Imelda May - Dealing with the Devil - Non-Album Tracks (2002-2006)

Imelda May is a great talent, and I plan to post a lot of her music here. She also is a character out of time. She was born and raised in Ireland, where her family listened to lots of music from the 1950s and earlier. So even though she got her career rolling in the early 2000s when she was still in her mid-20s, for most of her career her music sounds like lost recordings from the 1950s or earlier. Heck, look at the album cover here - she even looks like a star from an earlier era.

I love Imelda May because she's got a fantastic voice, and also is a talented songwriter. Since the 1980s, the likes of Whitney Houston and Celine Dion have made oversinging all the rage, especially for female vocalists, where one shows off vocal gymnastics instead of doing what best suits the song. The musical "America's Got Talent" type TV shows have made this misuse of talent even more popular. Thankfully, May never oversings.

The music on this album mostly dates to 2004. At that time, May was an unknown, and she got started by latching onto musicians who already had recording contracts. So three of the songs here are from albums headlined by rockabilly artist Darrel Higham (who would become her husband and band member for many years). But more of the songs come from the 2004 album "Almost Grown" by Mike Sanchez, who has a long career as an R&B artist. Sanchez is definitely musically talented, but unfortunately I find his voice utterly ordinary, while I find May's voice exceptional. Sanchez is the lead singer on seven of the album's songs, and May is the lead singer on the other seven (including one in which they both sing). I simply included the May-led songs only.

At this stage, May was doing nearly all cover songs, mostly rockabilly, but also soul and R&B. Later on, she would develop into a songwriter and expand her musical range. But if you want retro rock, a la the Stray Cats, this is as good as it gets, in my opinion.

By the way, the song "Dealing with the Devil" can also be found on the 2003 Imelda May album "No Turning Back," but this is a live version done with a different band. If you like this album, I highly recommend you get that one too. It's very little known because it was done well before May became famous (unfortunately in Ireland and Britain only, so far), back when she was known by her birth name Imelda Clabby.

Oh, and "Drown in My Own Tears" is on a different album also ("Talk to Me"), but this too is a live version done with a different band.

This album is 36 minutes long.

01 Dealing with the Devil (Darrel Higham with Imelda May)
02 Stop Whistlin' Wolf (Darrel Higham with Imelda May)
03 Let the Good Times Roll (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
04 Voodoo Voodoo (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
05 I'll Go Crazy (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
06 If I Can't Have You (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
07 Matchbox (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
08 Easy Easy (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
09 My Man (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
10 Drown in My Own Tears (Mike Sanchez & Imelda May)
11 Temptation (Darrel Higham with Imelda May)
12 Do What I Want to Do (Imelda May)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15845322/ImeldaM_2004_DealingwiththeDvil_atse.zip.html

This cover is based on a photo from the early 2000s.