‘Edge Of Winter’ follows on three years after Sharon O’Neill released ‘Danced In The Fire’, and this time around, combines the West Coast flavours of her ‘Foreign Affairs’ album (from 1983) with the more mature commercial nature of ‘DITF’.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Sharon O’Neill
ALBUM: Edge Of Winter
LABEL: Polydor
SERIAL: 843 883-2
YEAR: 1990
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia
LINEUP: Sharon O’Neill – vocals * Alan Mansfield – keyboards, percussion * Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Punch, Alan Darby, Peter Northcote, Kirk Lorange – guitars * Andy Sidari, Michael Hegerty – bass * John Watson – drums * Mel Collins – sax
TRACK LISTING: 01 Prelude (To The Edge Of Winter) * 02 Satin Sheets * 03 In Our Dreams * 04 Strangers Come * 05 Sunday Driving * 06 Little One * 07 Edge Of Winter * 08 Losing You * 09 I Know You Love Me * 10 Missing Person * 11 Poster Girl
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
This is the second release for Sharon O’Neill on the Polydor label, after releasing a brace of albums on her previous label CBS, both in her native New Zealand as well as Australia.
‘Edge Of Winter’ follows on three years after Sharon O’Neill released ‘Danced In The Fire’, and this time around, combines the West Coast flavours of her ‘Foreign Affairs’ album (from 1983) with the more mature commercial nature of ‘DITF’.
There’s no denying that her music improves over time, and is a testament to the cult following she has in the melodic rock fraternity, even in more recent times when her recorded output had come to a halt.
One thing that does stand out is her appearance. If you look at photos of her on the various album releases, she is very much like a chameleon (and a gorgeous one at that!), and is never one to rest on her laurels.That’s the same with her music, and for those of you familiar with Holly Knight, then there’s your reference point.
Recorded in both Sydney and London, the songs get the high gloss treatment, with accomplished players such as guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, saxophone god Mel Collins, and partner Alan Mansfield (of course!), all putting in sterling performances.
The Songs
The opening duo of ‘Prelude (to the Edge Of Winter)’ and ‘Satin Sheets’ gets us underway, the latter in particular is an exquisite piece of melodic rock, and a personal highlight for me. Bright, breezy, and totally uplifting.
‘In Our Dreams’ has an interesting percussion arrangement, a la the aforementioned Holly Knight or even early Lisa Dalbello. Elsewhere, ‘Little One’ is a smooth and quaint piece of melodic pop, with some layered vocals and a nifty sax solo from Collins.
The title track ‘Edge Of Winter’ is a brilliant bit of AOR complimented by some equally brilliant lyrics. The rework of ‘Losing You’ (from ‘Foreign Affairs’) is so good, it sounds like prime-time Diving For Pearls upon closer inspection. ‘I Know You Love Me’ is an INXS style rock-out, before settling down to a pair of subtle and acoustic pieces called ‘Missing Person’ and ‘Poster Girl’. A thought-provoking pair indeed.
In Summary
This album is very hard to find now, and not surprisingly, her albums fetch great prices on Ebay, such is the demand.
The 90’s was a very quiet period for Sharon musically, though she did put in an appearance at the Marc Hunter (ex Dragon singer) benefit concert prior to his passing (r.i.p), and was involved as a special guest on ‘The Cats Are Away’ project-tour in New Zealand during 2001.
More recently, she has been playing in Leo Sayer‘s band across in Australia, where Sayer has since become an Australian resident. Nice to see her back in the frame though.
Sharon O’Neill on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
