Review - Frank Ifield “The
Fire Still Burns”
album on ABC through EMI
Frank
Ifield
is a musical icon world-wide. In the late 50s he was “Country when Country
wasn’t cool” and due to that determination and the belief in him from the right
people, he is still a big name wherever he goes. And that name is back with an
album of all-time favourites as well as tunes from aspiring young writers - “The Fire Still Burns” on
ABC through EMI.
The songs are as much Frank as the other styles and sounds I
heard on the record. I must admit I had my misgivings about the album, based on
the single and some of my own prejudices about a name so (too?) long in the
business, but before I knew it the last song had finished and I had hit the
reply button!
Outstanding tunes include Lay Me In Your Arms, with the Spanish
feel and vocal range of a Tony Orlando
hit; A Little Bit of Push, the story
of a man who pursued his dream as told by the mate who laments that while the
dreamer left that job in 1972, the singer is still there; Forgettin About You, the “traditional” cowboy song with the
bass-vocals, all the instrumentation and Frank’s
famous yodel; If Love Must Go, the
next single, by my reckoning, truly highlighting the voice we all know.
He’s been around longer than a good number of
us. And he’s just as likely to pick up a few new fans as remind the old guard
that the soul is still there. But in order to claim an Australian heritage, one
must first start sounding less American. However, “The Fire Still Burns”
indeed! HHH