All Shall Be Well Again

The fourth Bok, Muir & Trickett album is another solid winner, if not quite as magical as Turning Toward the Morning and The Ways of Man. "Julian of Norwich" (from which the disc takes its title) is a beautiful and uplifting Sydney Carter song, and there are great versions of the Irish standard "Fear a Bhata" and the jaunty "Living on the River." When Bok and Muir break out the twin whistles for the opening bars of "Farewell to the Gold," however, tuning problems are a distraction, as they are on "Archie/Namagati/Odivair," a trio of Bok instrumentals, and on the trio's arrangement of the Sonny Rollins tune "St. Thomas." Ed Trickett's singing on "Farewell to the Gold" redeems that song completely, though, and the group's a capella rendition of "Sailor's Prayer" is enough to make you forget just about everything else. "My Images Come" is something of a misstep-it's always a little bit embarrassing to hear a singer affect an ethnic accent not his own (cf. Sting, Green Day), and the song itself isn't sufficiently magical to offset that effect. Overall, this album isn't as dense with marvelous moments as some of the trio's other work, but it's still well worth having.