Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
A new beginning is not always enough to see the scars disappear from view, however, it makes them easier to bear, the load seemingly shared between the consciousness and the heart, the memories fade, they become hopefully less aggressive, they lose their bite and the snarl dies down to a whimper, but in the soul, the fury gains momentum, that new beginning is purely the symphony ready to build up the tension, to strike up the band and let the haze clear; it is all that is needed to show that Love Lives On.
Change is always in the air, to stay stagnant is to look defeat in the eye and say whatever prayers you deem fit to the moment of belief you worship, change is inevitable, but it also doesn’t mean you have to leave your core principles behind, those early recordings that set you upon the road deserve more than that.
It is a change embraced and done so with conviction by the supremely talented Dana Fuchs as she takes her fourth album out from behind the studio walls and into the homes of those who have all clinched the depth of her music and those to whom really should have caught on by now just how great a song-writer and performer she is. This honey dewed voice with the will the of iron coursing through her very soul; Dana Fuchs is an embodiment of female strength made bold.
In songs such as Ain’t Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Sittin’ On, Sad Solution, Faithful Sinner, Ready To Rise and the glorious cover of the June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore song, and made famous by the incredible and much loved Johnny Cash, Ring Of Fire, the intensity of Ms. Fuchs’ vocals are as of the beautiful call of mercy, intense but utterly soft, the young woman who blew audience’s minds in New York has now become a dame of the genre, lacking in nothing, soaring with confidence and offering that most elusive of qualities, trust.
Love Lives On, through every pore, every emotion that we display and that we attempt to conceal, from the object of our affection, from ourselves; love transcends almost all and within the perfect storm and sound brews.
Dana Fuchs releases Love Lives On on the 18th May.
Ian D. Hall