Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Even after a couple of albums it is impossible to ignore the song-writing talent that lives and breathes in the very heart of Susan Hedges. She impossible not to love, a piece of Liverpool that might go unnoticed by the greater population of the country but in the city she calls home, that talented is appreciated and nurtured.
Her album Faces Without Names is no exception to the rule, in fact where Susan is involved there may as well not be any rules to hinder her as her voice and the way she holds herself alongside other musicians such as Tom Sykes, The Christians and the much sought after Vicky Mutch can be seen as second to none, a heroine of triumph and talent married together in such a way that her music, with the healthy addition of some beautiful saxophone work weaved throughout like a restless spirit in search of a half forgotten memory, cuts through any preconceptions that the listener may have.
Faces Without Names contains songs of such intrinsic splendour, a calling to a restless love that is forever missing, of a honour to be part of Liverpool and its dreams and desires to be recognised for what it has given to the world and not what those biased against the city, the North have to say.
The album also benefits with Paula Wright’s contribution to Ms. Hedges work, the fusion of ideas, the connection that goes unsaid on songs such as Guess I Got It Wrong Again, the throbbing ache on the track, Let’s Pretend, the title track of the album Faces Without Names and Sometimes Leaving are only enhanced by tracks Love in a Minor Key and Pain of Love and the respect afforded to the blistering Charlotte’s Web.
It seems all that Susan Hedges touches can turn to gold, her timing on each track is astonishing and the thought of Jazz clubs that would have found their doors open to her along 57th Street and beyond in 1930s New York prays heavily on the listeners mind. A talented exceptional woman with nothing to prove but she continues to beguile listeners with her music.
Ian D. Hall