Eddi Reader: "Angels and Electricity"

In the ten years since Fairground Attraction ensured her busking days were over once and for all, Reader has been steadily turning out quietly affecting song books of a depth almost unrivalled in this country. And"A&E", her fourth, is her best yet.

If you can get past her speccy history teacher look (and you really should) you'll find 13 songs brimming over with life, love and loss, without once overstepping the mark into cloying sentiment. On songs like "Kiteflyer's Hill" and "Wings On My Heels", the mood of world-weary nostalgia may be almost palpable, but it is equally understated. (This is the anti-Celine: a singer who can convey more meaning in one regretful sigh than Dion can in an hour's worth of fist-clenching bellows.)

It's to Reader's credit that she continues to follow her folk-based musings with little regard to top 40 fads (though one can only imagine what a Tracy Thorn style reinvention could do for her cred). In the meantime, "A&E" is just... yeah, perfect.

***** (out of five) Adam Mattera

from June edition('98) of Attitude

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