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Allie
Fox - Diving for Pearls
What do
you get when you mix one part Carly Simon, one part Joni Mitchell
and one part Loreena McKennitt? No, it's not an especially interesting
cake recipe, it's Allie Fox. Her CD Diving for Pearls is
a beautiful piece of work filled with introspective lyrics and gorgeous
"wall of sound" harmonies in all the right places. Keyboards,
guitar, violin and bass, this is anything but straight Celtic fare...This
is a real gem.
THE
SCOTSMAN
Allie Fox & John Rutherford at The Wynd Theatre, Melrose
What better
way to spend a drizzly Saturday July evening in Melrose than to
wend your way up to the Wynd Theatre to hear some fine, original
music? Allie Fox has lived in the area for a few years and teaches
voice and guitar. She is also an accomplished performer and writes
the kind of songs you find yourself still humming several days later.
Fox's guitar style is bluesy and driving and her warm voice comfortably
holds the long notes while her fingers do all sorts of clever acrobatics
and chords to underpin the melody.
Out of
the Blue was a great opener, showing off the complimentary guitar
styles and different sounds of Fox and John Rutherford enabling
the audience to settle in to enjoy an intimate, informal concert.
The Moon Above the Rooftops and Backstreet Girl are
now standards in Fox's set and these together with the heart-rending
and haunting The Meaning of Love will form the basis of her
forthcoming album Diving for Pearls.
Rutherford
and Fox come into their own when jamming around on instrumentals
with obvious relish and skill.
INTERNATIONAL
INTERNET FESTIVAL
Allie Fox at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2000
I don't
know who said it first....but it is always easier to write more
about something you hate than something you truly enjoyed and which
struck a chord. This may well turn out to be one of the more laboured
reviews that I have written. Allie Fox's debut album Diving for
Pearls has been described as breathtaking by the music press
and she is appearing at The Tron - this year's Acoustic Underground
showcase. This is a rare treat in this small and very sweaty sub-basement.
The kitchens are next door and the heat plays havoc with the guitar
strings. The guitars in this performance outnumbered the performers
2:1, but at least it meant there was less tuning and more time for
music.
Allie is a superb singer/songwriter with a fine line in folky-blues
guitar. The songs are layered with beautiful melodies set against
warm and heartfelt lyrics, Allie's voice draws you into these superbly
constructed words which occasionally get mistaken by your own subconscious
for your own memories or imaginations.
This is
one songwriter that has the gift of giving everyone something to
relate to. Allie writes songs that accommodate a huge range of subjects....
being snowed in for several days (Snowbound) and Joe Louis
Blues could definitely go several rounds with Simon and Garfunkel's
"The Boxer."
Go and see Allie Fox at any opportunity you get. Buy her CD, give
her lots of money so she can make more of this beautiful music.
