Sarah Jane Morris

Sarah Jane Morris - August - 2001 - Irma

‘Morris puts her own mark on a dozen songs on August. Almost all of them covers, from John Lennon's Whatever Gets You Through The Night to Marvin Gaye's Mercy, Mercy Me and Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel. Marc Ribot - an American guitarist who has worked with Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull, collaborated with Morris in selecting, arranging, and producing the tracks. Morris picked some of her favorite songs, and the duo created spare arrangements in the studio, recording the entire CD in three days without rehearsals.. - Billboard

’On the occasions in a Sarah Jane Morris performance when she seems to turn herself into a cross between Edith Piaf and Tom Waits (and there are usually a few such spinetingling flashes in the course of a show), the British singer's obscurity in her own homeland is hard to fathom. Continental Europe, which has welcomed her for 25 years, seems to take a wider view of this unique artist.’ - The Guardian

"August" was recorded over three days in August, 2000 at Laylow Studios, Portobello Road, London. It's a wonderful acoustic album from this neglected vocalist. Sarah Jane covers 12 songs by artists including John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, and Curtis Mayfield. The lady has a sultry, smoky voice, slightly reminiscent of Cleo Laine, but softer. It is a great credit to her, that with mimimal backing, just mainly the assistance of the great American guitarist Marc Ribot, she covers these 12 classics songs with such style. Check out her website @ http://www.sarahjanemorris.co.uk/ and buy her "Fallen Angel" album. To hear another neglected star vocalist, search this blog for the amazing Kyla Brox

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

01 Don't Leave Me This Way Gamble/Gilbert/Huff 4:24
02 I Can't Stand The Rain Peebles/Bryant/Miller 4:07
03 Into My Arms Cave 4:28
04 Chelsea Hotel Cohen 3:05
05 You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory Thunders 3:16
06 Piece Of My Heart Burns/Ragovo 4:20
07 Blind Old Friends Barker/Brown/Morris 4:47
08 Move On Up Mayfield 4:37
09 Mercy Mercy Me Gaye 5:01
10 Try A Little Tenderness Campbell/Connelly/Woods 5:16
11 Don't Explain Holliday/Herzog Jnr.3:58
12 Whatever Get's You Through The Night Lennon 4:19

MUSICIANS

Sarah Jane Morris - lead vocals
Marc Ribot - guitars, bass, drum and programming
David Coulter - reco (track 02), violectra and snare (track 04)
Guily Briern - percussion (track 06)
Martin Barker - loops (track 07)
Kwaku Dzidzornu - bongos (track 08)
Mornington Lockett - sax (track 09)



BIO (WIKIPEDIA)

Sarah Jane Morris (21 March 1959, Southampton, England), is a pop music, jazz, rock and R&B singer and songwriter. In 1982, Morris joined The Republic as lead singer. A London-based Afro-Caribbean-Latin band with leftish tendencies, they received enormous publicity from the music press including cover stories with NME and City Limits and a documentary for Granada TV. But the band was deemed too political for radio play, with the exception of Capital Radio. The Republic were signed to Charlie Gillet's Oval Records Ltd and released an EP entitled Three Songs From The Republic and two singles entitled One Chance and My Spies. Success did not follow and the band split up in 1984. Morris then sang with The Happy End, a 21-piece brass band named after Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill's musical play. Playing a circuit that included Brighton's Zap Club and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Happy End explored protest music from Africa, Ireland and Latin America on a way that emulated Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra. Morris explored her more theatrical side on Brecht/Eisler's There's Nothing Quite Like Money and Brecht/Weill's Pirate Jenny from The Threepenny Opera. The Happy End released two albums on the Cooking Vinyl label with Morris. Following a successful Edinburgh run in 1986, Morris then decamped to chart success with The Communards. Morris found fame initially with the Communards, who are best known for their hit "Don't Leave Me This Way". Morris featured prominently on many Communards tracks, her low vocal range contrasting with Jimmy Somerville's falsetto. She has also recorded as a solo artist, releasing albums since 1989. These have enjoyed most popularity in Italy and Greece. Morris also contributed to the opera The Fall of the House of Usher (1991) by Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, singing the part of the chorus.