Mary Coughlan - Red Blues -2002- «720p 2025»
– The timeless Mack Gordon and Harry Warren ballad. She's Got a Way With Men – Written by H. Thompson.
The album consists of 11 tracks, blending original compositions with carefully chosen covers.
Perhaps the most upbeat (relatively speaking) track on the record. It features a slinkier, almost sultry bassline. It is a song about vulnerability, but with a wry, self-deprecating humor that saves the album from total despair. It proves that Coughlan knows exactly how ridiculous and beautiful the human condition is.
: The songs delve into "the dark underbelly of life," covering themes of betrayal, heartbreak, and resilience. Genre Blend : It seamlessly mixes traditional blues jazz and folk , often drawing comparisons to the "sardonic defiance" of Billie Holiday Edith Piaf Buzz Magazine Notable Tracks
Known for its raw, emotive storytelling and "melancholy" tone, making it a favorite for late-night listening. Mary Coughlan - Red Blues -2002-
Mary Coughlan is a highly acclaimed Irish jazz singer known for her expressive, emotive voice and distinctive interpretive abilities. "Red Blues" is her fifth studio album, released on the Irish label, Green Flag Records, in 2002.
Red Blues is, fittingly, an album steeped in the blues, yet it is rarely formulaic. It captures the smoky, late-night ambiance of a jazz club, with Coughlan’s voice serving as the perfect conduit for tales of love, loss, and resilience.
The album comprises that balance high-energy blues shuffles with heartbreakingly sparse ballads: Original Songwriters / Prominent Versions 1 "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City" Michael Price, Dan Walsh (Bobby "Blue" Bland) 2 "Blue Light Boogie" Jessie Mae Robinson (Louis Jordan) 3 "You Can Leave Your Hat On" Randy Newman 4 "Portland" Bill Bourne 5 "I'd Rather Go Blind" Ellington Jordan, Billy Foster (Etta James) 6 "Black Coffee" Sonny Burke, Paul Francis Webster 7 "Pull Up To The Bumper" Grace Jones, Koo Koo Baya, Dana Mano 8 Mack Gordon, Harry Warren (Etta James) 9 "She's Got A Way With Men" Johnny Mulhern 10 "One For My Baby" Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer (Frank Sinatra) 11 "Strange Fruit" Abel Meeropol (Billie Holiday) Reimagining the Classics
Mary Coughlan's "Red Blues" has helped shape the Irish jazz scene, inspiring a new generation of Irish jazz musicians and vocalists. Her success has paved the way for other Irish artists to explore and express themselves within the genre. – The timeless Mack Gordon and Harry Warren ballad
: A staple in her repertoire, this cover highlights her ability to handle emotional vulnerability.
A melancholic, slow-burning ballad that lets Coughlan’s raw, unvarnished vocal tone take center stage.
A '40s classic by Louis Jordan, given a modern, sultry treatment.
All Albums by Mary Coughlan * Life Stories. September 4, 2020. * Scars on the Calendar. August 7, 2015. * The House of Ill Repute. The album consists of 11 tracks, blending original
The original composition that gives the album its name is the emotional core. Lyrically, it is pure Mary Coughlan: surreal, visceral, and painfully honest. The "red" is the color of the wine glass, the lipstick smeared on a cigarette butt, and the sunset of a dying relationship. The lyrics are fragmented, feeling more like overheated poetry than standard verse-chorus-verse. It’s a song about insomnia, about the hour when the red light of the alarm clock is the only witness to your shame.
In the context of Coughlan’s discography, Red Blues acts as a bridge. It connects the wild, punk-jazz energy of her early work with the more refined, theatrical cabaret of her later years. It is arguably the purest distillation of her aesthetic: beautiful misery.
This album matters because it refuses to look away from the ugly parts of life. It offers no platitudes. It does not promise that "the sun will come out tomorrow." Instead, it offers the most valuable thing an artist can give: solidarity. It says, "I have been where you are, in the red light of despair, and I am still here to sing about it."
Red Blues is the seventh studio album by acclaimed Irish jazz and blues vocalist Mary Coughlan. Released in 2002, the album marks a significant period of artistic maturity, moving away from the more traditional torch-song and cabaret style of her early 1980s work (e.g., Tired and Emotional ) toward a rawer, more introspective and Americana-tinged blues sound. The title itself is a poignant play on words, referencing both the musical genre and a state of emotional exhaustion and anger.
The Spotify Album Profile for Red Blues highlights an inspired selection of 11 reimagined tracks: