HEALESVILLE Expatriate Scot singer-songwriter Alex Legg has an advantage over many peers - with seasoned stealth he fires both barrels by sequencing his riveting title track as his entrée. Healesville is a hook heavy belter that enables Legg to daub his powerful imagery with tasty harmonica licks. Unlike some of his peers, the tempo doesn't flag after the entrée - Medicine Cup drips with moving metaphors and Too Many Children is a vibrant vignette on shattered childhood dreams. Sweet Mayo and The Halloween Dance are powerful paeans to nostalgia - although Legg probably didn't arrive in Australia at the whim of an English magistrate. Legg excels with an ambiguity of imagery - especially in Some Old Junk Shop and a dash of redemption in The Mighty Fall. He laces rollicking Upright Song with whimsy and A Passionate Man - melodic melange of Steve Earle's Galway Girl and Johnny Come Lately - with agrarian phosphate. And midst the observations of life there's a romantic tinge in the laid back Cold In The Doorway, replete with Legg on mandolin, and evocative finale Who Are These Strangers. But best song, narrative wise, is He Didn't Know His Daddy (But He Sure Could Rock N Roll) with a Syracuse sting in the tail of the tale. There's shades of Joe Ely and Jerry Lee Lewis in a piano primed melody and Dixie fried imagery "from Texicana to the Blue Bayou." So who can readers use as a yardstick? Well, perhaps Legg's music is a country folk hybrid reminiscent of fellow expatriate Scot Steve Boyd and John Hiatt - David Dawson - Nu Country TV ________________________________________________________________________________ RATING ********** by Mike Rimmer for UK Cross Rhythms Magazine Moving from London to Australia seems to have relit Aberdonian songsmith Alex’s passion. This is his best album yet. Healesville is a small town in Australia and it also inspired Alex Legg that it would make an apt name for a spiritual destination. The title cut is a complete masterpiece with wailing harp and driving beat and inspirational invitation. I have always loved Alex’s gritty, rootsy style and clever lyrics. He’s capable of writing something poignant like “Too Many Children” and reducing you to tears and at the next moment, he'll make you smile with the humorous “The Upright Song” and “He Didn’t Know His Daddy (But He Sure Could Rock’n’Roll”. Mixing together Americana and roots influences, this diverse solo album is right on the money! 10 / 10 ________________________________________________________________________________ Legg's album Healesville is a polished production. Recorded in London with an accomplished band, the driving sound nicely sets off Legg's husky yearning voice (a little reminiscent of Van Morrison, at times uncannily evocative of Peter Gabriel, sometimes hinting at Springsteen). But make no mistake, this musical polish and power is primarily a support for the lyrics. This is a songwriter's album, with the virtue of a far more interesting and musical accompaniment than is common on such albums. The playing is really top notch (especially outstanding and tasteful keyboard work from MD and co-producer Tim Oliver, and the superb drumming from Phil Crabbe) but its best feature is its subtle framing of the vocal and lyric. resident in Melbourne, Legg is an accomplished songwriter, deservedly a finalist in the Port Fairy Songwriting competition. For example, continuing the play on “heal” in the opening song Healesville: "Pictures in the blood-red sand Put there by some ancient hand Am I in the promised land or do I stand A stone's throw out of Healesville" Evocative, powerful without being overplayed, the lyrics extend from an apparently Irish ballad basis out to a wide range of subjects and treatments, from childhood poverty to a sardonically cheery song about drug pushing to a nostalgic ballad about a transported Irish convict, even to an old style rock n roll number, albeit with a characteristic narrative, poetic and lyrical twist (“he was dancing in the alley with his shadow on the wall”). The musical structure of the songs themselves is, as you would expect by now, varied and well-put together. Occasionally I could use a little more melodic variation, but this lack is more that covered by the quality of Legg's voice and delivery. Legg's delivery is confident and well-judged while being seemingly effortless – vocally speaking (excuse the mixed metaphor) you feel safe in his hands. He can effectively convey emotion and create a narrative drive through his songs. In keeping with the musical quality of the rest of the band, he is also an excellent and flexible guitarist. This self-released and distributed album has the performances, the production values and the songwriting quality deserving of a major label release. It calls out for a wide and appreciative audience, and I for one will not be giving my review copy back - Peter Haydon, The Dues, Australian Musicians' Union Magazine ________________________________________________________________________________ Enda Kenny's album, 'Here and There' keeps the flames of protest and moral outrage alive. Children overboard, Iraq, the Oklahoma bombing and religious fundamentalism are all savaged. There's the wonderful Were You There (written by expatriate Scot, Alex Legg), which points out that the warriors in Washington, bombers in Baghdad and politicians in London all pray to their own Gods and believe that they're doing God's work. - Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald