Barb Jungr: Walking in the Sun

Last autumn this CD was posted to me in a jiffy bag. I hadn't ordered it. I didn't know the album existed, although both Lucy and I are fans, and had seen her perform a couple of times (as I mentioned in connection with Barb's Every Grain of Sand album). There was no note of any kind enclosed.

My first thought was: bloody marvellous, thank you! Followed by, thank who? And why? The only explanation I could think of was that 'they' wanted me to do a review.

I'm not sure I could ever be a music journalist. I felt this sense of great responsibility in listening really carefully to make sure everything I said could be backed up if I was challenged — and all this was complicated by my sense of indebtedness and gratitude for the gift. Actually I could be a reviewer as long as I only had to review music I didn't like at all: then I could be genuine and honest and not give a toss about their wasted promotions. But it's harder to be critical of someone you like. Hence it took me three or four months to write the review. In the midst of that period, on winter solstice last year, Barb was playing a set based on this album in Dalston. I thought I couldn't go because it clashed with the Christmas gathering of our Magnetic Fields Appreciation Society of London. But the latter was cancelled on the day, so I was able to pay the cost of a CD to see the live show. I shared a table with Cathy Tyson. I wouldn't have recognised her (I've never seen Mona Lisa) but for the fact there was a little name-plate saying "reserved for Cathy Tyson". We talked briefly before her date arrived: she spotted me writing in my Palm and asked if I was reviewing the gig. "No," I said rather too defensively, and then, "well, not really, but kind of." I decided against explaining the whole story, and took another swig of beer instead. Here's the review.

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Barb Jungr may need some introduction, as she's not as well-known as she deserves to be, particularly outside the UK. Though Barb is often tagged as a 'chansonnier' and therefore associated with a continental European repertoire (think Brecht and Brel), I think I first came across her via her album of Bob Dylan covers, which is a special favourite of mine, and she's also done an Elvis-Presley-themed album.

Blues and gospel music are the obvious themes of Walking in the Sun, though it also captures a broader sense of the American South: one that encompasses the voodoo imagery of the first song, Who Do You Love? to Randy Newman's Old Testament satire in God's Song. This gothic and/or spiritual feel suffuses even self-penned songs like Beautiful Life and the version of Many Rivers to Cross with its re-written lyric about the white cliffs of Dover.

There is just one point where this suspension of disbelief slips, in my view, and it's a surprising one. Since 2002's Dylan covers album, Barb Jungr has managed to work a couple more Dylan songs into each new album (even the Elvis one), and Walking in the Sun is no exception. The first one is a song I didn't know and couldn't have immediately recognised as Dylan: Trouble in Mind, which I assume must be an out-take from Slow Train Coming or Saved. It slots into this album perfectly. But later Barb does Blind Willie McTell, the song that Caspar Llewellyn Smith rates as Dylan's single greatest achievement, and the arrangement isn't right. The a capella section is fine, but the accompaniment sounds like Brecht-plays-blues, and, to my ears, it doesn't work.

That apart, the album swings while retaining a savvy and critical intelligence throughout. If you call this kind of music 'sophisticated', there's a suspicion that the term is meant in the sense that Sade, satin and swish upholstery are sophisticated. But I'm thinking more of sophisticated like Saint Etienne or Tom Waits. As you might expect from an album released on hybrid SACD by a label that is owned by a hi-fi manufacturer, it's beautifully recorded.

Just before Christmas I had the opportunity to see Barb Jungr sing many of the Walking in the Sun songs at the great Vortex Jazz Club (I paid full fare!). Live, the performance is less polite than on CD. There's also a lot more of Barb's Rochdale roots between the songs, and correspondingly less bayou atmosphere. But I'd still recommend that you go to one of her gigs if you can. CDs are always on sale at the end of the show.

MusicBrainz entry for this album