The Winter I Chose Happiness by Clare Bowditch

 

Overall quite a nice album without being outstanding.  Some songs in the collection seemed quite similar and had me wondering if I had already heard a song earlier.  Favourite tracks were 3, 4 and 6.

Didn't like the jazzy types (1 and 7), which sort of pushed the overall rating down for me.

Rating 3/5

 

 

Clare Bowditch Web Site

Somebody’s Opus by Starboard Cannons

I found this a delightful album of folkish songs.  A few were somewhat  Scottish in flavour and others distinctly Australian. A couple of reviewers labelled the acoustic duo of  Ash Bell , who is also the singer, and Matt Bone as modern Australian folk musicians,  My favourite is track 5 Piano Accordion.

Rating 4/5

Songs & Pictures by Beccy Cole

It seems that Beccy Cole has at last made an album that leaves  out the raucous songs that to me are quite unappealing.  Maybe her fans liked them in live performances, but they have always put me off buying her albums.     On this one there was only one that I couldn't take to at all, "The Singer Sees It All" which got the chop from my playlist.  Favourites songs are  Only Music, Millionaires, Australian Woman and Songs & Pictures which are strong melodies and well sung.  Most of the rest are well up there, although Woman In Me and Here I Go Again are less likeable.  In the notes on  the album indicate that "Through her words and music Beccy Cole presents and exposes her vulnerabilities, personal stories and lets you see through her eyes and feel the moments that have shaped her life. This is Beccy Cole’s most personal album yet."   I tend to agree.

Rating 4/5

Handfuls of Sky - Harmony James

Rating 5/5
Maybe not quite as good as Tailwind, but nevertheless a great album with delightful singing and lyrics.  
Many of the songs make me think and have an atmosphere; I like that in music.
Favourites are Hauling Cane,  Emmylou's Guitar, The Girl You See  and Roll With It.  Originally I thought Hauling Cane was about being pleased not to have stayed, but on further listening I am not so sure the opposite isn't the case. The only song I am not that mad about is Fires of Hell
It would be interesting to know the story behind some of the songs; some of them are clear from the lyrics but others not so.  Some hints come from her website such as the following quotes
“I see HANDFULS OF SKY as a record of emergence from one period of my life to the next,” Harmony says. “I feel like I’m displaying a lot. There are a lot of tracks which are basically me in a nutshell, though I don’t know how many people will recognise that.”  and "Sometimes I think ‘Geez, Harms, you’re being a bit too honest for your own good here’. Then I think, ‘No, it’s art. You don’t know which parts are true and which parts are just good stories.”

Lyrics are on the Harmony James web site.

Goanna Dreaming–Shane Howard

 

Missed spotting this release until just a few weeks ago.  Shane is a great story teller and the songs usually have a message to think about.  There perhaps is no one song that compares with his best from earlier years, but nevertheless it is a good album.

Favourite tracks for me are  "Don’t Give Up On Us" which in the album notes is described as 'a wryly humorous agnostic prayer',  "Miss Me Darlin"  and "Down By the River"

Rating 4/5

 

Blue Sky Blue - Pete Murray

Not That Inspiring

Some albums you get to like more as time goes by, but with this one I find it stays much the same.  I think it is because the songs sound similar to others in Pete Murray's  catalogue.  So it does not get as much play as other recent purchases.

Rating 3/5