Butterfly Marcia Howard
BEAT Magazine
Butterfly
Marcia Howard's first solo release 'Butterfly' represented a long-awaited solo debut from one of Australia's best-loved female voices. Renowned for her stunning vocal harmony work with her brother Shane Howard and Rose Bygrave in the legendary band Goanna, her singing and songwriting developed further for the 1998 Goanna project 'Spirit Returns' (ABC/Universal) where Marcia displayed a passionate and heartfelt appreciation of social and political issues.
Marcia's song 'Sorry', for example, is a heartfelt lament for the 'stolen' generations. (Amongst other luminaries, Stephen Cooney's wonderful production and musicianship, and Ireland's Liam O'Maonlai contributed to this recording). Her song 'Angel full of Grace' (Spirit Returns - Goanna & Best of sea Change - Various Artists, ABC/EMI) features twice on the highly acclaimed and much-loved series Seachange.
The Warrnambool Standard, Review
FORMER Goanna member Marcia Howard wowed Port Fairy folk festival audiences with a set filled with tracks from her Celtic-flavoured follow-up to Butterfly. Produced by legendary ex-pat Australian Steve Cooney, the CD was recorded mostly in Ireland. The album is a diverse effort that somehow mixes Celtic sounds with Nashville tinges and Howard's Australian folk-pop songwriting.
One of the showstoppers at Port Fairy was "Lonely For Love", a gorgeously simple-but-effective bluesy torch ballad, reminiscent of the sirens' song from the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou". There is a familiarity in the material that catches the ear on the first listen without sounding derivative. "Stonewall" touches on "Stand By Me", not just in its chord progression, but also in its theme of 'a shelter in a raging wind'.
The instrumental closing track "Caoineadh Cholmille" sounds like a traditional piece of Irish music history, despite being written in recent years. Elsewhere there is the gospelly "Angel Full Of Grace", the lush vocals of the Celtic "I Don't Mind" and the country skip along of "Like A Girl Again".
Lyrically Howard is as strong as ever and is not afraid to use other people's words, notably William Blake on "Poison Tree". Matt Neal, Warrnambool Standard
Blarney Bulletin - Review
Marcia Howard's second solo album Burning in the Rain is a treat. Produced in Ireland and featuring some of the best talents that the country has to offer, this record signals Marcia's growing stature as an international performer and songwriter. The 12 tracks include Poison Tree (with Mary Black), Angel Full of Grace (featured in the Seachange series), Donovan's Catch the Wind, and Marcia's tribute to the Stolen Generations, Sorry. Produced by Steve Cooney, Burning in the Rain features Mary Black, Kevin Burke, Steve Cooney, Pat Crowley, Eamon de Barra, Maria Doyle-Kennedy, Laoise Kelly, Conor McKeon, Una Ni Chanainn, Triona Ni Dhomhnaill, Tim O'Brien, Odhran O Casaide, Bill Shanley and Jeff White. This is a superbly crafted record and a "must-have" in any decent music collection.
Kevin McCarthy, May edition 2004
