HOLLY GOLIGHTLY - Up The Empire LP

Funny how it's the same as most of her other albums, lo-fi, garagy, sexy, and bluesy. This time things are a little different as we are back in a live performance. The sound is a bit more psychedelic and country/folk influenced and actually the songs are a bit fuller than we're used to from Holly.

We have violins, harmonica and even slide guitar, Holly is definitely into the performance and it's obvious the audience is too. One thing I really like is how she translates live, she has such an energy to her, and the way this is recorded it has the feeling of being there instead of just listening to something far away.

The songs are pretty great, lots of covers here including "Troubles On My Mind", "Look For Me Baby", "It's All Over Now", "I Can't Stand It", and "Mellow Down Easy". She chooses mainly obscuro stuff to cover which is great because they sound as though she could have written them. Some of the originals included are "Won't Go Out", "Believe Me", and "If I Should Ever Leave". In total we only have twelve songs, but she makes each of them count.

The band on this album are Brian Nevill on drums, Matt Radford on double bass and whistlin’, Little George Sueref on lead guitar and harp, Dan Melchior on guitar and vox and Dave Kraft on violin.