Description
Mangle the Tango is the seventh studio album by the American singer and songwriter Pam Mark Hall, crowdfunded through a GoFundMe campaign and independently released by Hall on Exhuma Records in August 2017. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Roy Salmond of Salmond & Mulder fame at his studio in Vancouver, Canada; April 24 through May 18th 2017, with Pam Mark Hall co-producing. A companion book entitled Mangle The Tango: It’s Better to Fall then to Never Dance at All was published simultaneously as well.
Includes guest appearances by two members of Peter, Paul and Mary – Noel Paul Stookey who is featured with duet vocals on “Joy Runs Deep” and Peter Yarrow who is featured on a cover of his classic “The Very Last Day” – as well as Bruce Cocburn who plays guitar and sings on a cover of his 1974-classic “All the Diamonds“.
Before Kari Jobe, before Rebecca St. James, before Amy Grant, Pam Mark Hall was creating beautiful acoustic music in the vein of Joni Mitchell or Linda Ronstadt on mid-70s albums like ‘Flying‘ and ‘This Is Not a Dream‘, while writing for Grant and others. Hall has turned her attention to other pursuits more recently, with sporadic recordings like the well-received ‘Paler Shade‘ in 1993, and performing with Jerry Chamberlain (Daniel Amos) as Pamelita and Parker. She returns now with something to say about the future. Mortality seems to be on her mind, judging from the album cover depicting a dance with the shroud of death and lyrics like “Whistling past the graveyard ghost so I don’t hear him speak” («How Do You Know»). Bruce Cockburn accompanies her on vocals and guitar for his 1974 song «All the Diamonds», while Peter Yarrow joins her to render Peter, Paul, and Mary’s 1963 apocalyptic track «The Very Last Day». The title track, «Perfectly Imperfect», and «Falling Forward» show a woman coming to grips with her limitations and failures. Instrumentation sticks to a classic soul and pop country mix of acoustic piano and guitar flavored with electric leads, harmonica, and Hammond organ. Hall’s vocals, throatier and raspier than before, have lost none of their ability to convey her heart. [Robert Berman, Worship Musician, October 2017]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/mangle-the-tango/1276391638)
CD tracklist:
01. Mangle the Tango – 4:56
02. Fall Forward – 4:00
03. How Do You Know/Cobalt Blue – 5:09
04. Perfectly Imperfect – 4:12
05. Chop Wood, Carry Water – 4:30
06. Help Me Papa – 4:31
07. Joy Runs Deep (feat. Noel Paul Stookey) – 4:45
08. Harriet Tubman – 5:18
09. The Very Last Day (feat. with Peter Yarrow) – 4:10
10. Solitude – 4:22
11. All the Diamonds (feat. with Bruce Cockburn) – 3:51
Note: Pam Mark Hall did also publish a Mangle the Tango companion book entitled Mangle The Tango: It’s Better to Fall then to Never Dance at All featuring the lyrics, stories (some background, what and who inspired her to write the songs), as well as paintings inspired by the lyrics of her songs.
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