Vika & Linda

Rolling Stone (Australian) 497, June 1994
By Ed St John

It's the simplest of ideas: take two of Australia's best singers, find them a bunch of great original songs, and then put them in the studio with a sympathetic producer and the best band you can muster.

And that's exactly what this album is: Former Black Sorrows power vocal duo, Vika and Linda Bull, singing songs by a Who's Who of Australian songwriters (Mark Seymour, Stephen Cummings, Joe Camilleri, Nick Smith, Nick Barker, Paul Kelly and Wayne Burt). The producer is Paul Kelly, a man not unfamiliar with the inside of a recording studio.

Not surprisingly, the results here are frequently exceptional. Beautifully played - with an accent on subtle arrangements and largely acoustic instruments - the album is imbued with a warm inner glow and a genuine musical depth. Perhaps because of the contributions of such a broad diversity of writers - and thanks also to the fact that Vika and Linda Bull possess strikingly different voices - the album moves effortlessly across a spectrum of styles but, for the most part, is a very laid-back, often country-flavoured affair. Still, far from getting bogged down in a single groove, Vika and Linda is a real feast.

It's not the kind of album where singles, or "standout tracks", are easy to pick. Sure, the first single (Mark Seymour's "When Will You Fall For Me") has a terrific rousing chorus. Three of the Paul Kelly songs are killers, including the slow reggae of "We've Started A Fire" and the funky "I Know Where to Go to Feel Good" (both of which see Vika and Linda intertwining their voices to stunning effect). Also intriguing is "Ninety Nine Years", a song Kelly wrote with the Bull sisters. Utilising eastern tones and a haunting melody, it marks an interesting and very appealing departure for all three artists.

And then there's the piece de resistance - the drop-dead Stephen Cummings ballad "Blue Hour", performed here by Vika Bull in a stark setting of piano and woodwind (arranged by Deborah Conway cohort Will Zygier).

It's a triumphant closer to an album that may not be pop, and it may not be hip, but it's sure as hell good.