The Surprising, Amazing, Debut Of Nikki Yanofsky: Ella . . . Of Thee I Sing

The Good: Wonderful vocals, Decent musical accompaniment
The Bad: A couple of interpretations that are technically-impressive, but mortgage the emotion of the lines
The Basics: Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing was a smart debut album to show off the innate talents of Nikki Yanofsky and sets the bar high for her original works.


I have come to the conclusion that I have a weird relationship with the musical works of Nikki Yanofsky. After all, having reviewed over 850 albums, I have a pretty long record of appreciating the works of artists, as opposed to performers. In monthlong studies of the works of Elvis Presley and Ella Fitzgerald and a sole Roberta Flack album, I developed an appreciation for original works by musical artists. Singer-songwriters tend to impress me far more than those who simply sing the words of other people. As a result, no one is more surprised than I am that, out of the three full-length albums by Nikki Yanofsky, the one that is highest rated is her cover album. Nikki Yanofsky, before she started composing her own, original, musical works, performed a series of cover songs for her debut concert album, Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing.

I have been a fan of the works of Nikki Yanofsky for a few years now, when I was blown away by her single "Necessary Evil" from Yanofsky's album Little Secret (reviewed here!). Fortunately, my appreciation of Yanofsky's work could not be written off as a stupid crush - I heard "Necessary Evil" more than twenty times before ever seeing the music video! Nikki Yanofsky is incredibly talented and that talent is evident immediately on Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing.

Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is a recording of Yanofsky's concert performance by the same name and it is worth noting that this review is of the album only. After listening to the album a couple times, I tracked down a video of the Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing concert performance and the two experiences are very different. The concert video of Nikki Yanofsky's Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is arguably one of the most unsettling hours of television I have ever watched - the powerful vocals of Nikki Yanofsky paired with visuals of a 13 year-old in braces bouncing around (smiling after singing a line about dying, for example) is an almost impossible-to-reconcile experience. On its own as an audio recording, though, Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is not only an impressive debut for the young performer, but a legitimately wonderful musical experience.

With eighteen songs, clocking out just over an hour, Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is a collection of songs that had been performed famously by Ella Fitzgerald. Outside "Swingin' On The Moon," Nikki Yanofsky performs songs previously covered by Fitzgerald on Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing. On Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing, Nikki Yanofsky provides all of the vocals, while accompanied by a band; she does not play any instruments, nor was she involved in the production of the album.

The instrumental accompaniment for Nikki Yanofsky on Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is good. Yanofsky is accompanied by a full jazz band on Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing and they are more than competent to play the tunes made famous by Ella Fitzgerald. Perhaps what is most musically impressive is how generous Yanofsky is in letting her accompanists play. On "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," Yanofsky gives time and space for multiple performers to play solos. Beyond the occasional solos, the music has a very typical jazz band sound to it. Instrumentally, the mambo for "Relax Max" is a real standout for the band. The album is produced so that the vocals come to the forefront of the audio experience.

What makes Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing so impressive are the vocals of Nikki Yanofsky. From the very first song, Nikki Yanofsky illustrates vocal abilities far beyond those of the average teenager. On "Lullaby In Birdland," Yanofsky hits all of the high notes and displays amazing lung capacity. Seriously, after listening to the first song, one might guess that as a teenager, Nikki Yanofsky was a track star based on how long she can hold notes. But most of Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is not slow at all. Yanofsky sings fast and precisely on "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."

Range and vocal power are at the forefront of Yanofsky's skills on Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing. In her youthful voice, Yanofsky declares that if Ella Fitzgerald did not perform the song "Swingin' On The Moon" (I could not find any evidence that Fitzgerald ever recorded a version of the song with a cursory search), she should have, but then she illustrates why the song would have been an amazing fit for the venerable performer. Yanofsky sounds like she is channeling Fitzgerald when she makes leaps from her lowest register into full-on soprano vocals. Yanofsky is amazing with her ability to make such register transitions.

Not all of the songs or interpretations on Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing are winners. "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is terribly repetitive, but given that Yanofsky had nothing to do with writing the songs, this is not at all her fault. Yanofsky's rendition of "Old MacDonald" is absolutely disturbing, especially as an audio recording without the visual concert experience. Nikki Yanosky performs "Old MacDonald" at a speed that is mind-numbing; she sings so fast that the only note I could make on how well she articulated each word in the song was "wow." Yanofsky is absolutely amazing with her technical ability on "Old MacDonald," but the song itself is just troubling to listen to in her rendition.

Even so, virtually every potential negative remark one could make about Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is more than balanced out by the positive elements of it. The speed-singing on "Old MacDonald" does not diminish how impressive Nikki Yanofsky's range is on the song. Yanofsky performs "You've Changed" with such a powerful voice that does not reveal the singer's youth relative to the lyrics. Despite the weird dedication to her dog on "At Last," Nikki Yanofsky still exhibits amazing, soulful, vocals on the track. The raw charisma on "A Tisket, A Tasket" is fun as well.

Ultimately, Ella . . . Of Thee I Swing is an impressive jazz album and it foreshadows the potential Nikki Yanofsky possesses . . . even if she has not yet successfully, consistently, translated it into her own, original works.

The best song is "Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues," the worst track is "The Way You Look Tonight," which (admittedly, I am inherently biased against given the strong connection I have to James Darren's version) was presented with the lyrics going too fast, lacking time to reflect upon them.

For other albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Nikki - Nikki Yanofsky
25 - Adele
Emerald - Dar Williams

8/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Beat Poet Nova: The Sorrowjoy (Recording) Underwhelms

The Good: One or two lines are interesting
The Bad: Ambient music is a real mixed bag, Vocally unimpressive, Musically uninteresting
The Basics: Heather Nova's vocal presentation of The Sorrowjoy is a surprisingly tough sell from the usually fantastic singer-songwriter.


Last year, when Heather Nova began her PledgeMusic.com campaign, I put in a request directly with the artist for one of the items that could be bought to support the new album (which comes out this month!). One of the artifacts of hers that I have long sought is her book of poetry, The Sorrowjoy. I was pretty psyched when Nova responded by making available digital copies of the audio version of The Sorrowjoy. After listening to The Sorrowjoy, I am far less enthused and a little more trepedatious about actually ever getting my hands on one of the copies of her book.

The Sorrowjoy is a forty-four track album of Heather Nova reciting her poetry from The Sorrowjoy to ambient music. The music ranges from hints of a keyboard rendition of "Sugar" to back up Nova's abuse-themed poetry to computerized sounds to accompany a poem about the disconnect between the protagonist and her friends, despite having more communications devices.

Each of the forty-four poems is read by Heather Nova and part of my issue is with the performance (something I never thought I'd say about Nova!). Most of the lines are presented with surprisingly little emotion, so there is a droning quality to the recording that makes one envision a smoky, depressing, beat club with a chronically-depressed poet reciting in monotones to a bored audience. Between that and Nova pronouncing "capillaries" in a way I had never before heard, the recording is more off-putting than inspiring.

