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Secular Hymns

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Secular Hymns
A photo with Peyroux seated behind a window
Studio album by
Madeleine Peyroux
ReleasedSeptember 16, 2016 (2016-09-16)
RecordedJanuary 12–13, 2016
StudioParish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Great Milton, England, UK
GenreVocal jazz
Length33:31
LanguageEnglish
LabelImpulse!
ProducerMadeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux chronology
Keep Me in Your Heart for a While: Best of Madeleine Peyroux
(2014) 		Secular Hymns
(2016) 		Anthem
(2018)

Secular Hymns is a 2014 studio album by American vocal jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. It has received positive reviews by critics.

Reception

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Editors at AnyDecentMusic? rated this album a 7.2 out of 10, aggregating six scores.[1] According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Secular Hymns received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 from six critic scores.[2]

Editors at AllMusic rated this album 4 out of 5 stars, with critic Matt Collar writing that this album "finds the vocalist/guitarist delivering a stripped-down, largely acoustic set of warm, eclectic cover tunes... that's a 180-degree turn from her previous effort, 2013's ambitious homage to Ray Charles, The Blue Room.[3] At The Arts Desk, Mark Kidel rated this album 3 out of 5 stars and characterized Peyroux as a "sultry cabaret chanteuse with shades of late-night jazz and the endemic melancholy of the blues" but complains that "this is blues lite, too clean for comfort".[4] DownBeat's J. Poet gave 5 out of 5 stars to Secular Hymns and praised the ensemble on this recording: "Herington’s guitar adds blue, sliding, sustained notes that echo the crying tone of a steel guitar to support Peyroux’s somber vocal".[5] John Fordham of The Guardian praised the combination of "intimate exuberance and classic songs" captured in the live-in-studio setting and rated this release 4 of 5 stars.[6]

In The Irish Times Cormac Larkin rated Secular Hymns 3 out of 5 stars, ending "they’re the sort of songs that can sound hollow and insincere in the wrong hands, but Peyroux delivers every word like her life depends on it".[7] Christopher Loudon of JazzTimes called the blending of blues music, Gospel music, and jazz "a marvelous mélange".[8] The Observer's Dave Gelly scored this release 4 of 5 stars for "the warm intimacy of her voice and the incisive clarity of the arrangements".[9] Writing for PopMatters, Steve Horowitz a 7 out of 10, summing up that "Peyroux offers fine performances, but they are hers and not the originals" and these songs are "mostly well-known classics from the past—they aren’t records meant to be broken but to be replayed again for their own merits".[10]

Track listing

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  1. "Got You on My Mind" (Howard Biggs and Joe "Cornbread" Thomas) – 4:30
  2. "Tango Till They’re Sore" (Thomas Alan Waits) – 3:24
  3. "The Highway Kind" (Townes Van Zandt) – 2:47
  4. "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)" (Allen Toussaint) – 3:16
  5. "If the Sea Was Whiskey" (Leonard Caston and Willie Dixon) – 3:07
  6. "Hard Times Come Again No More" (Stephen Foster) – 4:17
  7. "Hello Babe" (Lil Green and Kansas Joe McCoy) – 3:11
  8. "More Time" (Linton Kwesi Johnson) – 3:23
  9. "Shout Sister Shout" (Bill Doggett, Lucky Millinder, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe) – 2:42
  10. "Trampin’" (traditional) – 3:01

Personnel

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Additional musicians

  • Jon Herington – electric guitar, vocals, arrangement on "Hard Times Come Again No More"
  • Barak Mori – upright bass, vocals

Technical personnel

  • Cynthia Herbst – session coordination
  • Daniel Herst – session assistance
  • Doug Dawson – audio engineering
  • Farida Bachir – session coordination
  • Francesca Burton – session assistance
  • Fred Gillham – session coordination
  • Joe Jones – assistant engineering
  • Mary Maurer – design at 2310 Design
  • Michael Lau Robles – design at 2310 Design
  • Shervin Lainez – photography
  • Staurt Bruce – audio engineering, mixing, audio mastering at Bruce Audio, Bradford On Avon, England, United Kingdom
  • Yves Beauvais – sequencing

Charts

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Chart performance for Secular Hymns
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11] 137
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[12] 53
French Albums (SNEP)[13] 32
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] 93
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[15] 22
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16] 77
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[17] 70
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18] 64
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 96

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Secular Hymns by Madeleine Peyroux reviews | AnyDecentMusic". AnyDecentMusic?. n.d. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  2. ^ "Secular Hymns by Madeleine Peyroux Reviews and Tracks – Metacritic". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. n.d. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  3. ^ Collar, Matt (n.d.). "Secular Hymns – Madeleine Peyroux". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  4. ^ Kidel, Mark (September 14, 2016). "CD: Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns". Reviews, News, & Interviews. The Arts Desk. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  5. ^ Poet, J. (March 2017). "DownBeat Reviews". Reviews. DownBeat. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  6. ^ Fordham, John (September 15, 2016). "Madeleine Peyroux: Secular Hymns review – intimate exuberance and classic songs". Music. The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  7. ^ Larkin, Cormac (September 15, 2016). "Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns album review: passionate and heartfelt". Music. The Irish Times. ISSN 0791-5144. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  8. ^ Loudon, Christopher (April 25, 2016). "Madeleine Peyroux: Secular Hymns". JazzTimes. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  9. ^ Gelly, Dave (September 18, 2016). "Madeleine Peyroux: Secular Hymns review – immaculate simplicity". Music. The Observer. Guardian Media Group. ISSN 0029-7712. OCLC 50230244. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  10. ^ Horowitz, Steve (October 6, 2015). "Madeleine Peyroux: Secular Hymns". Reviews. PopMatters. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  11. ^ "Ultratop.be – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  12. ^ "Ultratop.be – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  13. ^ "Lescharts.com – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  15. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  16. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  17. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  18. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Madeleine Peyroux – Secular Hymns". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  19. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
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