An interesting idea, given the talented family tree of the McGarrigle Sisters: Gather the family together (including Kate's ex-husband Loudon Wainwright) and record a CD as they play the family piano and sing traditional folk tunes, originals, and old pop standards. Add in some friends (Emmylou Harris turning in a stirring vocal on "Skip Rope Song"), Linda Ronstadt, and Chaim Tannenbaum, and the end result is a pleasant yet somewhat mediocre CD. But even a mediocre release from this family has several redeeming qualities. Kate and Anna's harmonies have never sounded tighter, and the choice of using Joe Boyd as producer (he produced their first two albums) was a good one, as he seems able to highlight their vocals and harmonies. There are some truly amazing songs as well, especially when they tackle pure, traditional folk tunes. Loudon Wainwright's "Schooldays," the opening track, is an early highlight, featuring great vocals and a great tune. The traditional folk song "Dig My Grave," featuring Chaim Tannenbaum, is chilling, and Anna's version of her own "Cool River" is incredibly moving -- all beautiful songs. The problem with this album is that there are no new songs, which is a real shame since this is the follow-up to 1996's brilliant Matapedia. This may be a small complaint, as the songs all mean something to the family, as evidenced in the notes in the package. Overall, however, a good album, but not the best release from the McGarrigles.

(by Aaron Badgley , All Music Guide)

Attempting to recapture the spontaneous informality of their childhood home in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Quebec, the McGarrigles surrounded themselves with siblings, children, ex-husbands, and longtime musical friends to create this 21-song document that not only revisits the significant stops in their 22-year recording career ("Talk to Me of Mendocino") but also stretches to cover songs dear and familiar to their family, from the works of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin to Sonny James's 1956 pop confection of teen innocence, "Young Love." This family songbook reaches far into the past for traditional folk tunes like "Dig My Grave" (done in a stunning a cappella version) and the piano-sweet "Gentle Annie" by Stephen Foster, as well as sampling old French radio hits like the wistful, accordion-flecked "Bon Voyage" and even a smoking Cajun version of D.G. Menard's "La Porte en Amiere."

If that weren't enough of a musical spread, the McGarrigles also accompany their children, Martha and Rufus Wainwright and Silvan and Lily Lanken, on new, next-generational songs of their own. The musical cast of this family and friends reunion recording also includes sister Jane McGarrigle; Kate's ex-husband Louden Wainwright III; Anna's current husband Dane Lanken; longtime collaborator, tourmate (and philosophy professor) Chaim Tennenbaum; musical friends and interpreters Joel Zifkin, Michel Papin, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris; and producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood, the two who created their first album (Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Warner Brothers BS 2862) in 1976. Even Randy Saharuni, the photographer and record jacket artist for the early McGarrigle albums, is on hand to design and illustrate this effort!

The result is a homespun jewel that reflects feelings of reassurance, reconciliation, and gentle nostalgia while sparkling with the intuitive--and at times idiosyncratic--vocal interplay that has characterized the McGarrigles throughout their performing career. At poignant moments, the intertwining of these distinctive voices says it all--the McGarrigle-Wainwright foursome who, until now, had "never sat down to a Christmas turkey together let alone sing a song," come together on Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do," a song the McGarrigles had chosen and sung at their mother's funeral in 1994; or Kate and Anna's version, with Linda Ronstadt, of Stephen Foster's "Gentle Annie," a song that was their father's particular favorite, and that father and daughters harmonized to around the piano as they were growing up; or the three sets of family duets that weave through the sexually mischievous "Schooldays," a song penned by Louden Wainwright III, and which first appeared as the leadoff cut of his first album (Louden Wainwright III, Atlantic SD 8260) in 1970.

Stellar cuts abound, from the aforementioned tunes to a wonderful reprise of Jesse Winchester's classic "Skip Rope Song" (with Emmylou Harris providing just enough weary vocal rasp to connect this haunting ballad to its Appalachian roots), and Anna and Audrey Bean's stately and regret-filled "Cool River," which producer Joe Boyd had first included on Maria Muldaur's second album, Waitress in a Donut Shop (Warner Bros. MS 2138) in 1974 (with McGarrigles on backing vocals and piano--a performance that would lead to their own contract with Warners and their first album, released eighteen months later).

Sister Jane remembers that first recording experience over two decades ago:

"I was struggling through twenty-seven takes of the organ part of "Heart Like A Wheel" and finishing off the bass line down on my knees playing the Hammond B3 pedals with my hands. Joe Boyd was down on the floor with me, giving me moral support."

With the group busking that went on during the recording of "Baltimore Fire" for the current album--not to mention the major partying allegedly involved in Rufus Wainwright's "Heartburn"--it's clear that, along with a deep love of tradition, the spirit of oblique innovation and mischievous fun is still very much alive and a part of the McGarrigle family and their music. As engineer John Wood remarked upon his reunion with this musical family for the current album, "It's nice to see that everyone has held up so well." Indeed it is. And indeed, they have!

(George H. Lewis, University of the Pacific)