Thematically, The Sorrowjoy meanders from travel to relationships to memory poems and for an artist who has always captivated me with her lyrics, the surprise of the album is that none of the lines are so incredible as to stand out and be memorable. In fact, thinking of The Sorrowjoy, the only line I can instantly recall is one from an anecdote poem wherein the narrator's grandmother tells the narrator it is okay to live with a man before marriage, before abruptly changing her mind.

The result is an auditorily dull experience and the most complete dud Nova has ever produced. The Sorrowjoy might read better on the page, but as recited in The Sorrowjoy, Heather Nova completely fails to impress as a poet.

For other Heather Nova album reviews, please be sure to check out:
These Walls
Glowstars
Oyster
Blow
Live From The Milky Way
Siren
Wonderlust
South
Storm
Redbird
The Jasmine Flower
300 Days At Sea
Live In Cologne 2/26/2014

.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for a comprehensive listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Encapsulate It All: Live In Leuven 12/10/10 Is Enough To Reinvigorate A Love For Heather Nova!

The Good: Wonderful primary and backing vocals! Great lyrics, Duration
The Bad: Live conceits (crowd noises), One or two interstitials, Less successful musical experiment
The Basics: Live In Leuven 12/10/10 spans virtually the entire musical career of Heather Nova (so far) and manages to make even her most overplayed works seem new again!


It takes a pretty incredible musical artist to make live albums that are so vastly different that in reviewing one, I would comment "enough already" on some of the artist's most oft-played tracks and then on the very next album, I would praise how she has reinvented the track. And yet, Heather Nova is just such a talented musical artist. Nova is the latest musical artist to get on the bandwagon with bootlegging her own concert recordings (something which the digital music revolution has truly made easier) and she has been providing those recordings to fans as a way of generating capital for her forthcoming album, The Way It Feels. As a donor for The Way It Feels, one of the live performances I purchased directly from Heather Nova via PledgeMusic is Live In Leuven 12/10/10.

After listening to the other acoustic set Nova sold to generate funds, Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 (reviewed here!) and Live In Eindhoven 2011 (reviewed here!), the album Heather Nova gave fans as a "thank you" for the delay in the release of The Way It Feels, the real surprise of Live In Leuven 12/10/10 is that she still has enough material to make it worth the listener's while. Live In Leuven 12/10/10 is a virtual "Best Of" Heather Nova in that it impressively spans the musical career of Heather Nova in such a way that it includes songs from her first full album, Glowstars and teases 300 Days At Sea. Impressively, Live In Leuven 12/10/10 includes some of the cover songs and collaborations for which Heather Nova is known, most notably "Someone New" and "Like A Hurricane."

With an hour and forty-one minutes of music, comprised of twenty-one tracks (twenty-two songs, in reality), Live In Leuven 12/10/10 might be the most original concert recording of Heather Nova's career. The concert might be over four years old, but the presentation of it seems to promise listeners that a live performance by Heather Nova could include virtually any of her songs. Nova provides all of the lead vocals and plays guitar on the album as well. One assumes that, given how she is privately releasing it, that Nova was integral to the production process as well. Outside "Gloomy Sunday" and "Like A Hurricane," Nova wrote or co-wrote all of the songs.

So very many years after Glowstars, the fact that "All The Way" is added to "Gloomy Sunday" as a coda/hidden track is fun and it gives Live In Leuven 12/10/10 the feeling that anything is musically possible for a Heather Nova performance. Nova makes good on that promise as she presents an eclectic mix of her classic and contemporary works. "Everything Changes" immediately precedes "Sugar;" "I Miss My Sky" leads into a surprisingly powerful rendition of "Heart And Shoulder" (a song I thought I was sick of, but turns out Heather Nova can still present in a way that is instantly intriguing to the ear!).

The mix and arrangement are not flawless - the experimental version of "Aquamarine" that Nova does on Live In Leuven 12/10/10 does not quite land - but Heather Nova makes the concert work well as an album. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me, in terms of arrangement, was that Nova includes "Fool For You" and "Doubled Up" (two songs that closed prior studio albums) in the middle. Usually, the climactic, melancholy, sound of the two tracks is incongruent for middle of the album tracks, but inexplicably, Nova makes them work as centerpieces onLive In Leuven 12/10/10.

Perhaps the reason Live In Leuven 12/10/10 works so well is the instrumental diversity on the album. For an acoustic album, Live In Leuven 12/10/10 makes wonderful use of strings ("Maybe Tomorrow" has a haunting accompaniment by violin or cello) and frequent use of keyboards. That makes the album sound more energized than many live albums and Nova gives it her all vocally and instrumental. The result is an album where songs like "Walk This World" appear and have more of a percussion-driven sound than they do on the studio (or other live) versions of the the song!

Live In Leuven 12/10/10 has Heather Nova leading her talented back-up artists. While she is accompanied by acts she is familiar with, none of them outshine her. The male backing vocals play well on "Walk This World" and "Fool For You." Interestingly, Nova includes a moment when her voice cracks and the very awkward beginning to attempting to play the remixed version of "Aquamarine." That lends a feeling of authenticity and immediacy to Live In Leuven 12/10/10. But the flubs are definitely the exception to the rule on Live In Leuven 12/10/10; most of the album has Nova presenting her songs (and the covers) in a beautiful soprano voice that is absolutely angelic!

The other pleasant aspect of Live In Leuven 12/10/10 is the inclusion of a few decent interstitials. Between a few songs, Nova talks about her songs and finally hearing some backstory for "London Rain" is pretty awesome. The ultimate result is an incredible sampler that is enough to tease newbies with so much of the lyrical and vocal quality of Heather Nova to make them want to hear more and enough of a reward fans of Heather Nova to be patient for the impending, if delayed, release of her next album.

The best track on the album is “Talk To Me” and the weak track is "Aquamarine."

For other Heather Nova album reviews, please be sure to check out:
These Walls
Glowstars
Oyster
Blow
Live From The Milky Way
Siren
South
Storm
Redbird
The Jasmine Flower
300 Days At Sea

8.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for a comprehensive listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wonderlust Redux: Live In Eindhoven 2011 Is An Energetic Live Heather Nova Recording!

The Good: Wonderful primary and backing vocals! Great lyrics, Duration
The Bad: Live conceits (crowd noises), Mix is getting a bit old . . .
The Basics: An album given by Heather Nova to her PledgeMusic supporters, Live In Eindhoven 2011 is a worthy addition to her musical library!


PledgeMusic.com is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sites (this morning, for example, I discovered that Dar Williams is on there now crowdsourcing her new album!) and the artist who introduced me to the site was Heather Nova. As a supporter of her forthcoming album, The Way It Feels, I was alternately dismayed and elated when she announced that the new album was delayed and then gave her donors a “new” album. The “new” album is Live In Eindhoven 2011 and while Nova claims it would be available on her website, but if it was, I could not find it there!

