Rebecca Swain wrote this review.
McGinley’s in Italy with the blues guys, Neuwirth’s in Cuba with the classical musicians, and Parker is, apparently, just in a tizzy. Here’s the scoop.
On Patrick McGinley’s enjoyable live (or at least partly live) CD, he teams up with Family Style, a blues group from a small town near Milan, Italy, consisting of Franco and Marco Limido and their cousin, Davide Bianchi. McGinley played with Family Style while he was in Italy promoting his disc All Over the Place in early 2000. The live shows were so popular that this McGinley Family Style disc was released in 2001.
Some of the songs featured here are McGinley originals, such as “Love From Afar,” “Millie’s Stop and Dine,” “Ordinary Man,” “St. Patrick’s Isle,”and “Queen D’Ville,” all from All Over the Place. Others are covers of well-known songs. He does an excellent version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City,” although his smooth baritone doesn’t sound quite as desperate as Springsteen’s hoarse mumble. He also covers Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” the beautiful and sensual “Right in Time,” by Lucinda Williams, John Prine’s “Paradise,” and the only version of “The Weight” I’ve ever liked, medleyed with Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey.” McGinley 
speaks only once on this live disc, so if you don’t like a lot of verbal interruption in your recorded music, don’t worry. If you liked All Over the Place, you’ll like this.
Bob Neuwirth’s Havana Midnight is different from either of the other CDs reviewed here. The mood of the disc is low-key and sometimes sentimental. Maybe because of the lyrics of “Havana Midnight” and “Don Quixote,” when I think of this disc I automatically see candles glowing softly in a midnight room.
Bob Neuwirth was a good friend and tour manager of Bob Dylan in the ’60s, and befriended several well-known blues and folk musicians. Since then he has toured with, written songs for, and produced many other popular performers. He hasn’t recorded extensively on his own, though.
Neuwirth’s voice sometimes sounds amazingly like Willie Nelson’s, especially in “The Call,” and once in a while he almost sounds like he’s about to fall over that rusty edge into a Neil Young imitation. However, his voice contrasts nicely with the gentle, smooth piano playing of Cuban pianist and arranger Jose Maria Vitier and the accomplished playing of the other classically trained Cuban musicians.
This is a very good disc, but it is my least favorite of the three reviewed here. The songs, though sampling many musical influences besides Latin, don’t really hold my attention. Neuwirth’s voice doesn’t convey much emotion, to my ears — I’m sure he is sincere in what he writes and sings, but I just don’t hear the emotion that would bring the songs to life. The whole collection is just that little bit too laid-back for me. But if you’re 
interested in something different, the blending of musical influences on a disc that can’t be neatly pigeonholed, you might like this very much.
I love Graham Parker’s Deepcut to Nowhere. I’ve only ever heard one other Graham Parker disc, Squeezing Out Sparks. I don’t have it anymore because I had to pawn some CDs several years ago, and I chose the ones I could bear to part with. I think, looking back, that I didn’t properly appreciate Squeezing Out Sparks or I would never have let it go. I wouldn’t pawn Deepcut to Nowhere, I assure you.
Personally, I find this a very accessible collection of music. The tunes are lively and easy to follow, and the lyrics are interesting and comprehensible. The overall mood is discontented, rueful, sometimes even angry. In “High Horse” Parker snarls, “The biggest ape swinging through these trees/won’t try to bring you down to your knees./The most vicious lizard from the isle of Komodo/won’t jerk you around like you are a yo-yo.” He presents an awesome catalogue of animals in this song.
In “Syphilis and Religion” he grumbles, “Syphilis and religion/that’s what we are handing out/Syphilis and religion/two things you could probably do without.” “Tough on Clothes” is another catalogue, this time of apparel, and contains the dismayed and delightful line “God knows what’s going on with your underwear.” I also like “I’ll Never Play Jacksonville Again” for its rollicking tune, and “If It Ever Stops Rainin’,” and … and all the songs, really.
(Blue Flame, 2001)
(Appleseed, 2000)
(Razor & Tie, 2001)
