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DVDfever.co.uk – Marc Carroll: Dust Of Rumour CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
High Noon Recordings
- Released: July 2009
- Rating: 10/10+
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Irishmans classic.
Stood standing preparing a hearty chicken casserole, for my sweet whos due home soon, on a bitter day in north Wales (yep, its trying to snow again!), theres a CD playing on my lappy (laptop).
The music is as hearty as the smell wafting from the oven. Im distracted (gladly) by this wonderfully sounding album by Marc Carroll. Ive just looked at the CD package, and I find that after the tracklisting it reads, Written and played by Marc Carroll. That sounds impressive, but not quite accurate. There are 6 contributing musicians.
The album was released last year, but is still more than worthy of a mention now. On February 22, Carroll, belatedly in my opinion, released the single Whats Left Of My Heart, and if picked up by music-centric stations, it could be a monster.This amazingly talented Dublin-born singer-songwriter has all the qualities of say Bob Dylan and past masters from 60s/ 70s folk rock. Carroll first surfaced as a musician with Puppy Love Bomb and later with The Hormones. Neither did that well. Then, ten years ago he went solo, and his debut Ten Of Swords was critically acclaimed by many in the music press.
The key to world music domination has always been a sharp emphasis on melody. Even Led Zeppelin et al had that knack of gripping you with great melodies, even if they occasionally went off at tangents. Oh, and even those rather famous four lads from Liverpool. They had it nailed.Carrolls forte, in addition to said melody, are some truly spell-binding catchy tunes, many of which are radio-friendly. Inevitably, due to his roots, theres a Celtic patina splattered across the 10 songs, but he still manages to retain enough indie sensibilities to attract the student brigade, much like the Saw Doctors and The Waterboys. This is the sort of album (no offence fellas) that the gals will absolutely love, but make no mistake, theres nothing sugar – coated here. If youre a Byrds fan, with all those jangly guitars, then look no further than track 2, Now Or Never with its sweeping chorus and harmonies, enough to even impress The Byrds themselves.
The album opens with a thrusting riff and harmonies a la Crosby Stills Nash & Young, giving a nod to 60s classic country rock, boosted by twanging guitar licks.Against My Will turns out to be a heartfelt song with sweeping string arrangements and wouldnt go amiss on a Christy Moore or Luka Bloom album, such is the quality.
He hits the Dylan-like button on the nasaled wanderings on the divine Whats Left Of My Heart, the new single, with the jangly bits going into overdrive, laced with rolling Hammond organ.Illusion And I opens with sweeping strings giving it a celestial feel while Carroll hushes cutely over the dream-like state, and its quite a profound piece of music. Once again, You Might Just Be is full-on Byrds but lacks a killer chorus.
There are two gorgeous short instrumentals The Boy Who Dreamed and Going Home, with later being a lament drenched with melancholic strings.Closer, A Dark And Lucky Night bookends a stunning album, ending like started, on an up-tempo rush of Celtic-tinged wizardry.
Carroll isnt just about creating good music though. Like many of his fellow countrymen, hes great with words. Whats Left Of My Heart is a classic example Stars descend and assemble and circle around her / Echoes of thunderous rage gently surrounds her / And sadly I, all I can do is stand aside / And bless the day I found her.
The verdict: Go buy.. NOW!
Weblinks:marccarroll.com /myspace.com/marccarroll (Audio samples/streams)
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Love Will Rule Our Hearts
2. Now Or Never
3. Always
4. Against My Will
5. The Boy Who Dreamed
6. Whats Left Of My Heart
7. Illusion And I
8. You Just Might Be What Ive Been Waiting For
9. Going Home
10. A Dark And Lucky NightView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.