Frankie Hagan just wrote this perceptive piece for Port Halcyon
and some other publications. Hagan also wrote a very positive
review of "Careless Love" several months ago.
William Galison & Madeleine Peyroux
“Got You On My Mind”
“Got You On My Mind” (Waking Up Music) is the musical
collaboration of William Galison & Madeleine Peyroux featuring
a series of standards and original genre pieces. The subject of
the album seems to focus on relationship ideas, positive and
negative, collectively spinning through a multitude of styles to
reach its final destination. This album was recorded prior to
Peyroux’s own sophomore effort “Careless Love,” during a
time that the two shared a romantic and artistic relationship.
Legal issues with Peyroux’s current label prevented the
immediate release of this compilation, which thankfully offers
multiple pieces of interest for the appreciative audience
The opening track is a delightful cover of “Back In Your Own
Back Yard” that is sizzling good swing superior to a multitude of
previous versions of this standard. As always, Madeleine
Peyroux sounds like Billie Holiday reincarnated for a modern
audience. Her voice is a wonder to behold—and if anything,
Peyroux’s vocals offer slightly more whimsy than those of the
great Holiday. The pairing with Galison and his excellent multi-
instrumental skills focusing here on the harmonica and guitar,
gives this track, along with many others, that Django like sense
so popular with the current dance crowds. “J’ai Deux Amours”
allows Peyroux to offer cheer to a lover with delicate French
chanteuse styling, and great tempo changes in the musical
tapestry. “Flambee Montalbanese” is a Viennese Waltz brought
to the listener by way of a covered gypsy wagon--an excellent
fast-paced instrumental piece with an eastern European feel.
The album’s title track “Got You On My Mind” is a slow bluesy
riff that gives the artists the opportunity to blend vocals, and
knowing the origins of the album, becomes a strangely fitting
and contemplative recording on reflection.
Other provocative selections on this compilation include “The
Way You Look Tonight” played in a folksy-style with a bossa
nova pulse under Peyroux’s magical singing, and Galison’s
repentant lead vocals in the deeply bluesy “Shoulda Known,”
featuring Carly Simon as the Scorpion. There’s a bit of a tribute
to John Lennon with the slow and pensive “Jealous Guy,” and
a bit more comedic musical background entertainment with
Galison’s “Rags for Madi.” The album’s closer, “Heaven Help
Us All” which gives the listener another duet from the artists,
reaches out with a plea for the saving of mankind, but based on
the overall themes presented, it may be a request for salvation
from the things that exist in all of our hearts and our constant
struggles with how we relate to each other.
Frankie Hagan
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