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"another Place"

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Parent Issue
Month
May
Year
1993
Copyright
Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike)
Rights Held By
Agenda Publications
OCR Text

MUSIC

After a seven-year sabbatical to study voice and piano, Pleiades Label recording artist Margie Adam is back. Her latest recording,"Another Place," is a collection of 13 "contemporary pop songs." Although this recording shows Adam's considerable talent as a songwriter, it plays to a selective audience. Like folk music, it's not for everyone.

Margie Adam calls herself a "women's music" artist. This genre eludes easy definition. Perhaps it means that the music has qualities considered "feminine," such as sensitive lyrics, soft acoustic instruments, and soothing melodies with slow-to-medium tempos. It may also reflect a lack of musical aggression, dissonance and screaming electric guitars. But does the label "women's music" imply that the music will appeal only to women? No - the appeal of this recording transcends gender.

Adam's music is highly melodic. She accompanies her rich alto voice with elegant piano arrangements. Back-up instrumentals, including an occasional flute and harp, are pertormed by ten women musicians from jazz, rock and pop backgrounds. But much of Adam's strength is in her lyrics.

Most of Adam's lyrics speak of relationships and equality therein. The identity of the parties involved in a relationship are often left ambiguous. "We" can mean two people (genders unknown), members of a community, or even humanity and the natural world. Love, friendship, a common purpose, or mutual respect are the bases of these relationships.

There are two songs on "Another Place" that stand out as real gems. 'Talk With My Heart" is a song about trying to leave a situation which causes heartache and pain. Adam writes about one whose heart "wouldn't listen to reason" and who has "had enough of this treason."But when Adam declares "Here is my heart's refrain," instead of another line of lyric as might be expected, Adam gives us a beautiful, well-produced, haunting piano solo - truly a refrain from the heart.

In the "Long Haul" Adam speaks of the determination that people need to stick together through a situation until the very end. The sentiment of the chorus - "l am in it for the long haul/I will be there for the last call/ You can count on me if you stumble and fall" - underlies much of Adam's music. Although the "long haul" seems to refer mainly to political struggle in this song, it could serve as a metaphor for a number of things, including marriage, friendship, or any lasting relationship.

Stylistically Adam might be compared to Greek-American singer Nana Mouskouri. Both are controlled vocalists who emphasize lyrics and melody. Both produce non-offensive, easy-listening music.

Adam's previous recordings, all on the Pleiades Label, include:"MargieAdam, Songwriter" (1976); "Naked Keys" (1980); "We Shall Go Forth!" (1982); and "Here is a Love Song" (1983).

-William Shea

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