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| 25 new of 228 responses total. |
krj
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response 47 of 228:
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Jun 27 18:30 UTC 1997 |
I don't have any particular feelings about Mitchell Froom, but I
much prefer Thompson's earlier work with producers Joe Boyd and John Wood.
The Froom era of Thompson's work, which begins in 1988 with AMNESIA
if I remember correctly, has produced only one really good album,
RUMOR AND SIGH, for my tastes.
I never got into MIRROR BLUE, though I like some of the songs in it.
I've found YOU ME US repellent. I used to hate it even when Schoolkids
was playing it in the store. I can't bring myself to listen to it
enough to figure out why. I also got the live fan club recording
from the 1994 tour, TWO LETTER WORDS, and so far I don't like
*that* either. Moomph.
One friend suggests that RT settled into domestic bliss in his
second marriage and that has taken some of the brilliance out of
his work since the mid-1980s.
There is a new Thompson album, INDUSTRY, recorded with his non-brother
Danny Thompson (former Pentangle bass player). A mix of RT songs and
DT instrumentals, a concept album about the rise and fall of the
industrial era in Britain. Haven't really listened to it enough yet.
Later this year (so it is reported) Thompson is scheduled to
record an album with early music specialist Phillip Pickett
(who played session work on several RT albums, and who was also
a member of the Albion Band in the 1970s) and the Fairport
Convention rhythm section.
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mziemba
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response 48 of 228:
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Jun 28 06:44 UTC 1997 |
The Pickett/Thompson album sounds like it will be interesting.
Joe Boyd is a cool producer. I've seen his name on a few good recordings
I've heard.
Thompson, by the way, has played on a few Loudon Wainright III albums that
are worth hearing.
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mziemba
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response 49 of 228:
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Jul 16 08:43 UTC 1997 |
New Dar Williams album is out...yummy yummy yummy!
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krj
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response 50 of 228:
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Jul 23 19:56 UTC 1997 |
Twila needs to bring us a review of Thompson's INDUSTRY album, since she
has my copy at the moment. :)
I'm afraid I'm very lukewarm on Dar Williams, though I have lots of
friends who adore and worship her. "As Cool As I Am" is kind of catchy,
bu "The Christians and the Pagans" is so bleeping didactic, and with
such a monotonous melody that it sends me lunging
for the next-track button.
I was annoyed that song was the big time-consuming finale of her short
set at Philadelphia Folk Festival last year.
Ark stuff: There's the annual August Celtic music festival coming up.
And also coming up is Cordelia's Dad: see my responses #1 & 2 in this
item. More details later, when Netscape stops crashing on me. :/
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mziemba
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response 51 of 228:
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Aug 5 07:52 UTC 1997 |
Anybody see the new Ark schedule, yet? Anything interesting?
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jiffer
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response 52 of 228:
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Aug 5 21:55 UTC 1997 |
well ... the only i remeber is celtic stuff at the beginning of this month.
I plan to attend one of the events. I just got to find my big black book to
remeber which one.
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tpryan
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response 53 of 228:
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Aug 6 01:15 UTC 1997 |
David Wilcox at Borders Books & Music, Ann Arbor, August 6th, 6pm, Wed.
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krj
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response 54 of 228:
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Aug 18 19:55 UTC 1997 |
Here's an early warning for your October calendars: Muzsikas w/
Marta Sebesteyn, October 27, the Ark.
There are five "celtic" shows on the September Ark calendar:
mmm, where should I discuss them? :)
-----
Richard Thompson had some exposure on PBS television on Saturday
night, on a new series called something like "Live on 54th Street."
Suzanne Vega had the first half-hour, which we missed, and then Thompson
had the second half-hour. He only did four songs, broken up with
some filmed interview segments.
The playlist: "Feel So Good," "Galway to Graceland," the Hamlet cover
RT was playing on his last tour, and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning,"
with Nanci Griffith singing a few harmonies.
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lumen
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response 55 of 228:
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Aug 18 21:32 UTC 1997 |
Ergh...Suzanne Vega on PBS? I wonder when that showed on Seattle or
Pullman/Tri-Cities PBS..I'm sure she was nice :)
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mziemba
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response 56 of 228:
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Aug 19 07:55 UTC 1997 |
Wow...I'm in heaven...Marta at the Ark! Thanks, Ken!
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jiffer
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response 57 of 228:
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Aug 20 18:39 UTC 1997 |
Shanks Ken!!!!
I saw a segment of "Live on 54th Street" a couple of weeks ago when I was
visiting relatives in Ohio. Looks promising, and (now that i have cable)
something i might actually keep up with!.
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tpryan
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response 58 of 228:
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Aug 24 15:31 UTC 1997 |
The first show on the Sept Ark calendar that has peaked my
interest is John McCutchen on September 5th, Fri.
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krj
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response 59 of 228:
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Aug 25 17:07 UTC 1997 |
Arabella & I are back from the Philadelphia Folk Festival -- 2/3rds of
of the Festival, anyway -- and I'll type in some random thoughts
over the next few days.
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krj
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response 60 of 228:
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Aug 26 03:59 UTC 1997 |
...and you would have gotten two screens of reviews if my net
connection hadn't locked up, dad blast it. Maybe tomorrow.
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mziemba
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response 61 of 228:
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Aug 26 04:31 UTC 1997 |
Dar Williams will be at the Ark, September 2, for a 7:30P and a 9:30P show...
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krj
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response 62 of 228:
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Aug 26 18:14 UTC 1997 |
The Friday afternoon concert at the Philadelphia Folk Festival
is intended to be a showcase for relatively new performers.
Cordelia's Dad -- A pretty good set of American traditional songs from an
old favorite band of mine. (See response #1 in this item.)
Chuck Brodsky -- I'm generally allergic to singer-songwriters, but Brodsky
has a pretty good streak of black humor, which showed most
memorably in his song about freeway drivers with guns. Perhaps he'll bring
that song to his free show at the Ark, Tues. Sept. 9.
Suzzy Roche -- She's temporarily working as a solo act while The Roches
take a break following the death of their father.
Unfortunately the quirky vocal stylings which are fun in harmony settings
irked me in her solo singing.
Salamander Crossing -- On record, this band has been pleasant but nothing
too special. Live, their old-timey/bluegrass/folk
stylings really sparkled, and the fiddler/singer sounded better than I'd
heard her in the past.
(Also on Friday afternoon: Kristina Olsen, who made my ears perk up
just a *little* bit; Malaika, a women's acapella group from Canada;
Lucy Kaplansky; David Olney.)
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Friday evening:
Pele Juju -- Discovery #1 of my festival weekend. This band of women from
California have a very catchy, percussion-based version of
sounds from Africa and the Carribean, and they were a big hit with the
festival crowd, who vacuumed up their (self-released?) CDs.
Kate & Anna McGarrigle -- Despite some buzzing problems with the sound
system, I was delighted to finally have a chance
to see them perform. Most of the songs came from the new album MATAPEDIA;
from the catalog, they sang "Heart Like A Wheel" and "Heartbeats
Accelerating," plus a funny song from Kate's ex-husband Loudon Wainwright.
Kate & Loudon's daughter Martha Wainwright was there: she sang harmonies
on a few songs, and she also sang one of her own songs. Martha has
a tape out, so I guess she's going to try to follow in her parents'
footsteps. Leslie quite liked Martha's song.
Dan Bern -- Hoo hah!! Bern is one of the unfortunate recipients of
the "new Dylan" marketing tag. I don't see why; he seems mostly
to rant about sex, in largely free-associational style. He started out with
a song about how Marilyn Monroe should have married Henry Miller
instead of Arthur Miller. There was a song which purported to be
about Tiger Woods with the memorable line, "My balls are big but I wish
they were bigger!!" While a Philadelphia TV station was getting ready
for their live remote from the top of the hillside, Bern was in the
background screaming the F-word rather often.
Heh. Definitely not my style. As the Festival is trying to market itself
as a family event, I'm confident Dan Bern will not be invited back.
Tempest -- I don't like Tempest. Every now and then I hear something
by them which I *do* like, but they don't seem able to
sustain this liking for more than a song or two. Their singing grates
on me; after watching their Spinal-Tap kickline dancing for a few
moments, I went back to tending nieces at Leslie's mom's craft booth.
The crowd loved them, and their CDs were huge sellers.
Also on the Friday evening bill: guitarist/singer/songwriter Les Sampou,
cowboy singer & yodeller Don Edwards, and Keb' Mo', who I had to miss
completely.
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anderyn
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response 63 of 228:
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Aug 26 18:24 UTC 1997 |
Tempest is really uneven, but I like more of their stuff than I don't.
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mziemba
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response 64 of 228:
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Aug 27 07:11 UTC 1997 |
Okay, I was wrong about Dar Williams at the Ark...it's *October* 2, not
September 2...
Silly me...
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mziemba
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response 65 of 228:
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Aug 27 17:13 UTC 1997 |
Has anybody checked out the Smithsonian/Folkways re-release of the American
folk music recordings, compiled and annotated by some interesting fellow whose
name I can't recall at the moment? Comes in a box set, runs about $75. Looks
real interesting...
There's a big display over at Schoolkids', with a blow-up of an article from
the _Metro Times_ about it. Can't miss it...
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orinoco
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response 66 of 228:
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Aug 27 22:05 UTC 1997 |
Hmm...I think we've got a Pele Juju CD. I've listened to it once or twice,
didn't find it that memorable, but maybe I should pull it out again.
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krj
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response 67 of 228:
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Aug 29 07:12 UTC 1997 |
Way back to #50: Twila *still* needs to bring us a review of the
INDUSTRY album by the Thompson Twins (*ahem*).
Mark #65: I haven't been to Schoolkids recently, but Bob Blackman
featured quite a few tracks from the Smithsonian anthology on
his Sunday night radio show -- I guess it must have been two weeks ago.
At $75, ow ow ow, I will probably drop some hints that it would be a
nice Christmas present.
orinoco #66: Could you follow up on that Pele Juju CD? What's it called,
where did you get it, stuff like that.
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mziemba
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response 68 of 228:
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Aug 29 07:47 UTC 1997 |
Ken- yeah, pricey...but it looks like it's worth it. These days I don't pick
up much, so setting aside some extra cash for something good is worthwhile,
to me.
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anderyn
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response 69 of 228:
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Aug 30 21:39 UTC 1997 |
Oooh, yeah THIS is the item for that review.... Um, what can I say?
Quite good, really. The album is very nicely balanced between instrumental
tracks (I assume Danny Thompson's work) and vocal tracks (Richard's, for
sure). The liner notes for INDUSTRY are fascinating -- "I think it's im-
pressions of industry and the end of industry... anhe transition between
industrial to post-industrial...that is hopefully reflected on the album."
Richard Thompson. He also states that the song "Saboteur" is a direct
translation of a statement he found in the Karl Marx and Trades Union
Congress libraries.
The songs -- "Sweetheart on the Barricade" is about a strike and the young
man's sweetheart, who's passionately involved -- I get the feeling that
the time period is probably early 1920's or so. "Big Chimney" is more of
a rock song, very driving... "Drifting through the Days" and "Lotteryland"
are both riffs on the theme of unemployment and the hopelessness of those
who are displaced by machinery or "progress" -- though one is more of a
ballad and the other is upbeat in sound, if not in lyrics... The "Saboteur"
song is chilling, since it's in a format that emphasizes the words and
the ambiguous feelings that the saboteur is experiencing... And "Last
Shift" is about a mine closing.... I can't really describe the instrumentals,
but they are all very atmospheric.
So, Ken, how's that? I really liked this album, a lot more than I thought
I would (I seem to dislike Richard Thompson's "experimental" stuff a whole
lot, and I was afraid that this would be more of the same.)
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mziemba
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response 70 of 228:
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Sep 5 08:12 UTC 1997 |
Anyone want to give me a good reason to pick up the McGarrigles _Dancer With
Brusied Knees_? I've been eyeing it for a while, now...
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krj
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response 71 of 228:
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Sep 16 00:45 UTC 1997 |
Twila's review gets an "A". Your assignment for next week is... :)
-----
Continuing our slow-paced review of the 1997 Philadelphia Folk Festival,
from response #62:
From 11 until 4 on Saturday and Sunday, the festival presents informal
"workshop" concerts on three stages around the festival grounds.
The Tank Stage is over by the well faucets, where in earlier days
the water tanker truck was parked. The Craft Stage is located where
the people working in craft booths can hear. And the Camp Stage
is located near an entrance to the festival campground.
I only got to hear one workshop concert on Saturday, but it was the
one I was the most eager for. The theme was "Young People Play Old Songs,"
and there were just two bands, Salamander Crossing
and Cordelia's Dad. Salamander Crossing really hooked in the audience,
got a lot of feet tapping on the dusty hillside.
Cordelia's Dad, on the other hand, almost seemed out to antagonize:
leader Tim Eriksen opened with a long solo acapella ballad which went on
for six minutes or so, and which sent a handful of people wandering off
towards the neighboring stages. It's things like that which make me
describe Cordelia's Dad as "militant hardcore traditionalists."
Cordelia's Dad's drummer Peter Erskine mentioned from the stage that they
had just finished recording their next album, which is now scheduled for
a January 1998 release. Steve Albini (!?!) is producing.
The main stage concert for Saturday afternoon opened with Kate Campbell
and Bill Miller. Miller is a festival favorite; he does a Native American
folk-rock thing, and I probably should pay more attention to him sometime.
Saturday's star was Emmylou Harris; mostly she sang material from her
most recent album, WRECKING BALL, and often it sounded better than the
album. She also had a great song about John the Baptist which I need to
track down. Not sure what else I can say about Emmylou; she was a
childhood favorite of mine when she released her first albums, and it's
interesting coming back to her after so many years. She's got a very
good band working with her.
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