ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAY 25, 1984
By Steve Newton
It’s been approximately two years since Kate and Anna McGarrigle played Vancouver, their last appearance being an ’82 Orpheum date in support of the critically acclaimed LP Love Over and Over.
But fans of the Montreal-based sisters can catch up on their current sound tomorrow (Saturday) night at the Commodore Ballroom.
Accompanying Kate and Anna on their weekend show will be bassist Pat Donaldson (who has played with Elton John and Paul Simon), guitarist Andrew Cowan, drummer Gordie Adamson, and multi-instrumentalist Chaim Tannenbaum. With the exception of Adamson, all the McGarrigle band members were major contributors to the Love Over and Over album, which also featured Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler on the title track.
As Kate pointed out over the phone last week–before she and Anna hopped a plane for L.A.–the publicizing of that record has kept them fairly busy over the last couple of years.
“That album came out at various times around the world, so every time it came out in a different place we’d go there and promote it. It got a little tedious after a while because they’d say, ‘Oh we love your new album!’, when in fact it was getting kind of old.”
For their next album, which Kate expects to be out by the end of the year, the McGarrigles are making use of synthesizers, and have acquired the services of Laurie Anderson’s producer Roma Baran.
“She’s an old friend of ours from Montreal, so we thought we’d try a new approach.”
But even with a more modern instrumentation in the works, the McGarrigles have far from abandoned their folk roots.
“We cut a couple of French folks songs about six months ago,” says Kate, “and some of them are very interesting sounding. They’re old Cajun tunes, not things that we’ve written, and they were all cut live.
“So we do have tracks filed away within the last year, and when we compile the record it’s whatever makes it sound good that’ll go on.”
And are there plans to make videos, like everybody else seems to be doing these days?
“If there’s money there’s plans. we have to finish the record first and see.
“But it certainly would be fun to do one,” she adds with a chuckle. “If Dean Martin can make one, I guess we can too!”