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• MUSIC REVIEW (Rock) •

Edwards, Kathleen Failer Artist Home Page Live review and photos of Kathleen Edwards Buy it at Amazon

Released: 6/19/2002

Like a lot of people these days, I picked up Kathleen Edward's debut album Failer, a folk-rock romp from one of Ottawa's own. I took it for a spin...and didn't mind the ride. It starts off with the hit single "Six O'Clock News", an ode to love...I think. It's a great tune complete with guitar pickin', banjo pluckin' and a strong vocal. But one song does not an CD make. What followed was an attempt to get some strong (if not a little vague) ideas down on paper with varying degrees of success. One pitfall of singer/songwriters (or any musical project for that matter) is to be repetitive over the length of an album. This disc is suffers from that fate but not enough to ruin it. Kathleen seems to be at here best when there is a positive thread and optimism in an otherwise gloomy situation (check out "Maria"). But when she rocks it up a bit, she has a tendency to lose her vocal edge ("Westby"). However, the band is solid thoughout.

With journeymen like Jim Bryson providing some solid electric guitar and Fred Guignon unleashing a couple of hot, David Lindley-esque slide solos, the band puts out a nice comfortable sound and some fine noodling.

True, there's not a lot of variation in style here, like having a potluck and everyone brings salad. But I don't mind salad. All and all, a good first outing.

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