Today marks the release of Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising remastered versions of Kate and Anna McGarrigle's beloved 1976 self-titled debut; its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees; and a collection of previously unreleased songs and demos. Rolling Stone gives the new release four-and-a-half stars, calling the debut album "idiosyncratically perfect." The Boston Globe describes it as "a dizzying but exhilarating ride," the demo disc a "real revelation," and the sisters' music "too enchanted, too singular to ever be forgotten." The Philadelphia Daily News gives Tell My Sister an A.
Today marks the Nonesuch release of Tell My Sister, a special three-disc set comprising remastered versions of Kate and Anna McGarrigle's beloved 1976 self-titled debut; its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees; and a collection of previously unreleased songs, including solo and duo demos. Joe Boyd, who produced the McGarrigles’ first two albums, assembled the material for the third disc in addition to serving as producer for the whole set. To pick up a copy of Tell My Sister, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps of the complete album at checkout.
The release coincides with a two-night tribute to Kate McGarrigle—who died of sarcoma last year—next week, May 12 and 13, at New York City’s Town Hall. Curated by Joe Boyd, the concerts will feature performances by Kate’s children, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, and her sister Anna, as well as Emmylou Harris, Antony Hegarty, Norah Jones, and Teddy Thompson, among others. Profits from the concerts will go toward creating the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund.
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Rolling Stone gives the new release four-and-a-half stars out of five. Reviewer Will Hermes compares the self-titled debut album to singer-songwriter records like Joni Mitchell's Blue and Neil Young's Harvest, yet uniquely its own. "Funny and heartbreaking, informed by French-Canadian parlor songs and delicious harmonies, it's idiosyncratically perfect," says Hermes, who goes on to describe Kate McGarrigle as "a woman who saw the sublime and the absurd as kissing cousins." Read more at rollingstone.com.
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The Boston Globe describes Tell My Sister as "an ideal starting point to understand a sister act whose influence has been recognized more in retrospect." Globe staffer James Reed describes the sisters' debut album as "a dizzying but exhilarating ride" and the third disc of demos as "the real revelation here, a 21-song treasure trove of demos, alternate takes, and previously unheard stuff."
In his conclusion, Reed asserts that "Kate’s death did not finish the story of the McGarrigles. As Tell My Sister attests, the music they made was too enchanted, too singular to ever be forgotten."
Read the complete review at boston.com.
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The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A. Reviewer Jonathan Takiff describes their "haunting parlor folk refrains" as both "quaintly 'old timey' and sophisticated."
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