Mary-Anne Paterson's rare 1970
Me album is a nice British folk recording that, while grounded in traditional acoustic material, avoids stiffness in its execution, though it's delivered with a fairly restrained, reverent tone.
Paterson has a high voice that should appeal to fans of British folk of the period, as that genre had so many clear upper-register vocalists in a roughly similar mold, à la Jacqui McShee of
Pentangle and
Judy Dyble of
Fairport Convention/
Trader Horne. Her voice might recall very early
Marianne Faithfull, except that there's somewhat more of a Renaissance-medieval flavor, which carries over in a lesser degree to the material and arrangements. Most of the material is traditional, save for a couple
Paterson originals in "Love Has Gone" and "Reverie for Roslyn," which combines with the stark, slightly echoed production to create a haunting anachronistic atmosphere. It's not an entirely traditional acoustic-guitar-and-voice production, however, with touches of flute throughout the album, and an electric 12-string guitar in "The Water Is Wide" that seems to have wandered in straight off a mid-'60s
Byrds record. "Black Girl" takes an especially eerie jump into near-acid folk, suddenly leaping into a near rave-up where stormily busked guitars and jazzy flutes fight it out with each other while
Paterson's ghostly vocals wail wordlessly in the background. It's not at all typical of most of the album (though it's a highlight), though it occasionally leans very slightly toward singer/songwriter pop, particularly on "Wandering So Far." ~ Richie Unterberger