Helen Slater -- Crossword (Landsleit Records 8362)

Maybe I'm just being over sentimental at the moment but thank goodness for Helen Slater for reawakening my musical objectivity and proving that there is life on the edge of "folk" music whilst still remaining within that framework. Personally I look at this album as my own particular therapy from an overdose of all things Celtic - and not a moment too soon I hear you say. I suppose in many respects we're veering more towards the jazz side of folk but for me it's refreshing and at least it floats my boat. There's no pretentiousness to any of the songs they're just delicately balanced slices of Helen's thoughts that have manifested themselves as prose. In the more than capable hands of musical director and producer Phil Swann, Slater's compositions are up-lifted by the use of double bass and lightly brushed percussion plus the addition of Jim Hoke's harmonica with a touch of clarinet, sax and Johnathan Yudkin on violin. A breath of fresh air may be a much used turn of phrase but it aptly sums up my feelings as the content of the lyrics prove light in feel although not in quality. In many ways the songs come across as mini theatrical extensions of Helen's everyday experiences in much the same way that Victoria Wood or perhaps Andrew Lloyd Webber with his production of Never On A Sunday would conjure from kitchen sink dramas. The simple pleasures of life as laid bare on the track "Any Day Now" aren't always automatically achieved (this is a kind of woman's magazine article put to music (the ladies will know what I mean (!)) and by reading the lyrics you'll definitely be associating your own inner being with its composer. If, like me you can do with a change of pace and I suppose some of my folk friendly friends might call me radical in my departure from the norm then you'll love this album. So, pass me another glass of wine and my rocking chair -- well, a man can dream can't he?

Pete Fyfe