Search - Niamh Parsons :: Heart's Desire

What a voice!

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | 09/17/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I enjoy a wide variety of different types of music. But Niamh Parsons is perhaps my favorite female singer in any genre. Her voice is every bit as good as Sandy Denny's in its powerful, rich expressiveness. And noone sings sublime, melancholy ballads of unrequited love, longing and loss more beautifully. Yet I have to admit that I find HEART'S DESIRE somewhat underwhelming. After first hearing Niamh Parsons with Arcady on their marvelous CD MANY HAPPY RETURNS, I discovered that she had already released two albums under her own name, LOOSELY CONNECTED and LOOSEN UP. However, they proved to be a tad dissappointing. This was because a few real gems were sandwiched between a number of comparatively weak songs done up in popish, folk-rock style arrangements. With HEART'S DESIRE we have a CD that is in terms of production, very dissimiliar, yet ultimately just as unsatisfactory. Although Niamh's voice has the ability to make even indifferent material shine, HEART'S DESIRE suffers from an excessively sparse, minimalist instrumental backing. A large portion of the album is, in fact, just solo voice, and--to be excessively harsh--it almost sounds like a collection of demos. Many of the songs on this CD are also not particularly memorable. Certainly, few of the tunes are anywhere as haunting as the heart-rendering "Orphan's Wedding" which appeared on her previous release IN MY PRIME (perhaps the definitive version of that song). Moreover, some of the lyrics on HEART'S DESIRE are also decidedly inane. Take "The Rigs of Rye," for instance. It is one of the better tunes on the album, but the lyrics end on a distinct anti-climax, almost as if the concluding verse of the song had been lost (Just because a song is "traditional," does that necessarily mean it is always good? Or to put it another way, should a major talent like Niamh Parsons record traditional material that is obscure or second-rate just for the sake of it?). Don't get me wrong, though. There is some great stuff here, like Andy Irvine's evocative song "West Coast of Clare," "Sweet Inniscara," Mark Knofler's song "Done with Bonaparte," "My Lagan Love," Bill Caddick's "Syracuse," and Sarah Daniels's "Bramblethorn." Fans of Niamh Parsons will definitely want to add HEART'S DESIRE to their collection--and there is also enough good stuff on this album for anyone with even a slight interest in beautifully sung celtic music to do the same. If you are new to this fabulous singer, however, start with IN MY PRIME, BLACKBIRDS AND THRUSHES, or Arcady's MANY HAPPY RETURNS. A bunch of versions of traditional and contempory songs which I would personally kill to hear Niamh cover on future albums: "At Twenty-one" (Andy Irvine); "Barbary Allen," "I Wonder What's Keeping My True Love Tonight" (June Tabor); "The Snows They Melt the Soonest," "Fine Horseman" (Dick Gaughan); "Dark Iniseoghain" (Deanta); "Siuil a Ruin" (Caoilte O Suillea Bhain); "Lily of the West," "Martha, the Flower of Sweet Strabane" (Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill); "Cold Rain and Snow;" "Open Road" (Bert Jansch); "Widow Maker," "When I Stop Crying" (Robin Holcomb); "Diamantina Drover" (The Houseband); "Past Carin'" (Mara); "Black Peter" (Grateful Dead); "Blue" (Joni Mitchell); "Can't Do A Thing (To Stop Me)" (Chris Isaak); "At Last" (Etta James); "I'm On Fire" (Bruce Springstein); "Moon River" (Andy Williams); "Bruton Town," "She Moved Through the Fair," "Autopsy" (and a number of others done by Sandy Denny). I would also love to hear Niamh do an album of hymns! A couple of folk-based ones that immediately spring to mind are, "O Lord of creation, to you be all praise;" "Immortal, invisible, God only wise," "Be thou my vision," "Lord of the Dance," etc. But then again, I'm just dreaming...Niamh, if you read this, please get to Australia as soon as possible--and please, please don't omit to come to Perth. It may be far away, but it is a beautiful place, and you have many fans here who love you."

Old songs new

Jerome Clark | Canby, Minnesota | 11/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Traditional Irish music doesn't get much better than this, the third of a series of Celtic-folk albums from this undeservedly unfamous artist. This time, more than ever, the focus is on Niamh Parsons's extraordinary voice. Where they exist at all -- there are three unaccompanied ballads here -- the musical settings are austere, autumnal, achingly affecting. There is, in short, no evidence of the Phil Spectorish production to be heard in other Celtic recordings in recent years. Parsons, it is clear, has no interest in sweetening roots sounds with pop, rock, or electronica. She proves that, in the right hands, the real stuff needs no such help.She also knows a good song. Heart's Desire balances standards with less familiar pieces, including the gorgeous Andy Irvine composition "West Coast of Clare." Warhorses such as "My Lagan Love" and "The Rigs of Rye" rise to fresh life in her treatment. She is generous -- or confident -- enough to bow out entirely on a couple of instrumentals, leaving them to the worthy likes of otherwise-backing musicians Graham Dunne and Dennis Cahill."

Another beautiful album

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 06/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bless this husky-voiced, traditionalist Irish lassie... Most folks in her position would have gone overboard by now, capitalizing on their success as acoustic balladeers to dip into lavish pop crossover efforts, but instead Parsons heads in the opposite direction, stripping her music down even further and making it more pure. Although this album does have some sparse instrumentation, it feels almost entirely a capella, with each song peeled bare to its bare-boned roots. It might not help her top the charts in the US or the islands, but fans on either side of the ocean are sure to be pleased. (By the way, her first name is pronounced "Neeve"... oh, those wacky Celts!)"