Bearded Ladies - Volume One

Psych folk and folk pop. A curious collection of female folk artists. The tracks are split up pretty evenly as a mix of old and new. I think the idea is to have the influential female folk artists circa around the 70s back to back with the modern folk artists they’ve influenced. It is a very loose collection, and a few of the songs definitely feel a little out of place. The booklet is very informative and interesting to consult with for a background on the songs and artists. Some of the songs are pretty good, but some of them are just not that great. It is definitely a strange idea for an album, but some of this could be solid radio material. No FCCs noted.

*1. Speck Mountain-psychadelic folk, guitar effects, light sleigh bells, hypnotizing, repetitive guitar and vocals, unidentifiable instrument with solo during bridge (3:07)
2. Wendy & Bonnie–loungey, dreamy folk with grooving percussion, vocals transition to choral, sort of, with a walking bass in the left channel (3:01)
3. Magpahi-bells, synths augment gentle folk guitar in this short number (1:53)
4. Emma Tricca-fragile vocals with relative uptempo pretty folk, (4:12)
5. Selda-again, an unidentifiable language to my ear, with woodwinds and some sort of predictable Indian-sounding structure (3:32)
*6. Lispector-very catchy guitar parts, riffage, strong pop song (2:48)
7. Turid-longest track by far, harmonica, bluesy rock, some strings, interesting guitar work, funky at times, foreign vocals(8:09)
8. Heather Jones-a capella vocals in some unidentifiable language (3:18)
9. Lights-spacey guitar effects frame a trippy tune with smooth vocals, fuzz bass on chorus, poppy(4:40)
*10. Susan Christie-sounds sort of 60s with opening riff, strings, solemn delivery, poppy structure, a blistering solo and bridge, galloping percussion (3:11)
11. Jane Weaver-Violins rapidly strike notes in a slow pop tune with percussion (3:10)
12. Brigitte Fontaine-French vocals, psych, almost Indian folk (4:12)
13. Cate Le Bon-warm pop folk with light percussion and rich, atmospheric guitar layers on top (4:11)
14. Heaven & Earth-very quick plucking in a warm folk tune, guitars in right channel, vocals in left (2:36)
15. Misty Dixon-synthesizers dominate this track with overdubbed vocals, sort of out of place on this compilation, lush track with drums, breaks down at the end (5:33)