Live In Eindhoven 2011 most directly follows in the tradition of Nova’s live album Wonderlust (reviewed here!) as an energetic concert experience. The twenty-track album has recordings from, as the name suggests, Nova’s concert in Eidenhoven (The Netherlands) in 2011. Nova was backed by several musicians, so the album has a more full sound than her Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 (reviewed here!), which was available for her fans by buying direct on PledgeMusic.

With almost two hours of music over twenty tracks, Heather Nova presents a decent concert experience for listeners who could not be present for the event. Live In Eindhoven 2011 is a mix of songs from most of her albums and it is not an acoustic set. Instead, Nova plays with rich bass and electric guitars on Live In Eindhoven 2011. Were it not for the difference in sound for the musical and vocal accompaniment, Live In Eindhoven 2011 could have been a dud; half the tracks are the same songs as on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 and that is troubling for an artist with such an immense body of work!

Live In Eindhoven 2011 makes a good companion piece to Wonderlust, as only five of the tracks are duplicated. “London Rain” is delightfully different on Live In Eindhoven 2011 than on any other recording of hers! Unfortunately, there is only so much she can and does do with “Island” and (as much as I love it . . .) “Heart And Shoulder.” Still, the inclusion of so much music that is from well after Siren makes Live In Eindhoven 2011 a good mix of songs that are different from Wonderlust.

The power of Live In Eindhoven 2011 comes from Heather Nova’s lyrics and voice. On Live In Eindhoven 2011, Nova is backed by Sara Johnson and she is an amazing accompaniment for Nova. Songs like “Until The Race Is Run” and “Fool For You” pop in new and delightful ways with Johnson backing Nova. In fact, the real power of any live album is managing to present a familiar song in a new and compelling way. While hearing “Ride” on Live In Eindhoven 2011 reminded me of the first time I heard that song (and cried!), the most amazing thing came while hearing the new version of “Fool For You.”

“Fool For You” is one of Nova’s more simple songs and the original version of it was not exactly the most electric song in the world. In fact, the version that is on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 was so unmemorable that until my wife challenged me to count off how many tracks were shared between the live albums, I did not remember that it was even on it! But on Live In Eindhoven 2011, Nova takes her haunting, quiet song and indescribably reimagines it. She did not change the lyrics or the basic tune, but listening to “Fool For You” on Live In Eindhoven 2011, I became overwhelmed with potent memories of every bad decision I made in past relationships in a way the song has never triggered me before! The result (in addition to tears) was a feeling like I was hearing the song for the first time in the best possible way; Nova, backed by Johnson, somehow manage to make the old sound fresh, new and potent in a way the song did not quite pop before!

The result is a live album that seems like it will hold up well and is a decent gift to Heather Nova’s fans. It is certainly enough to hold us over until The Way It Feels hits stores in May!

The best track on the album is “Fool For You,” and by this point, I’ve heard enough “different” versions of “Island” and “Heart And Shoulder” to last a lifetime.

For other Heather Nova album reviews, please be sure to check out:
These Walls
Glowstars
Oyster
Blow
Live From The Milky Way
Siren
South
Storm
Redbird
The Jasmine Flower
300 Days At Sea

7/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for a comprehensive listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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For Those Of Us Who Couldn’t Be There . . . Heather Nova Brings Us Live In Cologne 2/26/2014!

The Good: Great vocals! Wonderful lyrics, Some of the reinterpretations, Good mix of Nova’s body of work, Duration
The Bad: Some of the interstitials, One or two less successful reinterpretations
The Basics: Heather Nova’s new “acoustic session,” Live In Cologne 2/26/2014, is a decent mix of live versions of songs from across her career and makes for a generally solid album!


Late last year, I was introduced to a pretty awesome website by my love of the musical artist Heather Nova. The site is PledgeMusic.com and it is a place where musical artists who no longer have the support of big music studios are going to get their new works funded and produced by their fans by offering presales and exclusive merchandise. As much as I love the idea, even helping to fund Heather Nova’s forthcoming album could not get me a copy of her poetry book The Sorrowjoy, which I have long coveted. What it did get me, in addition to physical and digital copies of her next album, are two “acoustic session” recordings. I put “acoustic session” in quotes because on her first one, Live In Cologne 2/26/2014, Nova is accompanied by a synthesizer on “Avalanche” so while it is a recording of a live event, it is not entirely acoustic. Moreover, there are some vocal alterations that make it hard to consider Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 an acoustic album (most notably the reverb elements on “Winterblue And Walking Higher”).

That said, there is not a lot to not like about Live In Cologne 2/26/2014. Heather Nova is clearly rewarding her loyal audience by providing them with an impressive experience and her vocals are chilling in an “acoustic” live setting (the first concert I ever attended, Heather Nova performed a very rock and roll set with a very different sound to it!). And Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is a decent mix of works from Heather Nova’s career from Oyster through her forthcoming album (Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 has one song, “The Archaeologist,” which has not been released on any other works). Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is a remarkably melancholy experience and Nova picked a selection of some of her moodiest, saddest songs for fans to kill themselves by, er, tide themselves over until her new album. “Paper Cup” is very much the mood, feel and sound of the songs on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014.

With nineteen songs coming out with almost two hours of music, Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is very much a value and it is quite indicative of the talents of singer-songwriter Heather Nova. Nova provides all of the lead vocals (rather annoyingly, she has to prompt her accompanying vocalist on “Fool For You”) and the tracklist is made up entirely of songs she wrote. She, presumably, played instruments on each song. Given than Nova herself is releasing Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 directly, one suspects that she was involved in its production, if not its engineering and mixing.

Instrumentally, Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is quite a bit more diverse than most live albums. Nova might not use electric guitar on the album the way she does on her studio works, but the acoustic guitar is not alone on this album (Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 does not sound like “one woman and a guitar” as so many solo female artists can). There is a beautiful and impressive harmonica part that opens “Fool For You” and the combination of guitar, piano, cello and vocals on many of the songs gives them a rich sound.

Vocally, Nova is playing entirely in her soprano range on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014. Perhaps all that is more impressive than Nova holding some of the notes that she does is that she gets through such a long set at such a high register. While “I Wanna Be Your Light” is equally impressive on this live version as it is on her studio recordings, the fact that she gets to a new recording of “Storm” and is still hitting the high notes and still can hold the long notes is impressive.

Nova’s vocals are accompanied by someone she identifies as Arnoff. Sadly for a permanent recording like this one, their banter is just horrible. Arnoff sounds, sadly, like a flake and Nova doesn’t sound like she is quite into what he is pitching, so their recorded conversations as he tunes the cello plays poorly on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014. It sucks the listener out of the experience and makes the listener question Heather Nova’s touring choices (the fact that he pats himself on the back after just blowing coming in on a song makes him seem like a poor accompanist to someone as professional and artistic as Heather Nova.

The big question for fans of Heather Nova who have not seen her perform lately (i.e. all of us in the U.S.!), is “what does her new track say for the potential of the new album?” The unique song on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is “The Archeologist” and Nova wrote it about her trip to Pompeii. I can respect that; going somewhere and being overwhelmed by the emotion of the history of a place. Pompeii can be a musically powerful subject, as is evidenced by the Dar Williams song “This Was Pompeii.” Unfortunately, “The Archeologist” does not quite rise to such heights of poetry. Nova seems to want to do a similar thing to Williams in writing a song that mirrors the destruction of Pompeii with the end of a relationship, but she is less successful. While she starts with the beautiful poetry of “Every day is like Pompeii / Buried undera ash and clay / Wishing we could push up push up / Through to the end / Every little piece of us / Thinking of the way it was / Earth has got to give way someday” (“The Archeologist”), the song is not maintained with a consistency to make it one of her better songs. There are weird perspective changes in the song like “I’ll be the archeologist / You just have to put your faith in me” (“The Archeologist”) which do not fit the more abstract lines about Pompeii and a couple working together. Hopefully, the new album will more in her fine tradition than “The Archeologist” indicates.

That said, Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is also plagued by an arrangement issue. Heather Nova knows how to end an album. Seriously, she has incredible, epic closing songs that finish her albums like she was writing a definitive closing-credits song for a movie. Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 includes “Stay” and “Fool For You” which ended two of Nova’s albums and they come up in the middle of the recording, which just leads to an anticlimax for the listener. “Truth And Bone” gets pushed to near the end and it is a rare thing for me to hear Nova perform “Truth And Bone” and for me not to rave about it. It is such an amazing song, but on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014, Nova performs it in such a listless way. There is no spark, no passion in her presentation of it. Nova clearly still has passion for some of her older works; “Island” and “Avalanche” sound absolutely amazing in this recording.

On the balance, Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 is a worthwhile live album and one that will tide fans of Heather Nova over (those who haven’t yet, should go to Pledgemusic and support her soon-to-be-released album by buying the Acoustic Downloads!), but it illustrates a narrow, moody range of one of the world’s best singer-songwriters. While it works, for the most part, it is not flawless and it might work against getting fans to show up for live performances (the back and forths with Arnoff are that bad). It is enough, though, to renew the faith fans have and to whet their appetite for what comes next!

The best track is “Higher Ground” and I was not wowed by “Winterblue And Walking Higher” (presented on Live In Cologne 2/26/2014 as a single song that transitions from one to the other).

For other Heather Nova album reviews, please be sure to check out:
These Walls
Glowstars
Oyster
Blow
Live From The Milky Way
Siren
Wonderlust
South
Storm
Redbird
The Jasmine Flower
300 Days At Sea

7.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for a listing of the reviews from best work to worst!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Best Of All That’s Left: R.E.M. Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions (Mostly) Satisfies!

The Good: Wonderful mix, Good vocals, A few decent reinterpretations of R.E.M. (and a cover) songs.
The Bad: A few unimpressive renditions, Two versions of “Losing My Religion”
The Basics: Definitely geared towards the hordes of fans missing R.E.M., Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is more less enough to tide us over.


Not too long ago, I read an article by Jerry Seinfeld in which the comedian lamented the end of the television show Seinfeld and he empathized with viewers who were having trouble finding comedies to get into. Despite the obvious potential that he was publishing such an article to test the waters for a Seinfeld reunion or reboot, it got me thinking about how many shows and artists I truly miss. The more I listen to R.E.M. at nights while I work, the more I feel a bit cheated that the band did not have the same type of political activism or spirit during the Bush (II) Administration as it did during the Reagan Administration. Listening to songs from the I.R.S. years, it is clear R.E.M. started with a strong sense of political indignation about all sorts of (then) current events, largely at the national level. By the Bush Administration and Iraq War, they were more of a corporate entity than they were at their founding (and that’s fine). So, when the band disbanded a few years ago, fans who were more casual (I have four R.E.M. albums in my permanent collection, albeit two of those are multi-disc sets) R.E.M. fans were left wondering what the band left on the sidelines during their final years. Hope flared for me when it was announced that R.E.M. was opening the vaults and releasing a new album in 2014.

That album is Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions and it is a compilation album that is not going to light the world on fire. Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is not at all disappointing, but it is not the indispensible album fans of any ilk of R.E.M. have been waiting for. Instead, the best that can be said of the two-disc album which culls all of the songs R.E.M. recorded for MTV’s Unplugged television show that was popular back when MTV still was more focused on music than reality television programming, is that it gives all of us who came to R.E.M.’s music far too late to ever see them in concert (I was a fan for years . . . when their ticket prices were prohibitively expensive to my budget, as opposed to fans finding the band after their break-up) a chance to have an R.E.M. concert experience.

That experience is a good one, though it is not absolutely incredible or precious the way a cache of never before released new R.E.M. songs would have been. As part of the MTV Unplugged series, R.E.M. recorded two concerts in 1991 and 2001. Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is, as the title promises, the complete recording and it fleshes out the two television programs with eleven previously unreleased, unavailable recordings. With thirty-three tracks (32 songs, as “Losing My Religion” was recorded twice), the two-disc set has the volume one wants from a set of songs that are, for the most part, available elsewhere (it might not be the most exciting thing, but the portions are great!).

Because the album is clearly intended for fans, I find myself not wanting to follow a formulaic review; if you’ve never heard the music of R.E.M., Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is not the album to start with to suddenly give you an appreciation for the band’s depth, scope, and sound. Stripped back to minimal guitars, bass, and muted percussion, Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is a vocally-driven album that has the sound of being recorded at an intimate venue with minimal crowd sounds and a focus on the music and message of R.E.M.

What listeners are given is two concerts that actually blend well into one, making for a remarkably cohesive experience. Dedicated fans who have never managed to catch all of the words to “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” will have the pleasure of a slower version where R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe enunciates clearly each and every word. As a fan of the film Love Actually (reviewed here!), I was pretty psyched to actually hear R.E.M. cover the song “Love Is All Around” (which is the only non-R.E.M. song on the two-disc set).

The other real gem of the set is the first disc’s closing song. “World Leader Pretend” is one of R.E.M.’s songs that I had never truly heard before. With its lines “It's amazing what devices you can sympathize / Empathize / This is my mistake, let me make it good / I raised the wall / And I will be the one to knock it down” (“World Leader Pretend”), R.E.M. brilliantly blends the personal and the political to make a song that sounds fresh and gritty even decades later.

On the flip side, songs like “Find The River” and “Fall On Me” are virtually identical to their studio recordings. In fact, if nothing else, Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions reminds listeners just how much R.E.M.’s music was not dependent upon production values. R.E.M. grew up on a musical tradition where songwriters actually created music and tunes; Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions reminds listeners the power of the combination of clear vocals, decent musical tunes and poetic lyrics by stripping away the extraneous elements R.E.M. had on a few of their recordings. More often than not, though, listeners hear something that is entirely familiar to their ears on Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions. The clear vocals that are never produced to be sublimated to the instrumentals sound a lot like the early recordings of R.E.M., but on some of the tracks, that makes for difference enough to justify the existence of the album.

Unplugged: The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions is a decent-enough set for those who love R.E.M. and want something more from the band and will settle for non-dramatic reinterpretations of their previously-released recordings.

The best tracks are “World Leader Pretend” (disc 1) and “Country Feedback” (disc 2) and the low points are “Swan Swan H” (disc 1) and “Imitation Of Life” (disc 2).

For other R.E.M. albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Murmur
Document
Life’s Rich Pageant
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Up
Reveal
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 - 2003 (Single Disc)
In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988 – 2003 (Deluxe)
Around The Sun
. . . And I Feel Fine: The Best Of The I.R.S. Years
Accelerate

7/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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More For The Fans . . . Foiled For The Last Time Celebrates Blue October’s (Commercial) Peak!

The Good: Good lyrics, Good vocals, Decent instrumental accompaniment, Good duration
The Bad: Repetitive for those not agog over Blue October.
The Basics: The two-disc Foiled For The Last Time is Blue October’s breakout album alongside a live version of the album.


Over the years, my wife has become quite the fan of the band Blue October. That means that I both listen to quite a bit of Blue October and that some of the gifts she cherishes from me are albums she came to the relationship with that I later upgraded with deluxe versions. Like many Blue October fans, my wife was drawn to the band by the strength of their breakout album Foiled (reviewed here!). Foiled is a good album (not Blue October’s best!) and the band was producing legitimate, emotional, interesting rock and roll at a time when pop-rock was pretty much dead (sublimated on Top 40 stations to hip-hop and dance music). So, when I found Foiled For The Last Time, it was a pretty obvious gift for me to give to my wife.

Foiled For The Last Time is a two-disc set that is good, but is a tougher sell for casual fans/listeners, especially those who already have Foiled. Foiled For The Last Time is Foiled (Disc 1) and “Teach Your Baby Well Live” (Disc 2). Because I’ve already reviewed Foiled, this review will focus exclusively on Disc 2 of Foiled For The Last Time. Foiled For The Last Time is essentially a live version of Foiled without “Congratulations” or “Calling You,” but with “For My Mother” and “Angel.” The live versions are interesting and “Angel” is good, but it’s a tough sell to say that Foiled For The Last Time is worth it to those who are not already fans of Blue October or who are thinking of an upgrade to Foiled. For sure, I would recommend Foiled For The Last Time as a “buy first” over Foiled, but if you’ve already shelled out for the one version, it’s hard to justify spending again for the upgrade.

With fourteen tracks, clocking out at more than sixty-five minutes of music, Foiled For The Last Time is very much the work of Blue October. The album is entirely written (with three tracks co-written) by the band’s lead singer, Justin Furstenfeld. The quintet plays their own instruments, including Justin, who plays guitar and harmonica on various tracks. Foiled For The Last Time was not produced by Blue October, but considering they were releasing the two-disc version for their fans, it seems unlikely they would have allowed the live versions of their songs to be released if they were not pleased with the way they sounded.

Vocally, Foiled For The Last Time is dominated by the vocals of Justin Furstenfeld. Furstenfeld has a smooth voice, for the most part; he only gets raspy when he presents lines filled with anger. The rest of the time, he sings in the higher tenor range and all of his lyrics are completely comprehensible on Foiled For The Last Time. Only on two or three songs does Furstenfeld get overwhelming assistance on his songs from the audience (predictably, “Hate Me” is one of them). Fortunately, this is far less than most “live” albums and as a result, the live conceits are hardly as annoying as they could be. Unfortunately, this particular live album helps to reveal just how little production goes into the vocals or instrumentals of Justin Furstenfeld or Blue October. Furstenfeld sounds virtually identical on both albums, so there are no radical vocal reinterpretations of the Blue October songs on Foiled For The Last Time.

Neither are there dramatic musical alterations on Foiled For The Last Time. Blue October is essentially a guitar, bass, percussion band and they sound quite similar “live” as they do on the produced album. In fact, only the live version of “Drilled A Wire Through My Cheek” sounds significantly more electric “live” than the rest of the set and it still does not sound quite as produced as the original version. As a result, Foiled For The Last Time is largely a collection of two mildly-different versions of some wonderful songs with a couple of minor differences (like crowd noises and an occasional bit where the production was kicked up on the album, usually almost imperceptibly).

What remains largely constant on Foiled For The Last Time is the quality of the lyrics. To be fair to the alternate presentation, it wasn’t until I listened to the acoustic version that I truly heard the lines to “Let It Go.” Furstenfeld plaintively sings “Follow me home / Through the, the maze and on / I'll show you the road /That I led you the wrong way on / Why did I go that way? / Why do I steal? / How could I let her go? / Why do I feel?” (“Let It Go”) and it’s shocking how easy it is to overlook the song on the first album given how powerful of a statement he is making.

The song unique to Foiled For The Last Time is “Angel.” “Angel” is about loneliness and being abandoned/unrecognized. With lines like “How do you tell your Father, / That you want him to notice you? / Why does this seem like such a bother? / When mom says you'd be better off dead / But I want to see you / I still want to see you / Oh would you call me?” (“Angel”), Blue October at least gives consistency in the quality of its exclusive track on the dual-disc album. “Angel” is one of the few angsty songs Furstenfeld wrote about his childhood, as opposed to his role as spouse or parent.

For those otherwise unfamiliar with Blue October, the band is largely known for its angst. Justin Furstenfeld frequently sings about the dissolution of his marriage, depression and anger. The emotional complexity of Furstenfeld’s songs is embodied by “18th Floor Balcony.” On that musical storysong, Furstenfeld passionately writes, “And I'll try to sleep / To keep you in my dreams / 'til I can bring you home with me / I'll try to sleep / And when I do I'll keep you in my... dreams / I knew it from the start / So my arms are open wide / Your head is on my stomach / And we're trying so hard not to fall asleep” (“18th Floor Balcony”). The poetics translate well to music and they create a powerful mood on Foiled For The Last Time.

Ultimately, Foiled For The Last Time is worth the money and is the essential way to get the songs from Foiled, even if fans might begrudge spending twice on half the material. The best song on disc 2 is “Let It Go,” the weak track is “For My Mother.”

For other Blue October albums, please visit my reviews of:
Approaching Normal
Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October
Sway

8.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Added, Pointless, Profanity, Why Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October Fails To Land!

The Good: Lyrics, Most of the vocals, Decent instrumental accompaniment/sound
The Bad: “Live” conceits, Short, Most of the ad libs, Nothing unique/exceptional reinterpretations.
The Basics: Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October illustrates well how many of Blue October’s most recognizable songs sound virtually the same live vs. their studio versions.


