Friday, April 20, 2007

More great reviews for Right of Passage

David FranceyRight of Passage (Laker Music)

A lot of musicians wax rhapsodic about the vagabond life; David Francey knows better. A Scottish native and Canadian immigrant, Francey has buttered his bread as a rail worker, a carpenter, an ore carrier shipmate, and a Yukon bush wrangler. He’s also won Juno Awards and has written some of the best songs you’ll ever hear. “Ballad of Bowser McCrae” and “Promised Land” are spirited sea song/Celtic hybrids; whereas “Their Wedding Day” and “Under the Portland Weather” are deeply personal observations wrapped in intimate folk melodies. “New Jerusalem” stops you in your tracks by cutting through the faux piety of murder in the name of Yahweh or Allah. Every song on this album tells you that David Francey is a plebeian poet who can make the prosaic sublime.— Rob Weir,
The Valley Advocate


David Francey
Right of Passage
Laker Music

I guess, at this point in David Francey’s stellar career, we are down to expecting near perfection delivered with each succeeding album. Well…Right of Passage delivers the proverbial goods once again. Twelve new songs and, unexpectedly, one lovely tune delivered superbly by Geoff Somers on fiddle and mandolin and Craig Werth on guitar and bouzouki. David lends a hand, by droning the shruti box.

The songs range from a lovely portrait of one Bowser MacRae, the third mate on an Algoma Central ore carrier, to a song inspired from the TV news coverage of the Middle East. All are extremely well crafted from this observant, slightly melancholic, and gentle man. He sings from the heart, and the arrangements are simple but effective. I particularly liked Stone Town a portrait of Quebec City in the rain. I’ve been in Quebec City in the rain and he nails it.

So, all in all, another terrific effort from Mr. Francey. Did you really expect anything different? Les Siemieniuk, Penguin Eggs

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Right of Passage

"Right of Passage is his finest work to date...another step in David Francey's journey as one of Canada's finest singer-songwriters.” Jan Vanderhorst, Just Us
Folk


Right of Passage **** David Francey (Laker Music) He's bound to stumble at some point, isn't he? But so far, Canadian folkster David Francey has hit the bull's eye every time he's headed into the studio. Right of Passage, the two-time Juno winner's newest collection, finds Francey spinning economical, evocative tales about turning points in life: leaving places, finally telling your girl you love her, confronting the ultimate turning point of death. For the most part a quiet, reflective album, it's rooted in the everyday, the songs' spare imagery that of rain, a garden gate, Quebec City's old stone walls. Francey, as always, excels at narrative, his warm Scottish burr welcoming the listener into his own life and that of his characters. Guitar, fiddle and restrained backing vocals are among Francey's accompanists.” Patrick Langston, Ottawa Citizen

“Thirteen short songs about life's transitional moments - written, for the most part, during his recent summer gig crewing on a Great Lakes ore carrier - bear all the Francey watermarks: lyrical economy, harmony-inducing melodies, wry humour with a hint of melancholy, intimate vocal performances and tasty accompaniment. This is classic Francey - personal, evocative, a work of considerable beauty” Greg Quill, Toronto Star