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The Heart Sings
Terry Clarke 'The Heart Sings'
1997 Transatlantic
Luscious and verdant as the Emerald Isle from which it draws inspiration
and was given birth, "The Heart Sings" is about half a decade
overdue relative to Clarke's earlier classic "The Shelly River."
As it evolves, track by track, the characters in Clarke's lyrics are placed
on a planet wide stage. He's one of our finest songpoets [if not the best]....no
shadow of a doubt there. Possessed of a rock 'n' roll soul [musically]
and the heart of a poet [lyrically], he pours tales from his own life
and that of his family into his compositions with reckless abandon. The
result - pure, heartrending beauty. At the get go, "The Rocks of
Ireland," is the foundation....and on this rock Clarke has built....a
tumultuous masterpiece. Though this set includes re-interpretations of
five cuts from the stunning "The Shelly River" [1991], they
stand as new songs, particularly the additional lyric to "Irish Rockabilly
Blues." Rosie Flores' vocal on "Back to the Well" fits
like a glove, but nothing prepares you for the intensity injected by her
into the [Clarke's] words about those who dream of a homeland across the
sea [that they'll probably never see again] in "American Lipstick."
Cleethorpes and Scarborough may not make it lyrically, in the same way
that Tulsa and San Jose have, but Reading is now firmly on the world map
by virtue of "Bruce Channel in This Town." One of my "Albums
of '97" is laid gently to rest with the acoustic "The Last Rhythm"
replete with it's Laura Nyro reference.........................even at
the closing echo there's only one thing you have to deal with, wall to
wall perfection and emotion.
Arthur Wood Kerrville Kronikle 1997
Terry Clarke 'The Heart Sings'
- Transatlantic
Terry Clarke's music is his very heart and soul
influenced by his Irish and English background
and coloured by his love for the American South.
The title of one of his songs here 'Irish Rockabilly Blues'
is a good indication. When they were on tour Bruce Channel,
Gene Vincent and Cream visited his town, Reading,
where he grew up as a lad. They left their impression on Terry too.
The outcome was the writing of Bruce Channel in this Town'.
If you see Terry perform live on stage you don't dance -
sit down and listen.
Listen to each individual song tell it's tale.
He has performed alongside the the likes of Guy Clark and Steve Young,
and hopes to visit the States this year.
The fourteen songs on offer here are very personal to Terry Clarke.
If he's in your area check him out
Country Music Round Up 1997
Terry Clarke
The Heart Sings
(Transatlanic CD 226)
IT'S A MEASURE Of THE ESTEEM IN
which this Reading-based singer-songwriter is held by the likes of
Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely that he can make regular
trips to Texas and sit in and play with Austin's finest.
The Heart Sings is mostly dominated by Clarke's continuing fascination
with the West of Ireland - from where his family came - rather than West
Texas. Four of the tracks are superb re-workings from his highly regarded
1991 Minidoka Records release, The Shelly River.
Clarke says he has always been spellbound by the stories and songs of
Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Christy Moore and Dylan Thomas. As The Heart
Sings testifies, his own lyrical vision is something to hehold.
With one of his songs recorded for a forthcoming Gene Vincent tribute
album, and a track selected for The recent Welcome To Transatlantic
Country compilation,
Terry Clarke is back in the limelight and, on this evidence, deservedly
so.
Steve Taylor Country Music International 1997
TERRY CLARKE The Heart Sings
The Rocks Of Ireland/Roll Away /
Detroit To Dingle/Back To The
Well/The Shelly River/Walk With
Me/Looking For You/The Heart
Sings /Blue Honey/Bruce Channel
In This Town /The Edge Of
Shamrock City/AmericanLipstick/
Irish Rockabilly Blues/The Last Rhythm
Producers: Terry Clarke & John Burns
Transatlantic TRA CD 226 (56m 04s) [UKI
9 of 10
The harsh but fresh winds of Ireland blow through this release, carrying
the images, sounds and smells of rugged coastal towns. open roads. friendly
pubs and warm hearted sentimentality. The sound isn't the silky country-and-Irish
popularised by the Ritz label though.
Rather. Reading based singer-songwriter Clarke blends rock and soul influences
with Texas blues and traditional acoustic music into something vibrant
and honest that also conjures up images of whisky drenched American honky
tonks and lively rock'n'roll hops where a dance and a fist fight are opposite
sides of the same coin.
There are shades of Chris Isaak's Blue Hotel. Robbie Robertson's Somewhere
Down A Crazy River and even The Pogues' Fairy Tale Of New York here that
aren't particularly country. But a British made record trying to sound
like a Nashville album would only be a fake. Suffice to say that Clarke's
spirited brew contains all the guts. melody and integrity that you would
look for in good country music while succesfully evading national and
musical pigeon-holes.
The mid-paced Detroit To Dingle tells the story of a priest's migration
from Motor City to his ancestral home in Ireland and epitomises the album's
transatlantic roots. Lines like 'They call me out to the cancer ward or
to the boys from some gang fight," meanwhile, underline the gritty
background of hard times against which good time numbers like Irish Rockabills'
Blues are set.
Even the slew of slow, sentimental. mostly acoustic numbers, like Walk
With Me and American Lipstick (on which Rosie Flores guests) have an edge
of reality that raises them above the merely maudlin. You could sit and
reflect on life with a glass of Jamesons in your hand listening to these
songs before forgetting it all for a welcome moment with a rocker like
Blue Honey or an alcohol fuelled jig like The Edge Of Shammck City.
Some of these songs are re-recordings but the most impressive thing about
this release is the way it hangs together as a whole. It's a long way
from line dancing or the Country Countdown, but it's tuneftul, lively,
atmospheric and must rate as one of the best British albums you'll hear
this year.
Douglas McPherson Country Music People
1997
Terry Clarke 'The Heart Sings'
(Transatlantic, import CD)
First time I heard this Anglo-Irish singer~songwriter,. he was opening
for Butch Hancock at a South London pub and since then has made something
of a career of winning the admiration of Texans he's played with. Among
his fans are Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Jesse Taylor, with whom he
recorded Rhythm Oil. JD Foster, who brought him to Austin in 1988 to cut
his debut Call Up A Hurricane, and Rosie Flores, who used his Poor
Girl's Town on her last album and here sings duet on American Lipstick
and harmonies on Back To The Well. On his first trip over in a
couple three years, he'll again be opening for Hancock, on a Far Flung
Adventures river trip and two early November shows (and possibly for Ely
later in the month). It's considerably easier to experience than explain
this connection. especially as Clarke has become increasingly preoccupied
with the West of Ireland, from which his family emigrated-offhand I can
dream up no parallels between Connaught and West Texas. Though country,
blues and jazz influences are readily apparent, Irish themes, drawing
on Celtic music, poetry, mythology and Clarke's own lyric vision and down
to earth language. dominate this album, most obviously in four songs,
Detroit To Dingle, The Shelly River. The Edge Of Shamrock City and
American Lipstick, reprised from his last album, The Shelly River
(1991), which, though made in England was hailed in Ireland as the Irish
album of the year, and in The Rocks Of Ireland and Irish Rockabilly Blues.
However. Clarke consistently avoids dewy-eyed expatriate sentimentality
which 1 guess is a parallel of sorts with Hancock et al,
but then it's easier to get sentimental about Sligo than Lubbock, trust
me on this one. Clarke is an affecting but unaffected singer and fine
12-string guitarist (he also picks mandolin. tenor mandola, 6 string and
baritone guitars on the album), but when you hear the songs, you'll understand
why Hancock fans, and Hancock himself (it's safe to say this'll be available
at Lubbock or leave It), rate him so highly.
John Conquest, Music City Texas (Austin) 1997
