Margo Price
That’s How Rumours Get Started (Deluxe Version)
Loma Vista recordings
An Intriguing Pot-Pourri of Extra Musical Bits and Bobs Added to Original Release
Having reviewed the original release a couple of years back, this review of the re-release is focusing mainly on the bonus tracks – all eight of them, which increases the track count by 80%, so purely in numerical terms for completist fans of Margo it’s worth getting.
Of the eight extra tracks, five are co-writes with husband Jeremy Ivey and three are covers.
“Goin’ to the Country” the first of the co-writes is somewhat more Countrified than the body of the original release, featuring fiddle and banjo – it’s not too difficult to see why it didn’t fit into the original release in that way, which had more of a Fleetwood Mac vibe.
Next up, “Long Live the King” is a soulful homage to both Elvis Presley and Martin Luther King that had a single release recently.
Lyrically it’s a bit unsophisticated and despite a lovely Memphis horn backing, it’s fairly clear why it didn’t make the cut as part of the album – it’s very much a one-off, not quite, but almost a ‘novelty song’.
First cover is Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” – Whitney Rose has been covering this in her set for a few years – and Price’s version is a bit more emotionally controlled than Whitney’s; both vocally and in terms of the backing.
Back to the Price/Ivey co-writes; “Hitman” is a gentle Latin flavoured tune that bizarrely reminds me of something off Altered Images’ “Bite” album – that was almost certainly not what Margo had in mind when she wrote it I presume.
Price has sometimes been compared to Bobbie Gentry in the past; and it’s an interesting listen to hear Price’s take on Gentry’s “He Made a Woman Out of Me”.
Country-soul organ and a scorching vocal make this one of the highlights of these bonus takes to my ears. T
he Ivey/Price song “Later On” features The Band of Heathens and Nicki Bluhm, yet sounds less full than its list of participants suggests, being an uncluttered drum/piano/bass and backing vocal, laid-back affair that sounds more West Coast than the other tracks it finds itself amongst – and more than any of the bonus tracks, might have squeezed into the original release.
Back to the covers and “You’re No Good” is the song that most will probably know from the Dee Dee Warwick and Linda Ronstadt versions.
Price’s take is a competent, gritty Country-Soul run-through, before the final bonus track, “Better Than Nothin’” a catchy brisk waltz.
Taken individually and as a whole, it’s quite clear to see and hear the reasons why these extra tracks weren’t suited to the original release – stylistically and musically they all have merit though; and provide a pot-pourri of extras to fans of Margo Price and add great value for anyone who didn’t buy the album first time around.
PLUS …..
Margo Price’s first book, Maybe We’ll Make It: A Memoir, will be released on October 4th, 2022, by the University of Texas Press. “It’s a love story about loyalty, loss, grief and forgiveness,” says Price. “It’s about finding freedom from substance abuse and addiction and fighting for the freedom to be myself in the music business.”
Released May 8th 2022
Review by Nick Barber
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