Fahl, Mary: Can’t Get It Out Of My Head

Mary Fahl is a singer/songwriter and founder of the New York City based October Project, a mid ‘90s chamber pop band which I am unfamiliar with. They broke up after a few albums and since then Fahl has focused on her solo career. In 2022 Fahl released Can’t Get It Out Of My Head, a selection of cover tunes that have inspired and influenced her as an artist. There are certainly some classics here, a rather bold move for any artist to tackle. Fahl does spin her own take, her vocals very lush, lots of acoustic guitar and quality string arrangements.

She does admirable renditions of ELO’s “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head�, The Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday�, and The Moody Blues’ “Tuesday Afternoon�. Her vocals make these tracks easy to listen to and the string arrangements are nice, but at first glance this might seem like an easy listening session, rather than a rock excursion. I suppose that isn’t all bad as these arrangements are certainly different than the originals and Fahl’s vocals are an album highlight. The original poignancy of these tracks remains. Next is Nick Drake’s “River Man� which incidentally, I have not heard, and I do like this one quite a lot. It’s just a bit quirky and a nice chamber pop song with Fahl’s lovely, layered vocals. A couple of other notables are Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb� and George Harrison’s “Beware Of Darkness�. Both succeed in delivering the dark atmosphere of the originals and Fahl’s pitch perfect vocals flow effortlessly and the guitar work in both tracks is quite nice.

After I listened to this album a couple times it did start to grow on me. Do I like these versions better, well no but that would be a huge ask! This is a nice album, very lush and mellow, and certainly exemplifies the artist’s strong points. A solid three stars.

Track Listing:
1. Can’t Get It Out Of My Head
2. Ruby Tuesday
3. Tuesday Afternoon
4. River Man
5. Got A Feelin’
6. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
7. Comfortably Numb
8. Since You’ve Asked
9. Beware Of Darkness
10. The Great Valerio

Added: February 19th 2024
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 200
Language: english

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