WILLIAM GALISON & MADELEINE PEYROUX
Got You On My Mind

Waking Up Music

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The ethos of William Galison & Madeleine Peyroux’s Got You On My Mind is that of Le Club Hot meets Billie Holiday with twists of New Orleans jazz and traditional folk, but it’s an easy, free-flowing connection to these forebears rather than one of slavish imitation. Galison and Peyroux are perfect musical accomplices, Galison’s exquisite harmonica work and guitar accompaniment perfectly complementing the elegant voice of Madeleine Peyroux. Peyroux’s first album cast her in the Billie Holiday role a bit too much and as a result it took her eight years before releasing her next album, Careless Love. The work on this CD with Galison, with whom she has toured frequently in the past few years, is among the most natural performances and quite possibly the best recorded example of her vocal talents. Far from being a Holiday imitator, Peyroux has a voice that at times recalls the legendary singers’, but which is rich with its own inflections. It’s as though Peyroux’s voice has, at its base, a dark, smoky roux that flavors everything added on top of it.

The opening number, “Back In Your Own Back Yard” is a perfect example of the sophisticated French swing of Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grapelli, and both Peyroux and Galison establish their ability to relax into this groove rather than forcing it. The mood is extended by Peyroux’s take on the Josephine Baker classic “J’ai Deux Amours,” a number she also tackles on Careless Love. The tempo here is a little quicker, the overall instrumental shadings a bit brighter, with Galison’s harmonica work a very welcome element. His harmonica work is also featured on the instrumental “Flambee Montalbanese,” composed by Gus Viseur, who wrote it from a hilltop while watching his town burning down during World War II.

Next the pair swing through blues country with “Got You On My Mind,” a song recorded by Willie Dixon and Eric Clapton. Here we get our first chance to hear the voices of Peyroux and Galison together, and they are a perfect match for each other. Less successful is Galison’s version of the John Lennon ballad “Jealous Guy.” While it does provide a pretty melody for Galison’s harmonica to hang its hat on, it doesn’t really take off. Galison’s decision to sing the last go-round of the chorus doesn’t seem like a great idea, either. But the track is certainly not unlistenable, and things get back on track quickly with a samba version of “The Way You Look Tonight.” The track is a natural vehicle for Galison and Peyroux, and the two use the energy from this track to propel them into a faultless second half of the CD.

Galison’s “Rag for Madi” is indeed a catchy guitar ragtime piece that has a nice, jaunty stride. “Playin’” an original co-written by the two performers, is a bluesy song about playing on street corners for money. Galison’s guitar solo is concise and low-key, but full of energy once it grabs your ear. “Should Have Known” is Galison’s take on the folk tale of the frog and the scorpion, and musically the piece is a pure romp through New Orleans second line rhythms. Carly Simon makes a brief cameo in the role of the scorpion. The disc finishes with two gorgeous performances. The first is “Heaven to Me,” on which she sounds most like Lady Day, but her voice is easier and her delivery lacks the weariness with which we are used to hearing Holiday sing. The two close on a folk/rock note with “Heaven Help Us All.” The song opens with Peyroux singing a verse over an early acoustic Dylan-style guitar, then bursts into a country ballad groove at the chorus. Galison and Peyroux trade vocals and Galison delivers a concise, well-stated electric guitar solo that is reminiscent of Robbie Robertson and George Harrison in its basic dignity.

Got You On My Mind is an engaging CD that will continue to delight on repeated listening. Frankly, this is what pop music at its best should sound like.