ABOUT THIS ITEM

Timing, it’s said, is everything. A boy drops out of college to fulfil his singer-songwriter destiny, loses his way despite experiencing highs among the lows, considers jacking it all in, which as happenstance has it, leads to him starting all over again. At which point, with nothing to lose, he produces the best work of his life, makes the right connections and stands to finally reap all that he has sewn. Destiny has finally come for James Levy.

Released on Heavenly under the name James Levy And The Blood Red Rose, Pray To Be Free is a gorgeous, romantic and yet playful collection of jaunty pop and bruised ballads, imbued with stunning vocals and wrapped in a variety of velvet strings, suave horns and other colours of the night. “A great traditional rock 'n' roll singer songwriter record,” reckons Heavenly head honcho Jeff Barrett (and he should know, having worked with several of the best). In Levy’s case, his aim was the kind of classic Serge Gainsbourg recorded in the ‘60s with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, or Lee Hazlewood’s similarly charged duets with Nancy Sinatra and Ann Margret. James’ good pal Allison Pierce (of The Pierces) provides the female vocal riposte to James’s manly desire in these sumptuous duels of love and war. Or as James says, “I tend to write about death and relationships, and the death of relationships, but I cannot tell you why."

1. Sneak Into My Room
2. Give Me Happiness
3. Crying To The River
4. Hung To Dry
5. Pray To Be Free
6. Holy Water
7. Keep My Baby
8. Positively East Broadway
9. Painted Red
10. Crying Myself To Sleep
11. Burns In Love
12. Precious Age Of 13