Brian Jeffels – For Whom The Willow Weeps (Corngold Music)
Review by Hazel Davis
Oh there are SO many things about this disc that make me want to hate it. The title alone – For Whom The Willow Weeps – makes me want to beat myself around the head with a diabolo. I got halfway through the lyrics sheet and I had to have a lie down, chock full as it is of folky clichés (“I saw a girl, so young and pretty, I followed her both left and right”, WTF?, “The mist was my only friend there by myself, My misplaced decisions had me on the shelf”).
But it’s worth saying that I read the lyrics sheet long before I put the damned thing on, having half written the review in my head already.
And now I cant take it off. Gah.
The first track, The River, is seductively Poguesish and irresistibly catchy. The second, Dilemma, is wistful and campfirey (again, ignore the words). Blow Out The Candle has a touch of the Christy Moores about it (I’m being generous but I can’t help it, he’s infected me) and is actually dead cute. Even Morwenstow, with its hammy fake Cornish accent, is lovely. It’s raw, not always in tune and could do with “something” but I’m not sure that something wouldn’t spoil it.
In short, I am SURE I shouldn’t, but I really like this disc. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
