Here’s an album I’ve been curious about for some time. Ann Odell was a pianist in Blue Mink and a very talented musician, with credits including string arrangements for Brian Ferry and INXS. Only a matter of weeks ago, in a conversation I had with singer/songwriter Rupert Holmes, the subject of artists who do their own arrangements arose. Many singer/songwriters and pop acts have sometimes bagged an ‘arranger’ credit by doing little more than saying, ‘strings in this bit, please’, while a genuine professional does the actual work, possibly without credit. In the exclusive club of singer/songwriters who genuinely arrange, filling rows and rows of blank staves with ink, would be Rupert, Janis Ian, Randy Edelman, Carole King, Randy Newman and…Ann Odell. Ann’s sole album, A Little Taste, came out in 1973 on DJM/Pye and to my knowledge has had just one CD reissue, on the Korean Beatball label (like Big Pink, Beatball is a Korean label that really digs deep and finds fascinating niche albums to reissue), around 2005. I’ve finally got my hands on a copy. And it’s good. More than good – excellent.
Ann’s singing voice reminds me of Meg Christian and her songs have a pop/soul/rock sound that’s typical of the era. Singing with Ann on the album are legends Madeline Bell, Doris Troy and Liza Strike. This is a keeper – catchy and thoroughly charming. If I were to weigh it up against the British singer/songwriter albums coming out around the same time frame, I’d say it’s more eccentric and grownup than Lynsey de Paul, perhaps to be filed alongside Lesley Duncan and Catherine Howe.
11 comments
Hi, is Anne Odell still alive and was she related to Jack Odell who invented Matchbox Toys?
Hello. I’m afraid I don’t know about Jack Odell and whether or not he’s related to Ann. I have no reason to think that Ann isn’t still alive, but neither have I come across an official website for her, so I don’t know what she’s currently up to.
Yes. Ann was jack’s daughter. I understand that it was for her the first Matchbox toy was made. She couldn’t take a toy to school unless it was small enough to fit in a match box. I met Ann while she played with Ivy Benson in the early 60’s Found memories.
Ann’s father was Jack
Ann is still around she contributed interviews to Anthony Reynolds books on the band Japan / early David Sylvian solo.
That’s good to know. I think her solo album is delightful. I haven’t heard the Blue Mink album she’s on, although it piques my curiosity.
I sailed on QE2 maiden voyage May 1969 I have an LP she sold on the ship. Fab pianist. Tell her Colin ‘Plum’ Campbell tenor sax is asking for her
Oh, that sounds amazing. I wonder if this was a private-press album of some kind, since her official album didn’t follow until the 1970s. Alas, I’m afraid I’ve heard that she died in a last couple of years or so.
Ann is my God mother I last saw her at her wedding in 1981 not since then unfortunetly
I just found a FB page that suggests that Ann passed away a few years ago: BARNET – A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE | Hi all | Facebook https://share.google/EUTFiXlT0mBUFwVQr.
Thank you. Yes, someone else mentioned she might have died. She deserved to have more prominent obituaries in the press, but it seems as if there was nothing.