Album review: Colin Hay’s Fierce Mercy blends folk, country rock and pop

Hay’s vocals are one of the most easily recognisable in rock and with the ability to adapt to a wide array of settings and styles without losing any of its emotion.

Fierce Mercy, a new release by Colin Hay. Compass Records via AP Photo

Fierce Mercy

Colin Hay

Compass Records

Three stars

Colin Hay’s songwriting elegance has no need for bells and whistles. The Men at Work frontman adds a graceful string section and classic arrangements blending folk, country rock and pop provide an attractive foundation for as strong a set of songs as he’s recorded in a 13-album solo career.

Hay’s vocals are one of the most easily recognisable in rock and with the ability to adapt it to a wide array of settings and styles without losing any of its emotion.

Whether eulogising his departed mother on She Was the Love of Mine, relating the return home of a war veteran on Frozen Fields of Snow or recounting an opportunity for nostalgia caused by a seemingly Hay's scenarios are never forced or artificial.

As for musical touchstones, there are echoes of late 1980s R.E.M. in I'm Inside Outside In, an Elton John piano solo would fit snugly on The Best in Me and Roy Orbison could have contributed Secret Love to a Traveling Wilburys' album. A distinguished bunch, as are Colin Hay's songs.

* Associated Press