Label: Rounder Records (US), 1166100073
Style: Hard Rock, Folk Rock
Country: Seattle, Washington, U.S. (June 19, 1950)
Time: 19:49
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 122 Mb
Now
that Heart’s big ticket commercial days have passed thanks to changing
tastes, the demands on Ann Wilson’s time aren’t as great as before. This
has allowed the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and legendary
singer/songwriter the opportunity to explore avenues perhaps not open to
her during the band’s commercial heyday. One expression of these
alternate avenues is her releases under The Ann Wilson Thing banner. The
second of these, Focus #2, picks up where the first left off, in some
respects. Wilson uses these brief releases, seemingly, as a way of
promoting her continued growth and work as a songwriting while paying
creative tribute to artists that shaped her into the performer she is
today. On the latest four song EP, Ann Wilson bravely goes after Jimi
Hendrix and Peter Gabriel with outstanding imagination and more than a
little passion while providing longtime admirers with two exceptional
original compositions co-written with her guitarist Craig Bartok.
The
Hendrix cover kicks things off. Wilson and her band take a deliciously
rough and tumble approach to Hendrix’s “Manic Depression”, but naturally
it fits the song well and gives the band a spark of spontaneity that
makes its position as the opener quite charged. It’s difficult to
imagine the release getting off to a better start than this. It’s one of
two live performances on the release and the audience’s wildly
enthusiastic response adds much to the raucous atmosphere. “Fighten fer
Life” is a much different animal. Wilson and her collaborators settle
things down into a gentle acoustic vehicle that she imbues with
considerable melodic and vocal grace. The lyrical content is quite
sharp. Alternating the first song with a much more sedate follow up
might seem like a no brainer, but it’s difficult to estimate the
positive effect such decisions have on listeners.
The EP’s second
cover, this time of Peter Gabriel’s duet with Kate Bush “Don’t Give Up”,
is an exquisite reading of one of the 1980’s great ballads. The immense
sensitivity of Gabriel’s songwriting is pared to the bone here and the
resulting raw, emotional arrangement is perfect fodder for Wilson’s
extraordinary gifts. She inhabits this track like no other on the EP and
her outing will stay in the memory long after you hear it for the first
time. The final song, “Anguish”, is the more affecting of the EP’s two
originals and that’s primarily thanks to the all-out approach Wilson
takes to its vocal. Make no mistake, however – she never strains for
effect. Instead, she serves up a searing clinic on blues singing by
simply listening and living in the song.
It’s the crowning
achievement on an EP that doesn’t observe its station in life well. This
is a hard gut punch reminder that, even now in 2016, few singers are
consistently doing it better than Ann Wilson, but the two originals make
it even clearer that her talents are far from confined to her mic.
Focus #2 finds her in full focus and impossible to deny.
(musicexistence.com/blog/2016/08/25/the-ann-wilson-thing-focus-2-ep/)
01. Manic Depression (03:42)
02. Fighten For Life (04:24)
03. Don't Give Up (07:17)
04. Anguish (04:25)
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