Maria McKee - Late December

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Maria's last album, roots-orientated 'Peddlin' Dreams', was a bit too low key for many fans' tastes but this new set recalls all the old energy of those gone-but-not-forgotten rockers Lone Justice. Maria is still one of the music scene's great eclectics and here she performs blue-eyed soul, belting rock and on "One Eye On The Sky" sounds like a cross between Patti Cross and Jim Steinman. My favourite track is "A Good Heart" which when its Motown-style stomping rhythms were played on Rimmerama recently had Mike Rimmer enthusing that he had to buy a copy. There is some rock opera on "Destine" which the publicist describes as "a kind of punk rock homage to Queen" while the song Maria wrote some 20 odd years back, "A Good Heart" (once a hit for Feargal Sharkey) is still a great song. This is Maria's best album for years and here's hoping that having returned to creative form, on future albums she still can find time to acknowledge the divine source of her creativity.