I Have A Dream
CHRISTINE DUNCAN & BOB MURPHY
Independant
Produced by Christine Duncan & Bob Murphy
Recorded at Cypress Street Studio, Vancouver
Mixed at Blue Wave Studios, Vancouver
by Perry Barrett
Mastered by Patric Caird
A song is really a song when it shines stripped bare to its elemental components. Christine Duncan is the voice, Bob Murphy is her accompanyist, together they 'pitch' their songs to you in the basic unit used by writers and purveyors of song before the dread invention of the 'demo' tape.
In the early days of the recorded era, which coincides with the era of the Broadway Musical and the Hollywood film, if you had a song, you pitched it directly to the producer, walked in with your accompanyist, who would sit down at the piano (every producer's studio had a piano in those days) and then you sang!
That basic delivery is what this album is all about. These are not 'demos', these tracks are 'alive' in the best tradition that recorded music can possibly boast: Christine and Bob and a folder full of enchanting songs, some proven, some tremulously new, waiting to be discovered.
I've heard the two artists live and they are every bit as good in concert as they are here, where the program begins with a 'proven': Lerner and Lowe's I've Grown Accustomed To Your Smile, moves on to Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You? before Christine begins the first of the four originals, all co-writes written by the Duncan/Murphy 'team', in the set.
Actually, it is Murphy who begins... probing with a riff, suspending a chord, suggesting a rhythm... The title of the song is A Cold Dawn, and the magic, already created on the 'provens', continues...
The second original, I Have A Dream is a gem! Duncan's phrasing: "I Have A Dream... I can drift away... at night... and watch it while I sleep..." drifts in and out of Murphy's keyboard mosaic. Together they weave a captivating dreamweb, which tranquillizes in the first verse and then enervates in the second, where the lyric changes from "I had a dream" to "Open my eyes, so that I can take a look around... At what is really happening..."
The lyrics tackle the issue of the "cold and glaring world", expressing a desire to "give a little hope... To someone who needs to find a better way..." No escapism here.
This is a standout performance, even more slimmed-down than The Holly Cole Trio but on the same wavelength. Christine Duncan has the discipline and the soul to sing these demanding jazz melodies. The act passes the audition! I found myself mentally applauding as the set swung next into Body And Soul.
There are more familiar notes. A devastating The Man I Love, a very presentable Georgia On My Mind and It Doesn't Matter To Me. But by this time, if you're at all like I was the first time around, you will be waiting for the originals, for the sense of discovery you enjoy when hearing excellence for the first time.
The set ends on the fourth new song, Another Time, setting that psychological hook, hinting that there will indeed be more meetings between audience and performer. This is a splendid team of post-modern songsmiths, who jazz up their act without any added special effects whatsoever.