Artist: Bell, Maggie
Label: Atlantic Records
Released: 1974
Maggie Bell is probably an unknown name to most music fans, closely tied to a character-packed, purely vocal flirtation with the motifs of Black musical-artistic expression that white folks adopted as their own: soul, gospel and, of course, blues. But that’s far from all! Glasgow-born, the first lady of British blues is really an uncompromising, untamable force of a woman, whose voice was long considered the only real alternative to the immortal Janis Joplin. And not without reason. Her anything-but-angelic voice is a shocking mix of the influences mentioned above, an honest-to-goodness atomic accelerator of emotionally charged particles, where the strong sensuality of her delivery leads the way throughout.
By the time this album came out in 1974, Maggie Bell was stepping into her twenty-ninth year. The experience she’d gathered earlier in Power and Stone The Crows had hardened her into a solo artist brimming with great expectations and feelings, and determined to walk her own path on her own terms. Her debut Queen Of The Night sounds just like that, with Maggie serving up confident, wildly varied vocal acrobatics that don’t shy away from showing off her own mood swings, from the funk-driven Cado Queen all the way to the intimate Trade Winds, which deliberately gives us the feeling of pleasant mental drift, like the ambience of some night club. A Woman Left Lonely, the inimitable bluesy/soul perfection of an old rival (and, above all, certainly her great role model) Janis Joplin, and Souvenirs quickly show just how sensitive our Scottish friend can be. A charming, almost Free-esque ambience wafts in from the background of both tender numbers, so perfectly rounded off with shades of melancholy and sorrow courtesy of none other than Paul Rodgers. Next comes a sharp mood swing in the form of the Latin-tinged After Midnight. The track is without a doubt the album’s biggest surprise, and its convincing interpretation, with a generous tip of the hat to the work of J. J. Cale, kills two birds with one stone. Maggie fired up is definitely hot, and her determination leaves little room for doubt. The compact blues standard As The Years Go Passing By only confirms the earlier claims about the frightening range of her voice. Her expression hits a peak of its own with Oh My My, Yesterday’s Music and the meaningful We Had It All, which wrap up in the best possible way this sensational document of one of the finest female voices in music history.
Queen Of The Night is yet another one of those musical gems you’ll hunt for in vain in local shops, however specialized, never mind the barnyard-minded selection at any of our big retail chains. That’s just the reality here at the foot of the Alps, so all you’re left with is paying a visit to one of the many online music sellers, and for the original packaging, of course, so there’s no mix-up. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
Line-up
Maggie Bell: vocals
Chuck Rainey: guitar
Reggie Young: guitar
Cornel Dupree: guitar
John Hughey: bass
Steve Gadd: drums
Production
Jerry Wexler
Track list
1.Cado Queen
2.A Woman Left Lonely
3.Souvenirs
4.After Midnight
5.Queen Of The Night
6.Oh My My
7.As The Years Go Passing By
8.Yesterdays Music
9.We Had It All
10.Other Side, The
11.Trade Winds
