Red Blues

Red Blues is a mix of brand new tracks and recordings of old faves, a potent collection that allows Coughlan’s seeringly honest voice to straddle the hinterlands of jazz, blues and rock like few other Irish artist would dare.

Recorded in Germany with a tasty band of musos that includes Peter O’Brien on most tracks, she sounds more contended and relaxed than ever, her voice achieving that breathy edge that makes you wonder why someone had to invent the tenor sax.

Louis Jordan’s ’40s blues classic ‘Blue Light Boogie’ gets the full third millennium boudoir blues treatment with O’Brien’s piano and Frank Mead’s sax evoking images of smoky, seedy backrooms. By actually underplaying Randy Newman’s suggestive ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’ she brings added sass and menace, and ‘Portland’ has the kind of unsettling undertow you normally get from Tom Waits.

Mary Coughlan has always been at her most expressive on slow, introspective songs, and ‘At Last’ and ‘Harold Arlen’s ‘One For My Baby’ admirably add to that tradition. ‘Black Coffee’ is graphic in its depiction of the loneliness of the morning after, but she also knows how to rock out, as evidenced on ‘She’s Got A Way With Men’.

Diehard fans may feel that the recuts of ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ and ‘Strange Fruit’ add little to the previous versions, and the version of Sly and Robbie’s ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’ is marred by the clumsiness and apparent discomfort of the band.

Mary Coughlan may have tamed her wilfulness of late, but if anything the consequent restraint has added new depth to her artistry. Long may she reign.