"Tracy Don't Take Sugar" CD

Renowned to attendees of the Spotlight Club and to afficianados of fine solo performing, Mollie has been carving her niche out of Lancaster's music scene for about a year or so now. This release should act as a good introduction to her for those of you who (shame on you) haven't been paying attention up 'till now. The opening pair of tracks are new recordings, whilst the final two are somewhat older waxings taken from a gig at Lancaster's John'O'Gaunt. The pub, not the gateway.

"Tracy don't take sugar" is the titular opening track, and it is a canny choice - a suitably tantalising mixture of lyricaly obscured references and seductively delivered vocals over an on-off guitar riff. Mollie's voice comes over as a cross between PJ Harvey and Christine Collister, and the studio-trickery (well, reverb) only serves to highlight it's fine delivery. An ascending riff after the choruses is an initially distracting choice of accompaniment, but if you can mentally superimpose either the Patti Smith band or a jet engine onto it, it makes a lot more sense.

Track two is "Hating Baby", a mournful, slow-dancing lullaby that I suspect may not be directed at any actual children. A suitably tired and caring vocal remniscient of Kathryn Williams is underpinned by a low, snoozy cello, followed by a spoken interlude, (a retelling of "The Princess and the Pea") which is perhaps underwhelmed by it's punchline ("And she stuck the pea right up his nose". Indeed.). However, a self-explanatory third verse more than compensates for such lyrical misdemeanours - "..the same thing happened with you and me/ the thing is, I don't know are you the pea, or where the pea should be". Obscure, poignant, touching and funny, and all in two lines. Well done.

"Piebald" is perhaps best summed up by it's chorus line, "Why can't we just get along with finding things beautiful" - the title being a fine metaphor for differences existing side by side. But whilst the song accurately captures the difficulty of trying to get along in a world which can seem indifferent at best and downright hostile the rest of the time, it doesn't particularly say a great deal more. It is certainly a good thing to at least approach the issues of racism, or sexism, or whateverism it is you want to address in song. But unhappily resigned acceptance to it? No, no, Mollie, rage, rage against it........

.....Fortunately, that is what Mollie then proceeds to do in another take of "Tracy don't.....". This does seem like a bit of an odd thing to do, though - whilst it's a fine song, and the "live" feel of this recording gives it an undeniable lilt that the "studio" version might lack, the opener has a much bigger and a much more clearly defined sound, the overall effect being a slight anti-climax - you know that you already own a much more affecting version of this song, because it's only just over five minutes since you last heard it. This is the one major criticism that I have of this CD - whilst the songs are grand, perhaps we simply have too much of a good thing.

But, apart from that, it is a fine, and most inexpensive introduction to Mollie's work. I am, I must confess, a little baffled by the fact that, despite the claims that half of the material we have here was recorded "live" at the John, there is not a flicker of appreciation from the audience. I'm not in the business of telling people how to behave, but they all ought to be ashamed of themselves............

Paddy Garrigan