This album is totally not like that! It holds up as a great piece of work, not just a period piece. It's every bit as good as the best of Fairport Convention or Sandy Denny or even early Yes, but doesn't sound like anything but itself. Mellow Candle were, for one magic moment, the best group in the world."

Beautiful singing

prog | Israel | 07/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Another lost treasure from early seventies.

Very unique music, specially the combination of the two voices of Clodagh and Alison.

I think that this album is a combination of Pentangle and Reneissance, although the music is less symphonic and less sophisticated.

The songs are well written and are like little stories with fine music.

It sometime amazes me what made a band succussful?

Why didn't that band made it?

I think the answer is complicated and not for me to define.

Listen to this band, inhale the soft voices and enjoy it from the first sound of Heaven Heath.

"