Angus & Julia Stone (Deluxe Version)

I got this immediately upon release and a few weeks later labeled it "Probably Best Album 2014" in a Facebook post for my friends.  Here it is two additional months later and I've yet to pull it from rotation.  Not that the automobile is the ideal surroundings (it's certainly not a gas-pedal pusher), but it is a wonderful aural environment for those after-dark drives to anywhere.  Over half of the tracks here are A+ material, outstanding.  Throw in the two extras in the deluxe version (though atypical of the regular album, these are two uptempo hits) and it's two-thirds @ A+.  The recommended setting for a complete spin would be betwixt a nice set of headphones or surrounded by a sweet speaker system after a few tokes of your favorite medicinal/recreation party favour.  This album recalls sounds of the late-60's all the way through today.  One reviewer likened their harmonies to Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra (damn, that's good...wish I had made that comparison) and others said they heard Dire Straits (!?) and Fartwood Mac (that's due to Julia's Stevie Nicks-like warble).  The final track of the album proper features Angus channeling Neil Young.

 

This album has had a nice run so far on plenty of international charts, hitting the Top 10 in several countries and is still ranking in France and their Australian home.  Here?  It cracked the Top 10.......Heatseekers.  Come on, Yanks, this record deserves your attention!  Their music caught the attention of one very influential American last year, someone who had heard the siblings weren't planning on doing more work together, opting for the solo route (Angus' solo is my all-time #1 post and Julia's is #3 for this past month).  This gentleman fired off separate emails to the two, expressing his desire to work with them in the studio.  Angus replied that they do their own thing when recording and do not work with "producers."  A couple of weeks later, Julia emailed her brother and asked if he understood who he had rebuffed.  Angus admitted he wasn't a credit reader, to which Julia replied with album titles they had loved as kids growing up, all of which were produced by this guy named Rubin.  Yeah, that Rubin, the head-bobbin' bearded one in this video...

 

 

And now another featured cut from a French music site...




Please, please, please, please, please American readers, support these talented kids.  And please, please, please, please, please talented kids, come back to America somewhere close to me so I can witness again your magic...