EVA CASSIDY - Songbird 1998

As we get closer to Christmas, TV's everywhere will be showing the old stand-bys. At some point you'll either watch or actively avoid "Love Actually". If nothing else, the scene where Laura Linney's character Sarah finally has a moment with Karl is worth it just for the soundtrack. The hauntingly beautiful voice of the late Eva Cassidy gives a rendition of Christine McVie's "Songbird" that will bring a tear to the coldest soul.

Eva only released 2 albums in her lifetime. The first, 1992's "The Other Side" was duets and solos with Chuck Brown, a 'Go-go funk' musician. Singing a range of styles from 'Let the Good Times Roll' to 'You Don't Know Me' Eva really stretched her wings. Taking 'God Bless the Child' and 'Over the Rainbow' as her solos, this was the only studio album of Eva's that was released while she was alive. Her only other recording was "Live at Blues Alley". Had it not been for Eva's tenacity this record would never have seen the light of day. She couldn't get any major record labels interested enough to back her, so she cashed in her pension savings from her day jobs and self-funded the recording of this show. The actual recording was meant to be over two nights but due to technical problems the first nights tapes couldn't be used. Twelve songs from the show were used on the album, but in 2015 the whole show was released on a 2-CD 1 DVD set called "Nightbird".

Her third album, which was in fact her first solo studio recording, was released in September 1997. Tragically, Eva had passed away a year earlier in November '96 from melanoma at the too young age of 33. 

This featured album, "Songbird" is a compilation of those 3 albums, but it too almost didn't get made. After her death her 'Blues Alley' album was recommended by a local folk singer to one of her record company execs. He put together and released this compilation but it did nothing for almost two years. Eventually a producer on Terry Wogan's BBC radio show suggested it to him and after playing the album it went on to sell over 100,000 copies within a few months.

Posthumously Eva's fame grew and grew, being praised by critics and fellow musicians alike. This album is truly representative of Eva's "lack" of style. I mean that in the best possible way. It was one of the reasons she found it difficult to get a recording contract. She refused to be pinned into one genre. As I said at the beginning of this post, Eva stretched her wings, singing what she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted. 

I've never particularly liked Sting. His voice tends to annoy me, but I will forgive him everything for one reason. He wrote 'Fields of Gold' and Eva recorded it. It begins this album and takes the song to an other-worldly place. The traditional 'Wade in the Water' has bounce and joy and then the mood changes again for the classic Johnny Mercer song 'Autumn Leaves'. Another traditional song 'Wayfaring Stranger' gets a smoky club feeling before the title track of this compilation 'Songbird'. If this doesn't make every nerve-ending tingle, you are dead inside.

Do you want some gospel, along with swirling organ. Pete Seeger's 'Oh, I Had a Golden Thread' covers it. Ending the album with 'Over the Rainbow' is made even more poignant knowing that Eva had already passed when it was released. An amazing talent gone too soon.

Fields of Gold

Songbird