Kathleen Edwards: Live From the Bowery Ballroom if you liked kathleen edwards' failer, you'll love her three-song ep live from the bowery ballroom and the two excellent music videos as well. of the five tunes, four were recorded on failer and were also penned by kathleen, while "money talks" is an ac/dc cover - and those of you not into screaming, thrashing hard rock will appreciate this rendition. while there's nothing fancy on this recording, there's plenty to like. the smokey-voiced roots-rock canadian songstress has an earthy sweetness in the strength of her vocals. at times she sounds like a cross between neil young and lucinda williams - so that might actually give her a slightly country flavor at times (without any pre-grunge era tones - sorry, neil). the band is quite good; and on the aforementioned "money talks" they actually sound like the band that supported linda ronstadt in the mid-70s - you know, guitarists ed black, waddy wachtel and dan dugmore. actually, the band on this live new york city recording consists mainly of electric guitarist and backup vocalist colin cripps and the solid rhythm section of drummer joel anderson and bassist kevin mccarragher. perhaps the only weak spot is that sometimes kathleen's vocals get a tad languid with some word slurring (which sounds great, but makes it hard to decipher lyrics), and there are a few instances she's covered up with a wall of electric guitar. actually, this works well on one occasion near the end of the opening track "national steel," where her vocals are reduced to a mere haunting, ghostly echo. speaking of said title, kathleen's lyrics are also well crafted. in fact, most of her tunes (here, at least) are a bit sad and sharp-edged, yet couched in that sweet vocal smoke. "national steel" kinda makes you wanna say "ouch," once you figure out what's happening here: what a surprise wearing your disguise on the telephone line i know it pleased you to know i needed you and your time you play the game not saying either way but you know could've made it real quick save me the guilt trip and just said no are you writing this all down? this conversation the alienation in your tone i've got no fucking clue from your point of view and your time zone i wouldn't have asked saved you the task if i weren't for real trading a daughter and two thousand dollars for a national steel are you writing this all down? ouch. ok. add a couple more - cringe. wince. while the lyrics themselves seem depressing, the feel isn't one that makes you wish you'd never put the cd into play mode. it's hard to pinpoint just what happens with that - must be something about that voice. "hockey skates," is another somber toned-tune with lyrics like: going down in the same old town ...to the same bar and the same old people saying hi and i don't care ...and i don't even order anymore ...so sick of consequence and the look on your face i am tired of playing defense i don't even have hockey skates... the videos kinda carry on the same basic feeling, but a tad lighter in tone. these are also nothing fancy, but they are well done. pretty standard stuff with the fades and segues and all, but they both give you an excellent sense of the mood. "six o'clock news" is about a murder and "one more song the radio won't like" is about, well, it's pretty self-explanatory. and the videos give much the same musical style and feel as the three songs on the flip side. noting that kathleen's on the rounder label (technically on zoe, a division) leads to speculation that she's got a long career ahead of her with, at the very least, lots of critical acclaim, if not commercial success. however, her overall sound seems as if there might be a chance for that, as well. these tunes do tend to linger in your head for quite a while. it's probably a safe bet to say there'll be more from this talented woman. les reynolds indie-music.com				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews