Looking Back [Curb]

by Mary Black

Overview

Looking Back was the first release from Mary Black's U.S. label, Curb Records. It was intended to introduce one of Ireland's top-selling pop stars to American audiences. Much of the record does what its title suggests, featuring some of the best songs from four of Black's Gifthorse releases: Without the Fanfare (1985), No Frontiers (1989), Babes in the Wood (1991), and Holy Ground (1993). The tracks from those albums are well chosen. Most of them are carefully arranged with mellow resonance. The slow jazz ballad "Columbus" and the more traditional Jimmy McCarthy favorite, "Bright Blue Rose," are interpreted especially effectively. But Looking Back also contains three previously unreleased tracks aimed directly at American tastes, and it is here that the consistency of the record begins to suffer. Among the new songs, "Only a Woman's Heart" is the sole success. It is a cover of a song by Eleanor McEvoy, another Irishwoman who found an audience across the Atlantic, re-imagined as a beautiful folk duet with one of America's most distinctive female vocalists, Emmylou Harris. The other two new tracks (Shane Howard's "Soul Sister" and John Gorka's "Looking Forward") are buried in overly perky keyboard and saxophone arrangements that lack the subtlety of most of the older recordings. In retrospect, those songs seem to foreshadow the ill-advised gloss pop sound of Shine, Black's 1997 L.A. studio debut. Looking Back is generally best when it does just that. ~ Evan Cater

Product Details

Release Date:	11/12/2021
Label:	Curb
UPC:	0715187771826
Rank:	7935

Tracks

1. Soul Sister
2. No Frontiers
3. Summer Sent You
4. Columbus
5. Adam at the Window
6. Bright Blue Rose
7. Looking Forward
8. Only a Woman's Heart
9. Vanities
10. The Loving Time
11. Carolina Rua
12. Ellis Island

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Mary Black   Primary Artist,Vocals
Emmylou Harris   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Pat Crowley   Vocals (Background),Piano,Vocals,Accordion,Keyboards
Eoghan O'Neill   Bass
Caroline LaVelle   Cello
Liam Bradley   Vocals
Frank Gallagher   Fiddle,Synthesizer,Tin Whistle
Donal Lunny   Bouzouki,Synthesizer
Philip Begley   Synthesizer
Noel Bridgeman   Drums,Accordion,Percussion
Carl Geraghty   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor),Sax (Soprano)
Bill Shanley   Guitar
Declan Sinnott   Dobro,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Noel Eccles   Drums,Percussion
Dave Early   Drums,Percussion
Garvan Gallagher   Bass,Double Bass

Technical Credits

Willie Mannion   Assistant Engineer
Andrew Boland   Engineer
Tom Moore   Composer
Pearse Dunne   Engineer,Remixing
Jimmy MacCarthy   Composer
Billy Robinson   Engineer
Emmylou Harris   Performer
Shane Howard   Composer
Eleanor McEvoy   Composer,Producer
John Gorka   Composer
Mark Miller   Remixing
Mary Black   Producer
Philip Begley   Editing,Engineer
Denny Purcell   Mastering
Thom Moore   Composer
Tim Boland   Assistant Engineer
Alastair McMillan   Assistant Engineer
Dan Fitzgerald   Engineer
Jim McCarthy   Composer
Declan Sinnott   Producer
Noel Eccles   Producer
Noel Brazil   Composer
Carlos Grier   Editing
Noel Brasil   Composer
Sarah McCann   Assistant Engineer
Mike Bunn   Photography