Mary Fahl Releases Infectious Covers Album
The former October Project vocalist interprets 10 tracks that make up her musical DNA on "Can't Get It Out of My Head."
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. If you subscribe to this newsletter, chances are pretty good that you grew up listening to music. Any of us who did would typically have several songs we heard throughout our childhoods that have stuck with us our whole lives. Those are the songs that informed and augmented our music fandom and the ones we know by heart.
But not all of us get to pick out 10 of our favorites, record our own versions, and release them on an album. This week, I spoke with someone who recently did just that. If you’re not familiar with the name Mary Fahl, you may be aware of her work as the vocalist for October Project, which turned out two excellent albums in the mid-1990s. Fahl’s Can’t Get It Out of My Head collection of covers dropped on July 22 and is worth your time.
Here’s the story.
If you’re looking for an album that’s good for your soul during these ongoing uncertain times, you need look no further than Mary Fahl’s new collection of classic covers, Can’t Get It Out of My Head. The former October Project singer grew up listening to the record collections of her older siblings and developed a wide variety of tastes, from stripped-down folk to layered progressive rock and everything in between. Ten of the songs that became part of her musical DNA have been somewhat reimagined to various degrees, recorded, and placed together on an album that came out July 22 on RIMAR Records.
From ELO, to the Rolling Stones, to Neil Young, to Judy Collins, Can’t Get It Out of My Head has something for everyone, with songs spanning from 1966 (“Got a Feelin’” by The Mamas and the Papas) to 1979 (“Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd). The bulk of the songs covered were originally released between 1966 and 1970. “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd is the great outlier, with a release date just a couple of months shy of 1980. In between are a pair of 1974 songs — the title track by the Electric Light Orchestra and “The Great Valerio” by Richard and Linda Thompson. These songs largely reflect the early tracks to which Fahl gravitated while very young.
“I was lucky that I was a little kid in the sixties, and I had siblings that were much older than me — in their teens,” Fahl said. “They had great record collections. Each one had sort of their own individual tastes. So, my sister Joan was 16 when I was a very little girl and she had all the great female singers of the sixties that I used to sing along with up in her big, beautiful bedroom. I’d sing along with Petula Clark while my sister was getting ready for dates, and sing along with Dusty Springfield.
“My oldest brother was the folkie in the house, so it was tons of Tom Paxton. That Ramblin’ Boy Tom Paxton record is in my DNA. I listened to that so many times. He had Peter, Paul & Mary and lots of Judy Collins. And then my other brother was the more rock and roll, prog kind of guy. He had the ‘boy music’ in the house. I would sing along with all of these records, so it was a mish-mosh of styles.”
She added to her musical palette in her teen years through an interest in musical theater and she discovered British folk music as well. The first single she ever bought — “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones — is a song she chose to perform on her new record. There’s also a selection on it from the first album that made a big impression on her, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears by The Mamas and the Papas.
“The first overall record that just hit me as the most beautiful thing I ever heard was the first Mamas and the Papas record,” she said. “That just washed over me. It was just pure sonic ear candy. That was the first album that just wowed me.”
Fahl’s song choices for her new record were intentional. Having lost both her mother and her sister recently, the singer turned to her musical comfort food — the songs of her youth. In addition to finding songs that mattered to her, the message was important. Each song held its own reason for selection, but an uplifting or powerful message or feeling was an important factor. This is most lyrically overt on songs like George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness” and Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down.”
“I’ve always liked songs that have powerful messages in them without being preachy. You walk a fine line there,” Fahl said.
Rather than doing note-for-note recreations, Fahl said it was important to bring something of herself into each song. While none of the songs stray miles from the originals, they all bring something uniquely Mary Fahl with them. That might be just the way she turns a lighter sounding song like “Got a Feelin’” by The Mamas and the Papas” — the B-side from the “Monday Monday” single — into a more haunting version.
In addition to being one of the album’s highlights (for me, at least), ELO’s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” provides a clever album title. These songs are among those that Fahl literally cannot get out of her head. The classic from ELO’s Eldorado album leads off the record with a simple acoustic guitar chord progression before Fahl’s deep, rich, voice takes center stage. Mark Doyle’s production, combined with some simple keyboards, strings from a chamber ensemble, and Fahl’s distinctive vocals and phrasing, give the song a cinematic feel — and cinematic is what Fahl does best. Film and television producers should be knocking down Fahl’s door to use her version of “Can’t Get It Out of My Head.”
“I’m a seventies girl, so I love ELO and I make no bones about it,” Fahl said. “This was a song that used to play on the jukebox at the Catholic high school cafeteria. I hated that place. I was miserably unhappy and lonely there. So, I used to put a quarter in and listen to (the ELO song). It would transport me out of there. It’s just watery and magical and I’ve always wanted to record it.”
Fahl’s version of “Ruby Tuesday” lets the string section shine, particularly in the bridge. Doyle, who plays everything but drums and strings on the record, did a masterful job of conducting the chamber ensemble and arranging the songs in a way that properly showcases Fahl’s vocals and gives her songs that cinematic feel. The bridge of Fahl’s “Ruby Tuesday” is an album highlight for me and springing for real strings rather than relying on plugins makes all the difference. Fahl’s version retains the Baroque pop feel of the Stones’ original while still adding some new flavors to the mix.
The album stays stuck on Tuesday after the Rolling Stones song with a gorgeous version of “Tuesday Afternoon” by the Moody Blues. There is tremendous depth in the countless layered backing vocals, which includes some chanting of an Indian astrological phrase.
