Ellen McIlwaine

 

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Toe Hold

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Up From the Skies

Greetings all.

I was wandering (not aimlessly) through the vast expanse of digimatized music looking for something to tickle my fancy and after picking out a few particularly tasty things and setting them aside for the full blogging treatment, I tripped over something very cool indeed.

Ellen McIlwaine is another one of those artists that I read about long before I heard any of her music.

I used to see her early records (including the album she recorded with her first band, Fear Itself) were perennials on crate diggers ‘finds’ lists, and then back in the 90s I picked up a compilation of her Polydor recordings.

What that collection revealed was a very talented and multi-faceted performer.

McIlwaine, who spent her early years in Japan (her family were missionaries) found her way to New York in the mid-60s where she shared stages with a wide variety of blues and folk performers.

Like many of her contemporaries, she was less interested in being shoehorned into a single genre, instead choosing to weave her own mixture of blues, rock, jazz, soul and folk/world sounds.

The two tracks I bring you today come from her first solo album, 1972’s ‘Honky Tonk Angel’, one side of which was recorded live at the Bitter End in NYC.

The first – her cover of the Isaac Hayes/David Porter* classic ‘Toe Hold’ is a great example of how a largely acoustic band can still manage to be funky (thanks in large part to McIlwaine’s guitar playing).

McIlwaine is also a particularly talented and interesting singer who manages to kind of sail all over the map without ever losing her way. While I was digging for information about the record I happened upon one of Robert Christgau’s old Consumer Guide reviews of this album where he makes the point that while at first impression her vocals might seem ‘overambitious’ she manages to succeed by virtue of the power of her instrument.

I’ve never been a big fan of ‘oversingers’ but I have to agree with the old sage that unlike so many others (especially in these times where vocal acrobatics seem to be the go to substitute for soul), McIlwaine has the wherewithal, balancing talent with taste, to stay just inside the lines.

The second track is a particularly groovy cover of the Jimi Hendrix Experience track ‘Up From the Skies’. It always bugs me that so many people seem to forget that Jimi had a soulful side. McIlwaine’s treatment of ‘Up From the Skies’ taps into – and expands on – that sound.

If you can find either of her first two solo albums (or the CD comp that collects them) grab them. Her later stuff moves further into an electric/rock sound but is still pretty cool.

She still records and performs today, and her recent stuff is particularly interesting, mixing her guitar with tabla and harmonium (dig her cover of ‘Take me To the River’).

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Friday with something cool.

 

Peace

Larry

 

* Recorded by Johnnie Taylor, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave among others

 

 

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2 Responses to “Ellen McIlwaine – Toe Hold b/w Up From the Skies”

1. Tom Snyders says:

   November 11, 2011 at 6:32 pm

   Hey Larry,

   Ellen McIlwaine – wow! One of my all-time faves, and somebody I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and hearing on several occasions, including a gig here in Vancouver (one Canadian city she lived in, along with Montreal, Toronto, and her current Calgary home) where I brought out my collection of her albums to sign (I think I have all of them, including Fear Itself, with the ridiculous cover of her on a horse).

   Beyond her incredible slide guitar playing and early adoption of “world music” influences, she also brought a unique ingredient to her music. I don’t know if it was in a radio interview or conversation where she said that her vocal scat style drew from her early years in Japan, by using Japanese phonemes for her scatting.

   But perhaps my favourite McIlwaine memory is seeing her introducing a song at a gig by saying “you know, when men play it, they call it the blues. When I play it, I like to call it blues metal…” and then ripping out the raunchiest power slide rocker imaginable.

   Thanks for the post. I’ve sent her a link to it, so you never know – she might get in touch!

   Keep the funk flame burning,
   Tom

2. Larry says:

   November 12, 2011 at 12:55 pm

   Thanks Tom! I’m glad you dug it!