Beth Orton-Central Reservation

The third album from this English singer songwriter. From 1999 this is another one I bought on cassette then. This is a 2022 reissue on two records. This is the first time listening to it since I bought it in November at the store in Bloomsburg. She is backed by Ted Barnes who plays most of the string instruments on her early records. Guest stars include Ben Harper, David Roback, Ben Watt, Dr. John and David Friedman who plays vibes on “Pass In Time” A reservation in England is a grassy island in the middle of a road what we might call a boulevard here in the states. A favorite of mine she has a distinctive voice and way of singing. So many singers sound the same. Around ’03 or ’04 I got an MP3 player and started downloading songs from one of those file sharing sites. Napster was gone by then. I think one site I u sed was Limewire. I downloaded about twelve or fifteen of her songs and played them a lot back then. The MP3 player became obsolete in 2008 when I discovered Bit Torrents where you could download a whole album instead of a song and then burn it to a CD. Anyway, I haven’t heard that playlist in over 15 years so some of these songs bring back memories. “Stolen Car”, “Central Reservation”, “Love Like Laughter”, “Devil Song” and “Pass In Time” were all on that MP3 player back then. Four of those songs are on a USB I listen to in my car and the tablet I would listen to at work. I must admit I had an emotional moment after listening to “Pass In Time” for the first time in 15 years. It’s a sad and beautiful song about the death of her mother with background vocals by Terry Collier. She recorded three songs with him, the other two are on her Best Bit EP. Her Daybreaker album I listened to a few years ago in the countdown. I have CDs of Trailer Park and Best Bit. I have seen vinyl editions of Trailer Park and will buy that one day.

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