Chris McGrath and Julia Logan Reviewed
Chris McGrath – The Ballad Of Sheep
The country where you’re born is very likely to want to offer you an education. In fact, it’s insistent. It wants you to come by every morning, take notes and, eventually, do enough to stick your name on a diploma.
And while, yes, it’s true that there are people whose existence has been dramatically changed by these opportunities, the world also would like to keep them as a minority.
You’re unlikely to get an education in class when the teacher is focused on making you obedient and little else. However, the men and women with guitars and some soul may be greater guides in stirring in the right direction.
Chris McGrath could be one of those teachers. If Dylan’s protest anthems talked about a world divided, but full of potential, “The Ballad Of Sheep” sees the world as a place filled with anger, corruption and, worse, a general hatred of one another. McGrath has penned something that truly defines our era, material to be studied if we’re to improve.
Julia Logan – Khala My Friend
We lost a great deal when pop musicians started getting serious about their work. Sure, the majority of them were willing to spend thousands of hours learning to solo on an electric guitar or teaching themselves to dance.
But those things, impressive as they are, eventually just become a distraction when there’s nothing to hang your dreams on. Frankly, while many professional musicians will record tens of hours worth of songs during their careers, they are likely if they can produce a few seconds of pure music.
And, yes, I mean it. The magic rarely lasts more than a few seconds. But it’s so overpowering and engulfing that you want to visit it as quickly as you left it. That’s the case with Julia Logan.
If “Khala My Friend” sounds like the work of someone wanting to return to the ideals of hippiedom, it’s because it was originally written in the 1970s. There’s a certain mood that it captures, something akin to being invited into a cool room when the air is sizzling. And it’s Logan’s excellent, intimate vocal delivery that helps to translate it for a modern generation.