One would never know from how few reviews of Blue October albums I have written and posted how popular the band is around my house. To be honest, it is my wife’s love of the band that leads to their music being on around the house more often than not, but as I finish reposting the reviews I wrote from the site I used to be quite popular and prominent on, I am rediscovering the joys of music reviews and because I have such easy access to Blue October albums, odds are I’ll be reviewing more of them in the upcoming weeks. Today, though, my attention has been on Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October.

Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October is one of those dust-covered c.d.s on the shelf that I bought for my wife when she fell in love with the band Blue October and that she listens to, at best, once a year. Given how much she loves Blue October and would have liked to see them live around the time Approaching Normal was released, I thought Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October would have been a slam-dunk album for her. But when I picked the album up and started listening to it on heavy rotation, I learned quickly what she already knew: the album is nothing really new and what is new is hardly extraordinary.

With eleven tracks, clocking out at 54:04, Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October is very much the work of Justin Furstenfeld and the band Blue October. The album culls performances from a few Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas shows and features songs released on their various albums. There are no unique tracks to this album, save “Colorado 5591,” and it is very much an album for the fans. In fact, those who only know Blue October from their enduring radio hit “Hate Me” will be disappointed; that track is not performed live on the album. However, given the way the audience reacts to the announcement that the band was about to perform “Into The Ocean,” it is clear the album is intended to give fans who were not only showing up for the popular hit something new. Blue October’s members play all of the instruments and provide all of the vocals on Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October. Jeremy and Justin Furstenfeld produced Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October, so it is pretty much undeniable that this is the intended work of Blue October.

What the work proves is that live or in the studio, Blue October is at a place where they are able to release the music they want to release. There is remarkably little distinction in most of the tracks on Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October between the acoustic versions of their songs and the studio-produced versions of the same songs. In fact, the haunting violin on “The End” sounds so close to the produced version of the song that closes a prior album that one almost has to doubt that it actually met the qualification of being “acoustic.”

This leads me to my usual rant about “live” albums. So many artists seem convinced that in order to release a live album, they have to include as much noise from the audience as possible to prove to listeners that the album was recorded live. Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October features enough vocal differentiation – right off the bat on the first track, “Ugly Side,” in fact – to convince listeners that the work was recorded at a live venue (or live venues) so the crowd noises are actually more distracting and annoying than in some way “authentic.” Between the song introductions and an inordinate number of times that Furstenfeld inserts some variation of the word “fuck” into the songs (in places they were not originally), Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October is clearly a series of new recordings. Unfortunately, the addition of expletives does not make the already angsty and tormented Furstenfeld’s lyrics resonate any more than they already did.

Listening to Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October, one is immediately struck by how Justin Furstenfeld might not actually be the most original-sounding vocalist. My wife long-claimed that Furstenfeld had one of the unique male voices in music today. But, stripped of production elements, especially on songs like “The Answers,” Furstenfeld’s vocals sound familiar and derivative of others. On “The Answers,” he growls through the song like Eddie Vedder, on “Into The Ocean” and (especially) “X Amount Of Words” he sounds virtually identical to Michael Stipe of R.E.M., and the harmonizing vocals on “Amazing” make the vocals sound suspiciously like a lost David Bowie track! The vocals are not bad and Furstenfeld sings clearly, which is nice because it allows the listener to actually hear his lyrics.

Instrumentally, Blue October is presented on Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October as a very straightforward guitar/bass/drums band. The percussion is well-presented for the acoustic versions and the occasional violin helps make the instrumental accompaniment sound a little more distinctive than some other bands that are string-based.

What is entirely unsurprising on Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October are the lyrics and tone of the album. Blue October is not known for being a peppy band (and that’s wonderful!). Apparently, their live shows are not where they break out their upbeat songs. Instead, songs have lines like “Now our history is for sale / And for that I apologize / You see you're my only know how / The study of when I believe I belonged to you / You see I've made you into something delicious, / My sweet ghost / So have I found your secret weak spot, baby? / Can you pretend I'm amazing? / I can pretend I'm amazing / Instead of what we both know” (“Amazing”) that are haunting and deeply emotive. The album oscillates between sad songs and angry songs, with little thematic variation.

The original song on Ugly Side is a personal narrative by Justin Furstenfeld. The musical storysong follows Furstenfeld as musical narrator as he journeys through a psychiatric hospital: “I speak of Colorado 5591 / Where there's a paxil-plated morning sun / A hug every now and then from everyone / Colorado 5591 / But would you take it away, boys? . . . And through this mad parade I walked alone / And tried to find music to my own song / But the music too loud or the crowd too strong / I kept to myself, I kept alone” (“Colorado 5591”). The song is good and clear, but not an essential Blue October track that justifies the creation of or the purchase of the album.

Ultimately, Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October gives fans remarkably little that is new and nothing that is truly incredible, making it impossible to recommend. The best track is “Into The Ocean,” the low point is the less memorable “Tomorrow.”

For other Blue October albums, please visit my reviews of:
Foiled
Approaching Normal
Sway

4/10

For other album reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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I'm Going To Tell You A Secret: Even An Extra DVD Can't Save This Outing!

The Good: One or two songs/versions
The Bad: Bland video, Uninspired vocal performances, "Live" performance conceits
The Basics: Madonna's tour album is a flat-out disappointment.


I hate reviewing live albums. I loathe reviewing live albums because if the performance on the c.d. is not great and I review the c.d., invariably I'll get someone who pops up to write about how they were at the concert where the album was recorded and it was an amazing live experience. This nightmare scenario replays over and over again in my reviews and I've discovered that Bruce Springsteen fans are especially rabid about that (check out my review of Live From New York City here!) and there seems to be a lack of ability for such fans to disconnect between the performance they remember and the c.d. that was marketed after it. Then again, I get comments when I review some artist's debut where people flame me about how they improve on their subsequent albums. So, sadly, I shall once again begin my review of a live album with the disclaimer that what I am reviewing is Madonna's two disc (one c.d., one DVD) set called I’m Going To Tell You A Secret. This is not a commentary on the concert it was recorded at (save in remarking on the DVD), this is not a commentary on Madonna's overall career or ability to perform a live concert. No, this is just for this two-disc set (I feel so cheap even having to write that).

I’m Going To Tell You A Secret is a fourteen track trainwreck that clocks in at just under sixty-six minutes. The DVD is two hours of watching Madonna move her tour from city to city with limited performance footage in each place. The DVD is billed as a documentary, but it is nothing so cohesive as watching Madonna set up from city to city and there's nothing terribly extraordinary about it. In fact, it becomes so pointless as to include Madonna going to the bathroom and insisting that the camera operator does not want to follow her, which they do. It's very "we're making a documentary" documentary as opposed to something that actually says something or makes a genuine statement. It's not even terribly revealing of Madonna as an artist or human being (though watching her complain to a vocal coach in one of the bonuses over the alterations to her diet her coach insists on is certainly fun). The DVD is not nearly enough to justify purchasing this edition of this album.

