
Do you know Eddi Reader? If you don't, you should because your life will be the better for it. Eddi (wiki here) is most known in America for one song, recorded in 1989 with Fairground Attraction, called Perfect - you know: I don't want half hearted love affairs. It's an 80's classic. Since then she has recorded 6 solo albums of original folk pop material and released an acclaimed album of Robert Burns songs. She's Scottish and spunky and red-haired. The music is many things - folk, pop, standards, etc. Her voice is crystalline, but it has an edge that slices through words in a very pleasing way. If you count yourself a fan of 1) songwriters, 2) women, or 3) humans, then there is no excuse not to listen to Eddi Reader...
What Eddi reminds me of...
Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh on a cold, sunny, windy March day, rainy beaches in Brighton, 1994 - when I lived alone, unrequited love, hearing voices through hotel walls and wondering who those people are, blue glass, a kite, a 50's photograph.
Eddi bits'bobs...
Her brother is a fucking amazing singer as well. You know him as Frank - or Francis - Reader, lead singer for Trashcan Sinatras.
Her current release is a double live CD called St. Clare's Night Out and her next album of original tunes is expected before the year's end.
Janet Jackson's current iTunes playlist includes Eddi's ballad Wings On My Heels, which the late Kevyn Aucoin introduced to her.
Eddi Songs...
Saturday Night
Eddi's b-side cover of the Blue Nile classic is better than their version because it's stripped to voice and melody. This is one of my all-time favorite songs. BUY IT
Fragile Thing
Eddi's 1999 collaboration with Big Country (yes, them!). A perfect song made more moving by the fact that Stuart Adamson proved to be so fragile himself. A bit of a rarity, this one. I spend a lot of cold nights missing you... BUY IT
The Right Place
The first Eddi song to grab me, it's a bit of a manifesto. The lyrics are very strong and her vocals lift them higher: Five or ten lifetimes ago / There lived a girl that you don't know / She walked about and answered to my name..." I also love how she sings the word wind in the first verse, somewhere between the noun and the verb. Amazing middle eight... BUY IT
Eddi Videos...
Perfect with Fairground Attraction via YouTube.
Joke (I'm Laughing) via YouTube (great performance from Eddi!)
My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose for all you folkies, on YouTube. She looks very Bonnie Raittish in this video.