KATE WALSH- hidden treasure

Walsh adopts a safe mode for this album.

This has been sitting looking pretty on my desk under list of things to listen to the past few weeks. Peppermint Radio is the 4th album from artist Kate Walsh. The album consists of 11 covers of songs from UK artists that have influenced Walsh over the course of her career which has spanned almost a decade and during which she became the only unsigned artist ever to have had an iTunes No.1 Album in the UK or the US. ( impressive- yes!)

Walsh has also had her songs issued as back ground music on the likes of Grey’s Anatomy and in the 2008 films Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and The Crew.  (double up on the impressive list again! ) She is also no stranger to us here on these isles, with National Irish television shows such as Other Voices and The Late Late Show and has toured with Richard Hawley, Turin Brakes, Paulo Nutini, Josh Ritter, Mick Flannery and has in the past few months played 6 sold out shows at the Royal Albert Hall with Mark Knopfler. You may have been hearing her a lot on Irish Radio lately, with her stunning delicate version of A Little Respect gracing the airwaves on TodayFm, RTe and a few other stations. *which is what stuck me on the back of the head to pick the cd up and give it a whirl*

The album is incredibly ambitious and elegantly compiled: with covers from bands like The Cure, Blur, Duran Duran and The Eurythmics. The first single from the album is a cover of Erasure’s A Little Respect. Walsh makes her own, you either like it or not, I have read mixed reviews, but I like it, especially on a day like this, when the rain is pelting down the window, so its nice to have an alternative version to suit the season.

The only criticism about the album, is that I thought it needed a bit more variety in the arrangements. Walsh has played it carefully safe all the way through.  The songs all follow a very similar/simple formula of piano intro followed by soft vocals leading to a crescendo with bare minimum incorporation of other instruments. 


But for what its worth, she could sing the alphabet and I'd still listen, a rare voice of beauty.

Track Listing

1. Subterranean Homesick Alien (Radiohead)

2. When Love Breaks Down (Prefab Sprout)

3. Unbelievable (EMF)

4. Lullaby (The Cure)

5. Beetlebum (Blur)

6. A Little Respect (Erasure)

7. Move Any Mountain (The Shamen)

8. Who’s That Girl (The Eurythmics)

9. Save A Prayer (Duran Duran)

10. Feeling Oblivion (Turin Brakes)

11. Monochrome (The Sundays)