Malediction And Prayer

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Galás remains one of the most extraordinary singers on the planet; if her astonishing technique, demonstrated across her own and others' records for almost two decades now, has had less influence than it might have (less than, say, Patti Smith or even Kim Gordon) that's surely because it is the product of an albeit ferocious virtuosity. The outward impenetrability of much of her music, not to mention her aggressive outspokenness have also helped keep her unknown to all but a loyal following (does anyone remember that brief outbreak of correspondence in Time Out following her opinions about the wearing of AIDS awareness red ribbons?) This album could prove an easier jumping on point for DG neophytes: a series of songs sung to her own piano accompaniment, among them covers of Phil Ochs and Son House and Galas' own settings of Baudelaire and Pasolini. Galás' talent for finding the emotional rawness at the heart of even the best known songs is unparalleled; Malediction And Prayer is, of course "difficult" stuff, but no more, in truth than the psychodramas of Robert Johnson. Diamanda Galás: one of our own times' only true blues singers.