“We almost didn’t do that song,” Fahl said of the Moodies’ classic. “I always loved ‘Tuesday Afternoon,’ but I was not convinced of that bridge. It sounded silly when I was singing it. I said, ‘I’m feeling like I want something powerful and dark underneath.’ I’m very into Vedic astrology, which is the astrology of India. One of the things that’s part of Vedic astrology is these mantras, chants that you do. You are chanting to the planetary lords that rule over particular days. So, I thought, ‘Let me see what the chant is for Mars, the ruler of Tuesday.’”
Fahl found the mantra suitable for the song and got her voice as deep and low as she could go, putting the chant underneath while doubling it, tripling it, etc. She brought out something unique in the song’s bridge.
Nick Drake’s “River Man” follows the Tuesday songs. Doyle’s piano and Fahl’s vocals carry the day on this track and give it a deep, rich sound. Listening, on gets a sense of the song being bigger (somehow) than it is.
“That may be my favorite song (on the record),” Fahl said. “From the first time I heard that song as a teenager, I thought, ‘One day I would love to record that song.’ Just one of my all-time favorites. It’s so hauntingly beautiful.”
After the previously mentioned Mamas and the Papas song, Fahl gives her take on Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down,” from After the Gold Rush.
“I learned how to play guitar to a lot of Neil Young songs,” Fahl said, with her fandom evident with every word. “I played that album so many times, I mainlined it, basically. I love that record. I had to sing that song. I just had to.”
Fahl took on the iconic “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd next. It’s not her first foray into bravely taking on Pink Floyd’s most classic material. She previously reimagined the entirety of the band’s Dark Side of the Moon album on her solo release, From the Dark Side of the Moon.
“Comfortably Numb” is the kind of song that is so ingrained in the public consciousness that it would be easy to screw up when bringing something new to it, but Fahl manages to avoid that misstep. Her phrasing of the verses devolves into “speak-singing” (in her words) at times. She changed the cadence of some of the lines as well. Fahl’s version retains the atmosphere of the Pink Floyd classic, but hers sounds somehow more ominous (in a good way) and Doyle does a more-than-credible job on his understated take on David Gilmour’s iconic guitar solo.
“I wanted to keep everything within a sort of late sixties/early seventies time frame, but I love Pink Floyd and I had to do it,” Fahl said, discussing this song being further removed chronologically from the other covers on the record. “There’s probably many more Pink Floyd songs that I will cover someday.”
After the mellow progressive rock of “Comfortably Numb,” Fahl goes back to her folkier side with her take on Judy Collins’ “Since You’ve Asked” from the folk icon’s Wildflowers album. The cover version starts with drum, bass, and piano rather than the flute and acoustic guitar of the original. Fahl’s deeper voice gives her version a more haunting quality than the original, and astute listeners might notice another twist.
“We did it in a different time signature than she does it,” Fahl said. “It’s a beautifully written song. I had to do a song of Judy’s because she was a really big influence on me.”
My favorite track on the record is Fahl’s take on George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness.” The music fluctuates in intensity, building to louder crescendos and then softening again. Doyle’s guitar is simpler than Harrison’s original and the strings do much of the heavy lifting.
“George was my favorite (Beatle),” Fahl said. “It was one of the few times Mark and I had push/pull. Mark wanted to put in more of the Harrison-esque guitar flourishes — a little bit of that slide, Beatles-sounding, and I said, ‘We have to de-Harrison this thing. De-Beatle it, because I want to make it my own,’ and I always felt that a bigger crescendo at the end would serve the message of that song. I had a heavy hand in the arrangement of that.”
The record closes with a song I wasn’t quite as aware of, in Richard and Linda Thompson’s “The Great Valerio.” It’s the most gothic and darkest sounding song on the record, and an interesting song to include.
“That’s one of my all-time favorites and I felt, again, that that was a very timely song — a haunting meditation on fame,” Fahl said. “That one we had to take away from the Richard and Linda feel and that very idiosyncratic Richard Thompson guitar playing. So, I decided to make it a keyboard song, and then Mark just does this amazing outro. He surprised me with that. He just got all sort of carnival-esque at the end and sort of pipe organ-y, and it’s so perfect. I just love it.”
Me too.
The entire record offers numerous surprises — in some of the song selections, arrangements, vocal phrasing, tone, and instrumentation. At the same time, these are familiar and comfortable songs that hit the sweet spot of your memory and take you back to simpler and more innocent times.
Those who enjoy great songs, performed well, will find lots to love in Mary Fahl’s Can’t Get It Out of My Head.
Learn more about Mary and her music at MaryFahl.com or find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and yes, even Tiktok!
Tracklist:
Can’t Get It Out of My Head (Electric Light Orchestra)
Ruby Tuesday (The Rolling Stones)
Tuesday Afternoon (Moody Blues)
River Man (Nick Drake)
Got a Feelin’ (The Mamas and the Papas)
Don’t Let It Bring You Down (Neil Young)
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Since You’ve Asked (Judy Collins)
Beware of Darkness (George Harrison)
The Great Valerio (Richard & Linda Thompson)
To see the entire interview with Mary Fahl, check out the video below or download Episode 71 of the Michael’s Record Collection podcast on any major podcast platform (Apple, Google, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, Goodpods, Podchaser, etc.). In addition to talking about the songs and the making of this album, Mary talked about her musical origin story, her love of Pink Floyd, her influences, how she got dragged back into music after giving it up (and taking up gardening), how she ended up writing a song for an Anne Rice audiobook, and more.
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