As for the live performance, it's been a while since I wished I could simply cheat out the review as "meh, this is not worth your time," but I'm trying to write something truly insightful here. I’m Going To Tell You A Secret is not worth your time, whether or not you like the works of Madonna. Listening to this c.d., the listener often finds themselves lost. So, for example, there is the instrumental bagpipe track "Susan MacLeod" which morphs into Madonna's "Into The Groove" and during the bagpipe arrangement, the listener just wonders what this has to do with Madonna. Madonna is not playing the bagpipes. The bagpipes do not naturally segue into "Into The Groove" - in fact, the bagpipes cut out completely and the synths start up to make the transition that had previously only been the drums accompanying the bagpipes leading into "Into The Groove."

In short, this album has a sense of theatrics that are lost in an audio performance. "American Life" opens with helicopter sounds and the soundtrack of explosions and gunfire and it is utterly pointless. On the DVD the video may see (for Madonna's New York performance) the dance routine and video footage that accompanies these sounds. On the c.d., they are abstract noises, completely devoid of context. In short, it means nothing in the audio performance. It is simply noise. There is no music backing it, there is no statement that is made by it, instead its sound. This represents the worst problems of a live album; simply capturing the reality of the moment. In this case, it captures the reality of a moment that is completely lost without the visuals. It's a waste of minutes on this disc.

Similarly, I’m Going To Tell You A Secret opens with possibly the weirdest Madonna track yet with "The Beast Within." This song - not even credited in the section of the liner notes listing all of the songs performed on the c.d. and DVD - is an indescribably bad track that simply describes having the devil inside. With lyrics like, "He is coming with the clouds / And every eye will see him / Everyone who pierced him and all the tribes of the Earth will [? . . .] on account of him . . ." ("The Beast Within"), this track opens the live album on an unsettling and disappointing note. This is a live album opened by Madonna the Cabalist.

That's not to say the entire album is a wash. Fans of Madonna will find a decent version of "Like A Prayer" and it's always fun to hear "Vogue." Personally, after the pointless explosion sounds, I found "American Life" to be one of the best tracks as it accented Madonna's ability to actually sing.

Sadly, much of the rest of the album makes the counterargument. Madonna's "live" presentations of many of the songs have vocals that are virtually identical to her previously released versions. "Into The Groove," "Die Another Day" and “Music” all have vocal presentations by Madonna that vary very little from her album (or radio single) tracks. Sure, there's an intro to Music that makes it flow out from "Into The Groove" well, but Madonna's vocal performance is underwhelming. In fact, the only real difference is when Madonna lets the audience take the refrain, much like Oasis recording the audience singing "Live Forever" on their live album Familiar To Millions (reviewed here!).

The peak of this disappointing set of presentations that sound awfully close to their studio versions comes on "I Love New York," the album's final track. One of the weakest links from her album Confessions From A Dance Floor, this track is so close to the original as to be indistinguishable. Indeed, devoid of the usual "live" conceits, like the sound of the audience, this track might as well be the studio version.

This brings me to the other problem with this album as a c.d. (again, not as a live performance, but rather the recording I am listening to right now). This, possibly more than any other live album I have ever heard, album seems to be obsessed with engineering in the sound of the crowd. While the average listener would likely make a fair bet that a Madonna concert is not a quiet place, the album's engineer seems to be most insistent on convincing the listener of that. Every track - save the final one - is cluttered with the cheers and screams of fans. It's dull, predictable and the listener could live without the "proof" that Madonna is performing live if this is the best they can do.

The counterargument, of course, is that Madonna's accompaniment on most of the tracks is a lot richer - or at least different - than the studio versions. This is generally true, but that alone provides the essential purpose of the audience noise; to provide something different for the listener. The pinnacle of this conceit is Madonna's plaintive request to the audience that they listen closely to the lyrics to John Lennon's "Imagine" (right before she sings it) because "We have to make the world a better place" ("Imagine," track 10). This might have captured a moment that occurred, but it plays poorly and it replays worse. The ultimate feeling listening to it is that this is a self-serving sound byte. I mean, during her show Madonna no doubt did more than ask people if they were having a good time, insist that they dance and tell everyone that the world needs to be made into a better place.

I've often argued that the best a live album can do is provide a different version for music that is either rather produced in the studio or less familiar to listeners. In some artist's cases, the live album may serve as the closest to a "Greatest Hits" for those who do not have compilation albums. Madonna would seem to be an ideal candidate for this, but this disc proves that her entertainment attempts seek instead to recreate the studio experience as opposed to reinterpret it. As a result, we are not treated to, for example, a soft jazz version of "Vogue." No, it sounds almost identical to the radio hit. None of the songs have genuine reinterpretations and as Madonna has greatest hits albums, this compilation is just substandard.

The best track is Madonna's song "Holiday" which seems to be the closest to a reinterpretation of one of her tracks that she manages on this album. The low point is probably "I Love New York," though the opener "The Beast Within" still seems a stiflingly bad choice to open I’m Going To Tell You A Secret with.

For other works by Madonna, please check out my reviews of:
Erotica
Bedtime Stories
“Nothing Really Matters” (single)
Ray Of Light
Music
Confessions On A Dance Floor

3/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Fair Concert Recordings: 12 Gardens Live Succeeds In An Unremarkable Way For Billy Joel!

The Good: Decent mix of pretty wonderful songs, Lyrics
The Bad: No extraordinary reinterpretations, “Live” conceits.
The Basics: Other than hearing more mature vocals from Billy Joel, 12 Gardens Live offers fans little they have not heard already.


As I continue through my exploration of the music of Billy Joel, I find myself encountering the inevitable live album. In the case of Billy Joel, my “live” experience with Joel is his 2-album set, 12 Gardens Live. Listening to 12 Gardens Live was a positively mixed experience for me. My brother has seen Joel live in concert, I have not, but my brother never really raved about his concert experience. After months of getting in and listening to Billy Joel albums, 12 Gardens Live appeared on my doorstep as, essentially, a “best of Billy Joel live” album.

While not nearly as bad as Oasis’s Familiar To Millions (reviewed here!), 12 Gardens Live never rises to the level of a work like Janis Ian’s Live: Working Without A Net (reviewed here!) that accurately recreated a concert experience without having a forced feeling. Making a “live” album sound both true to a live experience and effortless is a tough balance and Billy Joel does not quite land it with 12 Gardens Live. That said, there are benefits to 12 Gardens Live that are absent from a typical “best of” album; for example, 12 Gardens Live features an older Billy Joel, one who has a lower, more mature voice. As a result, there is a thrill to hearing songs like “An Innocent Man,” “My Life,” and “The Entertainer” in a lower register.

Still, 12 Gardens Live is a tougher sell than it ought to be. The two-disc set features thirty songs and actually makes decent use of the compact disc medium. With two discs, each with fifteen tracks, clocking out at 75:26 and 77:31, respectively, listeners get their money’s worth out of 12 Gardens Live. Unfortunately, it is also loaded – on the second disc more than the first – with crowd noises. The crowd noises are an annoying conceit of live albums. It is easy to tell from the changes of pace and different vocals that 12 Gardens Live is a live album, without the engineered crescendos and fades of the crowd.

