Steve Martin and Edie Bricknell - Love Has Come for You

  by Paul Waller

published: 12 / 6 / 2013

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Review

'Love Has Come for You’ has two major problems. Firstly Steve Martin’s banjo is too low in the mix; often it’s buried under strings and arrangements that are so rich that although his masterful bluegrass style is clearly audible it never gets the chance to break through and take the lead. The ballad ‘Friend of Mine’ is a perfect example. It opens with just Steve picking out a clever forlorn motif, and after the fourth bar the strings come in, complementing the vocal perfectly but wiping out the rootsy feel that Steve’s playing had begun to conjure up. This might have been fine if Edie Bricknell’s vocals soared or were unusual enough to topple the pleasantness of the production, but they clearly are not. The spark that fired her back in 1988 when she released the ‘Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars’ album has on the evidence of this recording clearly left the building. Album closer ‘Remember Me This Way’ cries out for a powerful performance from her, yet by the middle eight it’s clear that she phoning it in. The smoky vocal never breaks free from the restrains of the track itself. It’s as if neither artist wants to take the lead; maybe there was too much respect from each artist with neither taking a lead that would have given the album some focus. But what of the songs? Well, they are all fantastic, There is not a duffer on here, and it’s a crying shame that not one of them has been given the chance to shine. ‘Siamese Cat’, ‘Fighter’ and the title track would make the most perfect bluegrass songs given the right production. As it stands ‘Love Has Come for You’ will be remembered only for the clever packaging and artwork. These two artists deserve so much more.

Track Listing:-

1 When You Get To Asheville
2 Get Along Stray Dog
3 Love Has Come For You
4 Friend of Mine
5 Siamese Cat
6 Yes She Did
7 Sarah Jane and the Iron Mou
8 Fighter
9 King of Boys
10 Sun's Gonna Shine
11 Who You Gonna Take?
12 Shawnee
13 Remember Me This Way

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/SteveMartinof
http://www.stevemartin.com/
https://twitter.com/stevemartintogo
https://www.facebook.com/ediebrickell/
http://www.ediebrickell.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.rounder.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RounderRecord
https://twitter.com/rounderrecords