Reviews (16)

The Anti-Christ of Christian Pop
While it be too early to call Sufjan Stevens 'the next Nick Drake', 'Seven Swans', his stripped down follow-up to 2003's excellent 'Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State', makes such a declaration awfully tempting. Of course, there are significant differences between the two. Whereas it's difficult to separate Drake's music from the thought of his eventual suicide, Sufjan Stevens balances his whispered nostalgia with an underlying hopefulness. Billed largely as a collection of b-sides from the Michigan sessions, 'Seven Swans' arrived without much fanfare, aiming to serve as a musical appetitizer to Stevens' next entry into his ambitious '50 States' project. Yet, despite the humility with which it arrived, 'Seven Swans' finds Stevens surpassing his prior work with stronger songwriting and a more intimate, banjo-driven approach. For much of the album, Sufjan Stevens reflects on spirituality and his faith, exploring Christianity with honesty and love. Whereas most Christian pop condescends to its listeners with melodramatic 'shalls' and 'thous', Stevens sings about his faith without preaching. While the 'switch baby with Jesus' strategy of Christian pop is at work here at times, Sufjan pulls this off in a good way, capturing the intimacy of a great love song to integrate into his pious musings. In a sense, it's the Anti-Christ of Christian pop: a thoughtful, delicate album that evokes the quiet joy of the faithful. On 'In The Devil's Territory', Sufjan softly sings 'I'm not afraid to die, to see you... at last' as if he were singing to a lover, leaving out the self-righteousness that characterizes the megalomaniacal zealots of most Christian music. The best tracks, however, are saved for last. 'Seven Swans' is a haunting, metaphorical depiction of the coming of the apocalypse, in which Sufjan gives his only warning to the unfaithful, crying out: 'He will take you. If you run, he will chase you. Because he is the Lord.' The last track, 'The Transfiguration', is probably his best song to date. The perfect fusion of folk, faith, and pop, it brings a flawless conclusion to a truly blessed work.

Another great album from Sufjan!
Wow - I was really happy upon listening to this album - I of course had high expectations after "Michigan" - and though I would not say this album surpasses that one, it is certainly quite good - very good indeed. The instrumentation is lovely - acoustic almost exclusively with banjo and guitar - the songs are great and Sufjan's singing is very hushed and sweet - like he's whispering us secrets - reminding sometimes of Iron and Wine...highlights include "the dress looks nice on you", "to be alone with you" - which a had hoped would be a Dylan cover, but it wasn't - but it was a very well, maybe superior song with the same title...also, "he woke me up again" is excellent. Highly recomended - as well as "Michigan". "A sun came" is good too, but Sufjan has certainly honed his skills and become more consistently good since that debut...sorry for rambling, enjoy!

Wonderfully fragile
The strong presence of Christian imagery on this album shouldn't really surprise anyone familiar with 'Michigan' (close attention to the lyrics of 'Vito's Ordination Song', in particular, reveals an allegorical undercurrent). Stevens' lyrics are more overtly Biblical on this record, but no less affecting, because he never grandstands or resorts to proselytizing. These are simply snapshots of a personal faith. His delivery of lines such as 'Take instead the ram/Until Jesus comes' is wisely low-key where lesser singers would try to imbue them with stilted drama.

Appropriately, since the scale of the subject matter has moved further inward from the Everyman scope of 'Michigan', the music itself has become more sparse and minimal, in terms of both instrumentation and songwriting. The backing vocals on the first track, All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands, repeat the same wordless melody ad nauseum in a way that is reminiscent of Philip Glass. (Incidentally, the title of the song is a reference from Isaiah 55:12 that may be lost on some: 'For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.') The banjo and guitar on 'In The Devil's Territory' repeat polyphonic fragments of melody, slowly shifting and letting the song breathe. In fact, the entire affair has a cool, airy feeling to it, like Stevens is playing in a field on a mild afternoon. He coaxes some gorgeous sounds out of fairly standard folk instruments.

The only flaw this album has is its slightly below-par middle third: it's still gorgeous music, but the material preceding it is so good that the slightly more rote folk songs pale in comparison. This is a minor quibble, though; think of that 5-star rating as a 4 1/2, rounded up.

Breathtaking
I too had high expectations of this anticipated follow-up to "Greetings From Michigan." Seven Swans is softer. It also deals more heavily with Biblical references (ex. Abraham, Transfiguration) but isn't overbearing or preachy. Seven Swans is filled with lush soundscapes and thoughtful lyrics. This one's not to be missed.

