Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Say what you will, if it is meant, if it said with care and kindness then even if it hurts then it can still be used for the power of good. It is when words are spouted out without thinking, when promised in haste, that is when the damage is done and you can never blame someone for not forgiving you, despite all the attention you shower upon them in an effort to make up for the slip of the tongue or the falseness of your outburst. Say what you want, if it is covered in a blanket of hope and the oath that the person will stand by you, then it is worthy of being remembered and loved.
Vanessa Murray has had a busy period, one that has involved playing for many of the much admired local Liverpool bands and artists, namely Alan O’ Hare’s Only Child and John Jenkins phenomenal output to name but two; so much so that perhaps she has left her own sense of immense passion in the hands of others, gaining experience, pushing the ideals of colleagues, a worthy and brilliant cause always.
It is though with enormous fanfare and well wished thanks that Ms. Murray has once again made her own name known and in her latest single Say, that voice which has entranced many fans, the sense of evolution has stepped forward, the next stage of her own career, aided by her band and produced by Jon Lawton of Crosstown Studios, is very much underway and blissfully cool to wallow in.
Say anything with kindness, the promise that you will be there, that it is not a passing, throw-away line in to which a smile will be momentarily seduce; for Vanessa Murray her words are her bond and it comes across perfectly and succinctly, passionate, full of strength and with the beauty of a whisper that the promise is held up, one that sends the hairs on the back of the neck into full response and quivering as you hand over your life to that oath.
A wonderful return, life gets away too easily, but to have the voice and words of Vanessa Murray back in the listener’s lives then that life is made more ideal and worry free.
Ian D. Hall