Watch Out!

AMG Review of Watch Out!

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

The title track of Holly Near's seventh album of new material was inspired by the U.S. invasion of Grenada, the sort of foreign entanglement the singer had gotten into music to sing against. Opposition to the right-wing tilt of the early Reagan years returned her to largely political concerns, from more anti-war material to reflections on child abuse and torture. As such, personal matters, as well as women's and lesbian issues, were less prominent, though still present. Musically, Near employed John McCutcheon and the group Trapezoid, using a variety of acoustic instruments in a folk/country/bluegrass hybrid often reminiscent of the New Acoustic branch of Windham Hill-style New Age music, especially when such adherents as Barbara Higbie and Darrol Anger were also playing.