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Emily Saxe - Keeping
You In Mind (PS Classics)
Released: August 28, 2007
Another impulse buy at iTunes, mostly because of the apparent blend of
covers of classics, and a six-pack of titles that I was less familiar
with - which is to say, didn't recognize at all. As I got into it, I
found tunes by Cy Coleman, Duke Ellington, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and
Burt Bacharach.
All hanging together nicely, with Ms. Saxe's mark on them.
Ms. Saxe's bio says she's back in the US after several years in the far
east. Says she "...hooked up with bassist David Piltch, who, along with
arranging, writing and playing on many Holly Cole records, has also
recorded and written songs with k.d. lang for more than a decade." Mr.
Piltch suggested a sound heavy on guitars.
So that's why she sounds so much like k.d. lang.
That's not a bad thing. It's a lot of that that haunting, "scooping"
sound that Ms. lang does to perfection.
And Ms. Saxe is very, very good, herself. Alto, precise phrasing -
smooth.
Definite country touches - complete with pedal steel on the opening
"Keeping You In Mind," Ms. Saxe isn't quite as rowdy as Ms. lang. This
is more thoughtful, introspective stuff. Country sentiments, perhaps
gentrified:
But if our love is all for naught
I'm still happy with what I've got
Not having you, but keeping you in mind
This track is a favorite, as is Ms. Saxe's treatment of the
Bacharach-David tune, "Walk On By." There's a promotional video for the
album - featuring this tune
here.
Go watch - and then tell me she doesn't sound like k.d. lang.
The whole disc is very listenable - this is very good material from a
woman who seems to have surrounded herself with top-notch talent. I went
about my Sunday morning business - coffee, paper, folding clothes -
listening to it.
And then I started over, and listened to it again. Ms. Saxe is very
talented.
Apparently the guys at PS Classics thought so, too - because they signed
her, and re-released this gem.
Very highly recommended.
  Three
and one-half microphones (out of four)
- Doug Boynton
(09/03/07) |
