Pat Carey – “To Start Again”

So, Pat Carey or Patricia Carey is an Irish-American opera singer with a very famous daughter, with a very well known Christmas song – yes, Pat Carey is none other than the mother of Mariah Carey – and in 1977, she released this album on the U.U. Record label, so here we go.

and we open with something called “Quote” and goes into “Die Himmel Rihman” she begins to sing in her operatic voice, and well, opera is definitely not my thing. Hey, it was recorded live. From there we go onto “Stabat Mater” and although, I’m not a big opera fan, I do enjoy the singing and her little spoken parts in between each of the songs, explaining where they are from and who wrote them. “Have You Reckon’d” comes next followed by a spoken introduction by Pat, and you know, she does do the opera thing very, very well, this just wasn’t what I was expecting on this one. “All This Much” follows – and with no spoken introduction. She goes right into it, belting out those high operatic notes. We go onto “L’habanera” and I feel like this one I’ve heard, and she delivers it well, and the piano accompaniment is nice. We end the A-Side with the title track “To Start Again“, which is accompanied by an acoustic guitar as Pat sings, but not in her traditional opera voice, she delivers an amazing closing track to the A-Side, and delivers these vocals beautifully. Honestly, a great track to close the A-Side, I do wish the whole album was like this.

The B-Side opens with a cover of a Joni Mitchell song, “Both Sides Now“, though she does sing it really low, and even at a high volume I struggle to hear it, but she does seem to do it well, hitting some high notes on this one, delivering a beautiful opening track to the B-Side. I liked it, and so did the crowd. “Morning Has Broken” comes next, and it sounds like the whole audience is singing along with Mrs. Carey, and it’s not a bad song, nor a bad album, she is a very talented woman. Next we go onto the song “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar and Pat goes back into her mix of folk style singing mixed with her traditional operatic high notes. She goes on to sing “I Loved” by Jacques Brel, and continues to give brilliant vocals on her album, this album progressively has gotten better the more it has gone on. Next we go onto “Somewhere” from West Side Story, but first a spoken introduction by Pat, it does make me wonder how she’d sound singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” I feel like she could really do that song some justice. We do get a mix of more operatic vocals over her traditional folk sounding vocals. She finally closes her album with a Gaelic Blessing – and it’s not bad, all in all it’s been a pretty good album.

Catalog Number:
GCS-249/250

Credits:
Accompanist – Bob Wochinger
Recorded at the U.U. Fellowship, Huntington N.Y.
Photography by E. Te Bordo A. Scolnick, B. Musso
Silent Partner – Whisper (Cover)
Recorded by the Syntrax Sound Studio

Related Vinyls:

Johnny Cash – “I Walk the Line” Mae West & W.C. Fields – “Side By Side” Al Clouston ‎– “Spinnin’ Yarns From Newfoundland” Hagood Hardy – “The Homecoming”