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Stocki untangles the confusion around Maria McKee's new album High Dive with the help of her live set in The Empire, Belfast on May 28, 2003... 

Reviewers and critics and even fans need to stop and ask about their expectations for albums. Do we judge a record by what we wanted it to be or do we delight in sensing the freedom of the artist in doing what they wanted to do? Maria McKee’s first album in seven years, High Dive has been garnering some comments of disappointment and confusion. So what did we expect? Did we want her to do another Life Is Sweet with its Patti Smith hard edged sneer or did we have in mind a return to her alternative country roots?

That she has pushed the boundaries of her art, been ambitious and not kowtowed to going for the easy hit should be recognized as a strength and not a weakness. And there is not a weakness anywhere on the album. Anyone who has bought it after a live show might be a little culture shocked on first listen. At Belfast’s Empire on Wednesday night McKee proved herself to be as powerful a voice as anyone in rock. There was this aging former cowpunk head down and fret board flailing with a rock sound of high intensity. There were only a few letups like when concert goer Niamh asked for "Dixie Storms" for her and her sister to waltz to. Most everything else was at full volume until the second encore where with acoustic guitar in hand McKee brought the night to an end with “Life Is Sweet!” We also got Springsteen's "Candy Room" as a cover, which had me reassessing the power of the song just in time for Bruce to also do it in Dublin three days later.

Much of the set was taken from High Dive. It was fascinating to hear the brass and strings of the studio being stripped away to allow a traditional rock band to re-decipher the melodies. In the end the secret of the how the album moves from confusion to suspected classic was clear. Strip away the production to find the naked songs and then when you are asking why she overproduced it realizing that the building back up of the instrumentation proves McKee and husband Jim Akin right in their original vision.

High Dive is ambitious in similar ways to George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. It has many of that album’s Spector-isms. It is big. It is unlike anything else around. It changes directions half way through songs. Yet beneath the layers there are great, exquisite songs like "Open Spaces," "In Your Constellation" and the title track. "Life Is Sweet" is a new incarnation of the title track of her last album, a good enough song to have twice.

The live performance of "No Religious Building" with its PJ Harvey darkness brought the drama of High Dive to vision as McKee’s eyes bulged in her head as she stared half demented. This is a long way from the pretty little real gone kid of Lone Justice. The album’s instrumentation does bring a dramatic quality that has had comments about its rock opera nature. It would be wrong to lose the power of the songs by sidetracking it down that avenue. This is a great album if you take the time to discover it. McKee is back and if people with ears to hear listen she will have a place in the art that few can match in the days that follow. Just like that voice which cannot be matched by anyone on earth. 

Steve Stockman 6/8/2003