♫ Spiral ♫ contains eight of Allison Crowe’s original songs, ranging from the tender and playful country/roots of “Dearly”, to the upbeat pop of “Double-Edged Swords”, ’cross the loving “Oceans”, and darker terrain of “I Don’t Know” and the hard rocking title track. Raw, natural, emotion is embraced passionately with elegiac beauty and melody in these, and such joy-filled tunes as “Going Home Tonight” and “No Matter the Battle”. With the live track, “Wake Up”, Crowe, again, renders the personal universal, and the global, human.
Uniquely known not just as one of the most exciting songwriters of a new generation, Crowe is also one of our finest interpreters of popular song. Spiral’s mix of light and shadow includes a trio of fresh covers –
revisiting music of Annie Lennox (“Why”), Leonard Cohen (“Chelsea Hotel No. 2”), and Hunters and Collectors’ Antipodean anthem, “Throw Your Arms Around Me”.
On this new song collection, the bi-coastal Canadian, (she calls Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Nanaimo, British Columbia, home), is joined by ideally-skilled and sympathetic west-coast musicians Billie Rocha-Woods (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Dave Baird (bass, backing vocals), Laurent Boucher (percussion), Brendan Millbank (cello) and Larry Anschell (electric guitar, and, also, Engineer/Producer at Turtle Studios in White Rock, B.C.)
Kayla Schmah, Los Angeles-based, Canadian-born, composer and film scorer, orchestrates and produces the album with, yes, "gorgeous" musical textures, and cinematic ideas artfully brought to life. Concert capturings by Engineers B.R.N. (aka Condor) and John MacMillan complete this diverse mix of music made in Corner Brook, Nanaimo, as well as Chilliwack, White Rock, Denman Island and Salt Spring Island, Canada, Vienna, Austria, and Hollywood, USA.
The visual art of Spiral matches its aural beauty - with cover paintings by Netherlands-based Tara Thelen, photographs by Canada's Billie Rocha-Woods, and California's Dan Goldwasser, fontage from Brazil’s Billy Argel and graphic design by Florida's Alix Whitmire.
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Allison Crowe checks in again with a take on human relations - "Chelsea Hotel No.2" - Leonard Cohen's irregular ode to one whose "heart was a legend".
Allison's joined on this recording by cellist Brendan Millbank - and Kayla Schmah is string arranger and producer on this track from the album "Spiral".
lyrics
Chelsea Hotel No. 2
Words & Music by Leonard Cohen, Ron Cornelius
Performed by Allison Crowe
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were looking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Well, those were the reasons, that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh
That was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left
Ah, but you got away, oh, didn't you baby,
you just turned your back on the crowd,
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
' all of that jiving around.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend
And you told me again - you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception
And then clenching your fists for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well, never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music"
Ah, but you got away, oh, didn't you baby
You just turned your back on the crowd
You got away, I never once heard you say
I need you, I don’t need you
I need you, I don’t need you
And all of that jivin’ around
I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can't keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that's all, I don't think of you that often
credits
from Spiral,
released March 17, 2010
Allison Crowe - voice, piano, engineer
Brendan Millbank - cello
Kayla Schmah - string arranger, producer
supported by 4 fans who also own “Chelsea Hotel No.2”
Another great album by Hungry Lucy. A very gothic feel to some of the songs. 'Cover Me' is the stand out track for me but they are all good. Russell Whyman
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