Description
Maureen O’Brien – Embrace the Season
CD review by Tony Smith
TN2571-91 – $22
TN168 Jan 25
There is no doubt that the prolific Maureen O’Brien is among Australia’s most professional songwriters and entertainers.
O’Brien is likely comfortable in any situation and has such a wide range of talents that she can apply them to a great variety of topics.
In this brief album of 8 tracks (25 minutes), O’Brien produces mainly original songs.
She includes ‘I Heard the Bells’ (Longfellow) and ends with the New Year standard Robbie Burns’ ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in her own unique arrangement.
As well as O’Brien with her trademark vocals and piano, there are contributions from long term collaborators Zac Limon (lead guitar, percussion, recording and engineering), Nigel Limon (bass guitar), Russ Redford (blues harp) and Stevi Cannon, Gayle Dedman and Maureen Reeves (support vocals), while Ian Innes supplies the necessary bagpipes.
The album was recorded at Lampstand Studio, Ashtonfield.
The poinsettia makes a great sleeve.
When I was busking in December, one donor commented that it was good to hear genuine carols and not just popular songs.
While Christmas should be a time for traditions, that does not preclude expression of new reactions to the season.
John Lennon’s ‘Happy Christmas: War is Over’ was inspired by the secular and sacred aspects of Christmas and its modern reception.
Strong traditions certainly survive in pure form but they also evolve and adapt.
I always enjoy writers such as Colin Buchanan and Greg Champion parodying traditional carols – ‘Deck the Sheds with Bits of Wattle’, and where would we be if Wheeler and James were too daunted by tradition to produce the Australian series that includes beautiful choral pieces such as ‘Christmas Bush’, and ‘Three Drovers’.
The need to put carols into local idiom has been understood for 500 years – the ‘Huron Carol’ is a special example.
In the upbeat ‘Christmas Grumblers’, O’Brien puts the ‘whiners’ firmly in their place, reminding them that Christmas is not about them.
In the gentler ‘Embrace the Season’, she sings of memories and in ‘December Excitement’ reminds us of the centrality of childhood to Christmas, especially in Australia.
‘A Little Kindness’ is rather wistful and it recommends caring for one another while ‘Waitin’ Up for Santa’ provides a humorous answer to the question of who the real Santa is.
Some years ago when two grandchildren, cousins, were six and five, they stood by the tree and debated the meaning of Christmas.
One reckoned it was about the nativity and that Jesus was the reason for the season.
The other said Santa Claus was it.
There is a tension between giving and receiving at Christmas, between the spiritual side and the materialistic.
Happily, Maureen O’Brien comes down firmly on the spiritual meaning, without becoming preachy.
Her version of ‘I Heard the Bells’ is strong and emphasises the need to listen with your heart.
The message is plain, peace on earth and goodwill to all.
The best track is ‘Letter to Santa’.
Here O’Brien imagines a child in a war torn country such as Gaza or Ukraine, writing a letter in which she asks for just those things only we can supply.
Why is it too much to ask?
I will happily place Mauren O’Brien’s Embrace the Season in my Christmas collection, somewhere between the Chieftains and Rockwiz.
For some 15+ years I’ve been promising to write a Christmas album….it’s finally here! Today is the official release date for Embrace The Season. Australia is a diverse society and there are so many differing views, beliefs, opinions about the season. Consequently there are so many different ways that Christmas is celebrated here. I’ve endeavoured to reflect that diversity in the content of the album.
It consists mostly of originals in a variety of different flavours – ballad, folk, blues, comedy – plus a couple of (not-so) traditional pieces that are favourites of mine. You can listen to the tracks on my Bandcamp page as follows: https://maureenobrien.bandcamp.com/album/embrace-the-season … If you like it, I invite you to purchase the album [or individual tracks if you prefer]….and please tell your friends!
Style
Contemporary singer/songwriter and touring performer, Maureen writes from the heart and sings it with passion. An interpretive vocalist, she has a rich, mellow vocal sound and selects material that best suits her vocal style. An evolving songwriter, her current work is a distinctive fusion of Jazz-Folk-Rock.
Performances
Maureen has performed in a variety of groups and duos as well as being an accomplished solo performer. Her performances occur in a wide variety of entertainment experiences such as:
- Tastings on the Terrace (Sunday afternoons in the vineyards).
- Wine and food festivals.
- Music festivals.
- Restaurants, cocktail functions, ‘lounge bar’ music, restaurants, dinner/theatre shows.
- Dedicated concerts and Charity events/functions
- Parties and boutique music sessions.
Live performances with her support bands are dynamic. She likes to give her musicians ‘room to breathe’ so every performance reflects a freedom to explore different approaches to selected material. The line-ups vary as she selects musicians from an extensive pool of talent to suit individual gigs. Her solo performances are described as ‘warm and intimate’.
Material
As a songwriter Maureen writes from the heart and interprets from the soul. She has written and performed Classic Blues and Jazz, Folk-Rock, Jazz-Rock and Contemporary Folk and Blues genres. She has been a multi-finalist in the 1233 ABC Radio Newcastle Music Awards and her second album, Many Shades of Blue, was awarded the prestigious Trad&Now Magazine’s Best CD of 2006 in the Blues and Roots genre. Her third album, Luminous, and fourth album, Ebb & Flow, received regular airplay throughout community stations across Australia via selection by AMRAP for Album of the Month awards. Tracks from Luminous have also been selected for airplay oversees.
She has recorded single and EP projects for fundraising events, and written and recorded Musical Scores for Theatre works.
Memberships
Maureen has been writing and performing for more than a decade and is a fully-fledged writer member of the industry association, Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA).
Performance History
As a full time musician and creative artiste, Maureen’s performance biography is too extensive to list here. The fact that she is repeatedly invited back to perform at regular and annual events substantiates her establishment as a high quality entertainer. If you are considering engaging her services, contact her direct for testimonials