Kickass
At one of our power meetings at Free Williamsburg at the beginning of this year we were throwing around names of people who might be good people to interview or review. Sufjan Stevens came up. I had never heard of him let alone spell his name. It is detailed folk music. He is famous for the banjo work. Songs like "In The Devil's Territory" evokes the past and looks to the future. Sufjan worked with Daniel Smith of Danielson Famile to get this multi-layered sound. It's good that someone is obsessed with beauty in music. This record is strong and complex. It is not easy reading. The religious themes are an interesting shade. It is a vision of death and despair. It comes off sounding like something Badly Drawn Boy or Elliot Smith cooked up. Stevens may be the heir to Elliot Smith's legacy. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Simon & Garfunkel have two 3-CD box sets collecting their entire career output, one with out-takes and live recordings, but the duo who were among the bestselling acts of the 1960s only recorded five studio albums throughout the entire 1960s! Their studio perfectionism is never better served than here. This greatest hits is simple and to the point, a perfect collection for anyone looking to get the basic idea (and hits) without committing to a more serious relationship. The harmonies, Paul Simon's masterful songwriting, Garfunkel's soaring choirboy voice, are all here. --Rob O'Connor ... Read more

Reviews (65)

Only the applause is distracting (and out-of-tune Paul)
As stated above, I too was very distracted by the applause from the live tracks spilling into the intros of the classic studio versions. It would seem that the only people that wouldn't be bothered by this listen to all their music on the radio. I like to hear a composition from the beginning to the end. Also, Paul's out of tune voice (characteristic of his live singing) on Homeward Bound really ruins this version. I was wishing I was listening to the original. Of course the bottom line is this is Simon & Garfunkel, and these songs are great and classic despite the intrusive nature of the arranger(s) of the CD.

Sentimental Value gives CD 5-Star Rating
This CD was one of my favorite at a time when I was nursed emotionally by music. I found the music very beautiful and appealing, which I found out is rare and peculiar for my generation (the one currently at the college age).

I believe I first fell in love with "Mrs. Robinson" from watching the film FORREST GUMP. Then I hooked this CD and listen to classic after classic. Each song has a quality about it, it conveys a certain s

"Boxer" is despair, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is friendship, "Bookends" is memories, "Cecilia" is sexual excitement.

There isn't an emotion that Paul Simon doesn't cover in his song-writing. Garfunkel complements his childhood friend almost perfectly.

The classic duo of popular music will remain a favorite of mine for the rest of my life, and the songs will have a certain value for me that I almost cannot describe, so I will not try. Buy the CD and see if the songs click with you. They helped me shape my tastes of music so perhaps that is why I like it so much.

But perhaps my favorite song, "America"--I just find it so beautiful that I cannot fathom how anyone wouldn't fall in love with this song.

The title says it all!
On this compilation,Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel give their fans their very best,of course. It was released in 1972,the same year as Simon's self-titled solo debut. MRS. ROBINSON from the 1967 movie "The Graduate",was just one of a handful of their #1 hits. THE BOXER from 1969's BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER lacks a verse later heard,surprisingly on THE CONCERT IN CENTRAL PARK. The title track from BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER is cool. THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE is not the original recording from WEDNESDAY MORNING 3 AM,S&G's 1964 debut. This version has added percussion,as heard on the 1966 album,SOUNDS OF SILENCE. SCARBOROUGH FAIR is a nice,easy listening piece. HOMEWARD BOUND and FOR EMILY,WHEREVER I MAY FIND HER were recorded live. Also from SOUNDS OF SILENCE is I AM A ROCK. AMERICA is a nice piece. I wonder if that inspired the three-guitarist band of the same name. All the other songs are good. Most songs on this album were recorded for THE CONCERT IN CENTRAL PARK in 1981. S&G split before the release of this album and Garfunkel also went out on his own.

Classic folk rock
What¡Çs not to like? Simon and Garfunkel created many wonderful songs and their greatest hits (which is not necessarily synonymous with ¡Æbest songs¡Ç) are presented here. You¡Çve heard them all a thousand times before probably, but if you love them and consider them a part of your life, you can¡Çt go wrong with this purchase.

Fan of Simon and Garfunkel Since Childhood!
I have been listening to Simon and Garfunkel for 35 years. Since I was a child, I have respected their melodies and the gentleness and humanity that flows through their songs.

"Homeward Bound" and "Sounds of Silence" are truly originals.

