Mary Fahl began her musical journey with October Project, featuring on both of their Epic Records releases. And although it could be argued that her musical journey began at a much earlier period, it is nonetheless her extraordinary ‘once in a lifetime’ voice that identifies her unique positioning as one of the world’s best. That’s not a light offering. With many great voices in the world of Rock, Mary Fahl easily slots in with the greats with her unique vocal delivery that is not matched.
The recent release from Mary Fahl is a covers album – Can’t Get It Out Of My Head. Titled after the ELO song, the title choice easily states a reality where many of us have songs that never leave the realm of the soul. For Mary, those include ten tracks that have become timeless classics on their own. But with Mary Fahl, they enter a new realm of quality. Anyone that is aware of her will understand the strength and validity of that statement.
The songs on Can’t Get It Out Of My Head are “Ruby Tuesday” (Rolling Stones), “Tuesday Afternoon” (Moody Blues), “River Man” (Nick Drake), ” Got A Feelin’ (The Mamas & The Papas), “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” (Neil Young), “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd), “Since You’ve Asked” (Judy Collins), “Beware of Darkness” (George Harrison), ” The Great Valerio” (Richard Thompson), and, of course, “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head” (ELO).
With this collection of covers, Mary Fahl has given those songs a new kind of magic. Anyone that have heard her on her 2003 classic, The Other Side Of Time, already know what I’m talking about. And if you have heard her reimagined version of The Dark Side Of The Moon, then you’re even more well-versed. But to know that any song as sung by Mary Fahl is in loving hands, you only need to hear her captivating version of “Both Sides Now” (Joni Mitchell) on her Love and Gravity (2014) album.
There are several versions of the new album. One of them is CD; the other is a CD/BD-Audio with a 5.1 Surround (96kHz/24-bit LPCM) mix, and a 96kHz/24-bit Stereo mix. Bonuses on the Blu-ray Audio include 2 vocal and strings mixes of “Ruby Tuesday”, and “Tuesday Afternoon”. Both are in hi-resolution 5.1 and Stereo, and both are brilliant.
It’s easy to become a enrapt fan of Mary Fahl. All you need to do is to listen. Then you’re hooked.
I couldn’t have written it any better. The arrangement of title track is so wonderful, it’s almost like a completely new song with the same words and melody; Mary just does it light years better than Jeff Lynne (and his version is superb!)
The other nine tracks are just as good and a mixture of styles and genre. I particularly love “Tuesday Afternoon”, “Got A Feeling”, “River Man” and “Since you asked” – but I could name all the tracks. They all mean something to Mary and those feelings come through in her wonderful voice and the musicians backing her.
It’s a masterpiece of an album!
Well stated!!
In addition to her enormous talent, she also seems to be a very nice person. I met her at a meet and greet after a performance a number of years ago and she was very personable. She also did a number of free livestreams for fans earlier on in the pandemic.
Yes, she is special, indeed!