The Greencards are incredible. This recording is incredible. All songs are written by members of this Aussie and Brit group but one song by Patty Griffin.
They must be very self conscious, because there are no good pics of them on the CD artwork, just one pic of the three of them shot from above, that's it. The group is Carol Young (Aussie), Kym Warner (Aussie) and Eamon Mclaughlin (Brit).
The sound quality is incredible, recorded by Nashville's best acoustic engineer, Gary Paczosa and mastered by the industry's best Doug Sax and Robert Hadley of The Mastering Lab in LA. (They use all tube analog home made equipment for mastering.) Bryan Sutton is an integral part of this recording with his incredible guitar playing. Pat Flynn and Jedd Hughes are also guest musicians.
Eamon plays viola and sings, Kym plays mandolin and sings and Carol plays bass and sings. The final product is an incredible warm, easy on the ears audiophile acoustic/bluegrass recording. Some incredible harmonies.
I can't help but compare this group to early Nickel Creek when Alison Krauss produced them. But The Greencards do have a signature sound of their own. Bryan Sutton is at the top of his game. Kym and Carol share most of the lead singing, but Eamon sings lead vocal on one song.
"Martie's Kitchen" (Kym) is an upbeat killer bluegrass number that flies. Two great guitar solos, one by Bryan Sutton and one by Pat Flynn. Kym (a guy to dispel all guesses) plays killer hot mandolin, great fiddle by Eamon.
"What You Are" (Griffin) is a slow ballad, Carol sings and plays bass on. Carol has a very sweet emotive voice. Bryan's guitar tones are so sweet. No backup vocals. Kym plays some real inspired mandolin, very melancholy mood here.
"Don't Want Forever" (Carol) is an incredible mid tempo song. Great mandolin and fiddle. Eamon takes a great fiddle break. Nice Lyrics.
"Ballad of Kitty Brown" (Eamon) Great Irish style ballad with lots of great music going on. Eamon plays some wicked fiddle. Great song.
The last track on the disc is "The House On Vine Street" , an incredibly beautiful acoustic instrumental. Only Kym on mandolin, Eamon on viola and Bryan on guitar.
The sound on this disc is aural excellence. I would be hard pressed to think of a better acoustic recording. By the way, this is their second disc, they have another CD available on their website. This is their first CD on Dualtone Records.
The Greencards are a group that are described easily in one word "Refreshing". Right now they are opening for Bob Dylan on tour. I have really listened to this CD a lot and haven't tired of it.
Think you get the Drift, visit them at http://www.dualtone.com/ or http://www.thegreencards.com/
Thursday, August 18, 2005
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