Holly Golightly has enjoyed something of a career resurgence since 2003, when the former Thee Headcoats/Headcoatees singer provided guest vocals on The White Stripes’ Well It’s True That We Love One Another. Long Distance is an album of songs spanning her solo years, but re-recorded with her current backing group The Brokeoffs.
There are both originals and covers here, all of which she’s recorded before, so essentially these are – kind of – covers of covers, whether written by Golightly or not. Some of these songs are whimsical, banjo-led bluesy numbers, such as the cover (of her cover) of Sam And Dave’s (You Ain’t) No Big Thing, Come The Day and Big Boss Man; others are more melancholy in tone, notably Mother Earth and the sublime, brooding and rather sinister Your Love Is Mine, which is, by far, the best song on this collection.
Golightly’s nasally vocals do have the capacity to grate after a while, but there are nevertheless some treats here. How necessary this album is remains another question altogether, but for old fans it should provide some interesting takes on songs they already know, while also serving as a concise, polite introduction for those out of the loop.