12 Gardens Live represents a very true exploration of the long musical career of Billy Joel. The songs are all written by Joel and he provides the lead vocals on each and every track. As well, he plays pianos on the songs and he even co-produced the album.

While the album might lack a strong x-factor or any original tracks (or delightful covers of other people’s works which might delight the fans), 12 Gardens Live is a good mix of songs from all across the career of Billy Joel. In addition to classic favorites like “New York State Of Mind” and “She’s Always A Woman,” newer hits like “River Of Dreams” and “We Didn’t Start The Fire” are included on 12 Gardens Live. In fact, of the big hits, the only notably absent Billy Joel song missing from 12 Gardens Live is “Uptown Girl” (“It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me” is on the second disc as a final, hidden, track).

The only other real detraction (outside the crowd noises and lack of any original material) to 12 Gardens Live is that none of the live interpretations of Joel’s songs are radically reinterpreted in any significant way. Instead, 12 Gardens Live seems to affirm that Billy Joel presented his songs originally the way he wanted them.

And that’s fine. Billy Joel is a wonderful songwriter and his performance on 12 Gardens Live is energetic and entertaining and well worth listening to, but for those who love the radio hits of Billy Joel (which is pretty much all this album consists of), the crowd noises are distracting and the reinterpretations are hardly significant enough to make it a part of one’s permanent collection.

For other Billy Joel reviews, please check out:
Piano Man
Turnstiles
52nd Street
Glass Houses
The Nylon Curtain
An Innocent Man
Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II
River Of Dreams

5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Lilith Fair: A Celebration Of Women In Music, Not As Good As I Experienced It

The Good: Some great performances by some wonderful musical artists
The Bad: Some lousy performances by some mediocre musical artists
The Basics: Track by track a hit-or-miss album, this is a sampler of women and their guitars performing at Lilith Fair concerts with mixed results.


The very first concert I ever went to was Lilith Fair in Canandaigua, New York. I had graduated college the December before, I was poor, working in an art supply store and recovering from an illness I had had for years. Heather Nova was performing on the second stage and I had been listening to her masterpiece, Siren (reviewed here!) for months as I recuperated and Canandaigua was only twenty-five miles from where I was living. I could not not go. I bought tickets. Then I won some off a local radio station. Regardless, I was going and it was pretty wonderful for me. I mention this because I want to make it clear from the outset that I'm a fan of the Lilith Fair idea and experience.

So, it seemed pretty natural that I would pick up Lilith Faith - A Celebration of Women in Music, a two disc c.d. set featuring 13 tracks (just under 55 minutes of music) and 12 tracks (just under 49 minutes) featuring artist performances from some of the Lilith Fair concerts. Proceeds from purchasing this c.d. go to RAINN, which is a worthy organization to be sure. The important thing to note about this two-disc "Lilith Fair" set is that it is not Lilith Fair, it's a recording. As such, I'm reviewing it as a collection of live tracks from female artists who appear on it.

As the title suggests, this is a collection of live tracks from all female artists, though the range of those artists is somewhat limited. The album opens with Paula Cole, who likely was put there based on her prominence with "This Fire," which was hot at the time. Similarly, The Cardigans are near the front of the first disc, which suggests they were still enjoying their brief popularity in the mainstream when this was released. Of course, Sarah McLachlan pops up on the album, as do Suzanne Vega, Susanna Hoffs (former lead singer of The Bangles), Indigo Girls, Dar Williams and Lisa Loeb.

Mixed in with well known acts, or recognizable artists like Shawn Colvin, Meredith Brooks and Joan Osborne, are an assortment of performers whose one-hit never launched them into one-hit wonder status. This collection is a place where one may hear the works of Autour de Lucie, Lhasa, Patty Griffin, Yungchen Lhamo, and Victoria Williams. Sadly, it turns out virtual unknown Dayna Manning was at the Lilith Fair I attended and she left so little impression that I did not recognize her work on this two-disc set.

So, this is a concept that is clever and difficult to pull off; Sarah McLachlan hopes to get people to purchase this two-disc set based on the strength of known performers and lure them into listening to other artists. It's a good idea and this album just about pulls that off. Wisely, McLachlan and her associated artists give the listener something generally new and different from their repertoire on this album.

So, for example, Meredith Brooks does not perform "Bitch," but rather a song called "Wash My Hands." Lisa Loeb does not perform her megahit "Stay (I Miss You)," but gives the listener "Falling In Love." Joan Osborne distances herself from "One Of Us" with "Ladder" and Paula Cole presents a live version of "Mississippi" that proves that her strength on the album is not produced, but rather a product of her own abilities.

Some of the artists (virtually all of the performers wrote their own music) perform their one-hits or their most popular recognizable tracks. So, for example, I recognized Abra Moore's song "Four Leaf Clover" from the brief time that received radio airplay. Susanna Hoffs opted for a live version of The Bangles's "Eternal Flame" (it's quite wonderful) and Sarah McLachlan performs "Building A Mystery," sounding distinctly different from Mirrorball (reviewed here!). In another sad note, it's quite possible I saw Tracy Bonham perform "The One," as she does on this set, but it left so little impression with me that it seemed new to me when I heard it here.

The album sounds exactly like what one would surmise it would coming from Lilith Fair. It's a lot of women. Women with guitars. Almost universally, the tracks are a woman, usually with a guitar, singing her heart out. Some of the tracks have the usual live conceit of the audience responding to open or close the track or they have the artist speaking to the audience, but largely it's a woman with a guitar rocking her heart out.

This is combined with the occasional foreign language track, usually sounding like a tribal chant of some sort, as Yungchen Lhamo's "Lama Dorje Chang" is. The result is that this is a remarkably inconsistent album. Track to track, its hit or miss. I think there are more hits, but it's unlikely this two-disc set will be palatable to those who do not have a love of female pop-rock or folk-rock artists. That's pretty much what it is.

There are some decent unknowns on here, as well. Frankly, I like the Tracy Bonham song "The One" and I was glad to hear it on this set.

But largely, this was a wash for me and ultimately, my recommendation for this album came down to the idea that I liked where some of the money from the sale of this was going. No doubt there are places online you can rip your favorite songs from without listening to some of the more mediocre tracks, but then RAINN doesn't get its cut and you're not opening up to any other artists.

The best tracks are "Eternal Flame" by Susanna Hoffs on disc one and "What Do You Hear In These Sounds?" by Dar Williams on disc two (it sounds distinctly different from her live rendition of the same song on Out There Live, reviewed here!). The weakest links are "Lhasa" by El Payande (disc 1) and the awful, squeaky closer, "Periwinkle Sky" by Victoria Williams (Disc 2).

For other live albums, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Tina Live In Europe - Tina Turner
Live - James Taylor
In Philadelphia - Wilson Pickett

6/10

Check out how this album stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Music Review Index Page where the reviews are organized from best to worst.

© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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