•
Rating: Always beautiful, talented, and sexy, the feisty singer from Toronto has been prematurely, and unfortunately, sidelined by the big rock scene for many years. Fortunately, there's the Internet, capable of showing us that she's still in good health, lively, and performing: a gorgeous middle-aged woman, not surgically enhanced (currently, a rare virtue...), with her little wrinkles and gray hair strands, matching those splendid greenish-gray eyes.
In 1992, the year this second album was released, the lady was still thirty-four and riding high, and the cover shows her in all her charm, sassily undressed next to an animal as magnificent as she is: maximum envy, then and even now, at the thought of the old lion Robert Plant, who in those years enjoyed her charms.
Alannah made a sensational breakthrough with her debut album, released in 1989 and containing the mega hit "Black Velvet", a well-known, perfect, and unforgettable song: eleven million copies sold worldwide and, theoretically, great anticipation for this second musical offering. However, in practice, the music business had meanwhile changed rapidly, in America the big operators had decided to throw themselves headlong into anyone in flannel shirts and branded Washington State, marginalizing the "classic" rock of this and many similar works.
"Rockinghorse" (for us Italians "Cavallo a dondolo") had decent commercial success, not comparable to its predecessor though, even though it was of the same if not superior quality. Myles tried again for the third time in 1995 and a fourth in 1998, selling less and less each time and ending up, unfortunately for her, fitting into the notorious category of One Hit Wonders, the musical entities that tasted great success on just one occasion.
This CD has the pleasant habit of being found quite easily in the bargain bins and liquidation sales for a few Euros: and then it is worth the low price at which it is usually offered. Of course, Mrs. Myles is not at all into pop rock, AOR, or similar stuff. Instead, she plays rock blues, gritty, like... Zeppelin (it makes sense that Plant fell for her...). Her voice can always be harsh and penetrating, softening only in the rare ballads, which still have the evocative flair of the Anglo-Saxon folk song (it's typical for Canadians to keep one foot firmly in Europe in their arts and culture) and certainly not the saccharine snappiness of the disposable hit.
A lot of credit also goes to the musicians (Canadian, unknown internationally) at that time in her group, who primarily helped in the writing of the tracks, then were able to surround her voice with essential and classy arrangements, not skimping on acoustic guitars which are always magnificent instruments, while making moderate use of solos and most importantly, allowing the music to breathe, without overstuffing it with sounds.
The songs that give me pleasure among the ten on the album are firstly "Sonny Say You Will", a swaying and powerful semi-acoustic ballad, truly interpreted with heartfelt sincerity by the beautiful and talented brunette. Then the song that closes and titles the album, an archaic acoustic blues in the style of Robert Johnson, and also the orchestral and robustly romantic "Song Instead of a Kiss", lyrical right from the title. Praise also to the biting hard rock "Make me Happy" and "Tumbleweed", where the exuberant temperament of the Canadian shines.
To marry, someone like her.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Sonny Say You Will (05:08)
Sonny say you will, take me strolling with you out on the boardwalk
'Cause you know you always make me feel
Like we are lovers on parade with your sweet talk
You look so cool but I know that you care
The way you run your fingers through my hair
You make me feel like I'm a star on your sleeve
The way you hold me it's so wild and sweet
And Sonny say we will, go walking down by the ocean
'Cause the night can get so still, and lovers they can get the notion
The street is crazy with the summer heat
Lost souls collide and try to land on their feet
You make me feel like I'm no ordinary girl
Why don't we walk out of this every day world
And Sonny say we will, spend the night all alone together
This is some kinda wonderful, Sonny let it last forever
Oh Sonny say you will, Sonny let it last forever and ever and ever
Sonny say you will, I know you will
I know you will
06 Song Instead of a Kiss (05:04)
Song instead of a kiss
Baby, this is a song instead of a kiss
For all of you who ache, who long
For nights like this
Song instead of a touch
Darlin�, this is a song instead of a touch
To all of you who wait so long
And need so much
It is for those who like to cling
It is to those, to those I sing
Here is a song instead of a clutch, instead of a moon
Instead of a soothing touch in the afternoon
It is for those who like to cling
It is to those, to those I sing
Here is a song instead of a clutch, instead of a moon
Instead of a soothing touch in the afternoon
09 Lies and Rumours (05:06)
You're playin' with my thunder, heavens knows I sometimes wonder who you are
You're so sweet but on the street, who do you meet when we're apart
I see trouble rollin' off you like rain
But I look up and I see lightning again
Chorus:
Between the lies and rumours, there's a world of mystery
But I believe in you, do you believe in me
I fell in love with danger, now I'm going through all these changes by myself
You're too cool to play by the rules, but I can't fool with someone else
People saying things I don't wanna hear
But something tells me we've got nothing to fear
chorus
Too many heartaches, too little love, so many reasons for breaking us up
We've got something nobody knows, we got it good, you know I can't let it go
(Solo)
With all the lies and rumours, sometimes you gotta roll the dice
But I believe in you, and your cool blue eyes, baby
chorus...
10 Rockinghorse (03:00)
I wonder what would happen if I fell
Would you pick me up and be my wishing well
If I shared my secrets would you promise not to tell
I wonder what would happen if I fell
I wonder what would happen if I smiled
Would you be the mystery in my eyes
I'll consent to marry you if you never lie
And I wonder what would happen if I smiled
Looking for a sign in the eyes of love
Waiting for an answer from the stars above
Would you be my story when there's nothing left to tell
I wonder what would happen if I fell
Would you be the rockinghorse I ride
If I showed no fear and held you like a child
Running through the darkness till there's morning in the sky
Would you be the rockinghorse I ride
Then I ride, ride, you can be my rockinghorse, so giddy-up
I said ride ride, ride ride, I said ride ride
Loading comments slowly
