With No Frontiers, Mary Black continues to distance herself from traditional Irish music.
This time, however, she has also left behind the shimmery over-production of Without the Fanfare; the arrangements are, for want of a better word, more dignified this time, and they provide a better fit for her naturally elegant voice.
As usual, several of the songs are by Jimmy McCarthy, and also as usual these are among the best: "Shuffle of the Buckled" sounds as if it were written for Black and the title track makes equally good use of her achingly sweet and clear voice.
Inevitably, there is a misguided swipe at a pop classic -- in this case, a vaguely Latin-flavored arrangement of "I Say a Little Prayer for You" that is so bloodless and drained of passion that listening to it feels like an insult to Aretha Franklin.
Noel Brazil's "Fat Valley of Pain" is a solid winner, though, and Donal Long's "The Shadow" is a quietly powerful depiction of the horror and loss wrought by Northern Ireland's century-old troubles.
On this album Black seems to have gained control of the modern influences that had taken over on Without the Fanfare, and the result is one of her more complex and powerful albums.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No FrontiersJimmy MacCarthy | Mary Black | Play | 04:02 | 9 MB | 19 MB |
| 2 | Past the Point of RescueMick Hanly | Mary Black | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 3 | The ShadowDonagh Long | Mary Black | Play | 03:38 | 8 MB | 15 MB |
| 4 | Carolina RuaThom Moore | Mary Black | Play | 02:38 | 6 MB | 13 MB |
| 5 | Shuffle of the BuckledJimmy MacCarthy, Jim McCarthy | Mary Black | Play | 02:39 | 6 MB | 11 MB |
| 6 | ColumbusNoel Brasil | Mary Black | Play | 05:23 | 12 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Another DayLinda McCartney, Paul McCartney | Mary Black | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 8 | Fat Valley of PainNoel Brazil | Mary Black | Play | 04:51 | 11 MB | 24 MB |
| 9 | I Say a Little PrayerBurt Bacharach, Hal David | Mary Black | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 17 MB |
| 10 | VanitiesNoel Brazil | Mary Black | Play | 04:27 | 10 MB | 21 MB |
| 11 | The Fog in MontereyThom Moore | Mary Black | Play | 03:09 | 7 MB | 14 MB |
| 41 mins | 95 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 201 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burt Bacharach | Composer |
| 2 | Philip Begley | Editing |
| 3 | Mary Black | Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 4 | Noel Brasil | Composer |
| 5 | Noel Brazil | Composer |
| 6 | Noel Bridgeman | Percussion, Vocal Harmony |
| 7 | Pat Crowley | Accordion, Piano, Vocal Harmony |
| 8 | Dan Dan | Engineer |
| 9 | Hal David | Composer |
| 10 | Tony Davis | Vocals (Background) |
| 11 | Dan Fitzgerald | Engineer |
| 12 | Garvan Gallagher | Double Bass, Vocal Harmony |
| 13 | Carl Geraghty | Saxophone |
| 14 | Mick Hanly | Composer |
| 15 | Colm Henry | Photography |
| 16 | Caroline LaVelle | Cello |
| 17 | Donagh Long | Composer |
| 18 | Dónal Lunny | Synthesizer |
| 19 | Jimmy MacCarthy | Composer |
| 20 | Sarah McCann | Assistant Engineer |
| 21 | Jim McCarthy | Composer |
| 22 | Linda McCartney | Composer |
| 23 | Paul McCartney | Composer |
| 24 | Thom Moore | Composer |
| 25 | Mandy Murphy | Vocals (Background) |
| 26 | Declan Sinnott | Guitar, Producer, Vocal Harmony |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |