Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Everyday we are reminded that Time is leaving us behind in its wake, we might hang on to its digital coattails, we might keep up with it until we start to lose breath, patience or our heart demands we slow down, but in the end, Time finds ways to pursue a different beat to which we cannot fathom the tune, that Time Is Going Faster should be understood, recognised and held onto for as long as humanly possible.
Time is going faster, a byword for being alive and perhaps finding that the hour grows shorter, however how use that time is a personal choice and endeavour, and for one of Scotland’s most celebrated recording artists, time has always been part of the soul she sings with such beauty and resonating drama and for her latest recording, Time celebrates with a broad and exacting smile.
Utilising fully the talents of Nick Holland on keyboards, the exceptional Troy Donockley on uillean pipes, bouzouki and guitars, Brad Lang on bass, Russell Field on drums and percussion and the sizeable consideration of Nick Holland’s insight in the studio as he also acts as producer, arranger and mixer, Barbara Dickson’s vision for her 25th studio album, an incredible feat in itself, is realised and upheld as a timeless piece of artistic passion.
With three new tracks penned by Ms. Dickson, Where Shadows Meet The Light, Goodnight, I’m Going Home and the album title track of Time Is Going Faster, living freely and adding a welcome chance to once more get into the mind of the artist, Time Is Going Faster is a sense of beauty which installs peace and mindfulness to the listener; and with tracks such as covers of The Incredible String Band’s Good As Gone, Hamish Henderson’s Ballad of the Speaking Heart and traditional songs given new arrangements in Barbara Allan and Lament of the Three Marys all making their own sizable impression on the heart, Time Is Going Faster is a perfect reintroduction to one of the finest voices of the last 40 years.
The clock may move on, time may fly, but for a legend, the sense of movement is not dictated by the minute or the hour that spins unobserved, it is in the quality of the expression shared, and for Barbara Dickson, Time itself is forever in her corner, keeping the seconds at bay and illuminating another era in his substantial career.
Barbara Dickson releases Time Is Going Faster on October 30th via Chariot Records.
Ian D. HallÂ