I know I will have a life long love for these very special artists! ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

After laboring in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Neil Young finally hit perfect pitch--if his endearing off-center whine can be called "perfect"--with his third album. He's equally passionate with trippy riddles (has anybody figured out what "We've got mother nature on the run" means in the title track?) and pointed protest (after 30 years of rock-radio overplay, "Southern Man" still rings with truth about redneck racism). His creaky ensemble, including pianist Jack Nitzsche and rotating members of Crazy Horse, transforms ramshackle country and folk songs into soulful hippie hymns. --Steve Knopper ... Read more

Reviews (78)

A PERIOD PIECE BUT ALSO A GREAT SINGER SONGWRITER ALBUM!
I'm gonna get this off my chest first. To be honest I have never been a huge Neil Young fan. Don't get wrong he has done some great stuff throughout his musical career but so have his peers like Stephen Stills and Graham Nash etc; (sometimes they've done better things) and for whatever reason they do not get as much recognition. However I felt I hadn't really given Neil a chance. So I decided to pick up two of Neil's most critically acclaimed albums: 'Harvest' and of course 'After The Gold Rush'.

Fresh of the success of Deja Vu, Neil Young decide to conquer more ground in 1970 on his own. 'After The Goldrush' was recorded and released to a 'any type of material from CSN&Y' hungry public. The album was a monster sky rocketing Neil into new levels of super stardom.

It wasn't just hype either. 'After The Goldrush' has some great music on it.The first four tracks are truly gold. Opening with TELL ME WHY; a nice charming acoustic piece. The title track AFTER THE GOLDRUSH has some awesome lyrics. ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART is beautiful and of course everyone knows the classic rocker SOUTHERN MAN which rocketed up the charts that year. TILL THE MORNING COMES is a short ditty that is pleasing but could have made way for an actual song. OH, LONESOME ME is a slow paced country piece. It's beautful but a tad depressing for me. DON'T LET IT BRING YOU DOWN is another classic here. BIRDS is another beautiful piano piece with excellent vocals. WHEN YOU DANCE YOU CAN REALLY LOVE is another great rocker. While I BELIEVE IN YOU is a laid back country rocker with some good guitar and lyrics. The final track CRIPPLE CREEK FERRY is another short yet pleasing ditty. However like I said with TILL THE MORNING COMES, it could have made way for actual songs.

Overall 'After The Goldrush' is a classic. If you want to go back to 1970 this is a good CD to take you there. At first I didn't really like this album. However after a few more listens I realized the excellence this album possessed. The lyrics are wonderful. Neil Young could really write some good music! He knew how to do a beautiful country ballad and he defiently knew how to rock! Highly recommend!

Striking Gold
Neil Young had recently had scored a number one hit as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with Deja Vu when he released After The Gold Rush. The album is a brilliant collection of songs that have a strong sense of social commentary as well of heartbreak. "Southern Man" is a strong condemnation of the redneck ideals of the South. The song has a stinging guitar that perfectly complements the angry lyrics that are dripping with venom. Songs like "Tell Me Why", "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", the sprightly "Til The Morning Comes" and the Don Gibson cover "Oh, Lonesome Me" deal with longing, loss and heartache. The title track is a hauntingly, beautiful yet cautionary tale. Mr. Young, singing over just a piano, lays out a song that turned out to eerily prophetic in the wake of what would occur in the 1970's. The album was a triumph on every level and became his first solo top ten hit peaking at number 8 in late 1970.

Truly one of Neil Young's classics
I don't exactly consider myself a big Neil Young fan, I'm not the kind of person who would buy every album with his name on it (especially many of the albums he done in the 1980s, such as Landing on Water), but After the Gold Rush, his third album (second with Crazy Horse) is truly deserving of classic status. This album has been with me most of my life, thanks to my parents owning a copy. This album also premiered a certain 17 year old by the name of Nils Lofgren, on piano. This album has many different styles from acoustic ballads, to rockers, to short singalongs. The album starts off with "Tell Me Why", which is a truly great acoustic piece. The title track is a piano-oriented ballad with an enviromental theme concerning the new decade (the 1970s, that is). "Only Love Can Break Your Heat" is not a cover of the Gene Pitney song, but another Neil Young original, in this case, a piano-oriented ballad. I don't think I need to mention the epic "Southern Man" as it's the song that receives plenty of FM radio airplay. The song obviously gave Lynyrd Skynyrd their response song four years later (1974) with "Sweet Home Alabama". Side one of the old vinyl ends with a nice, short, singalong cut called "Till the Morning Comes". Side two (of the LP) features a cover of Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me", plus another nice ballad with "Don't Let It Bring You Down", plus a totally overlooked, but great rocker with "When You Dance You Can Really Love". There are two songs that don't seem to do a lot for me, that is "Birds" and "I Believe in You". The album closes off with another great singalong with "Cripple Creek Ferry", which is very much in the vein of "Till the Morning Comes". This album really takes me back to that bygone era of 1970 (even though I wasn't alive then). This album is a no brainer, if you're a Neil Young fan, get this album.

neil's best album
This is one of the best albums in the rock history.
It contains some "normal" songs and some masterworks
"Southern man" is among the ten best songs of rock and contains one of the five best riffs, such as "fire" of Hendrix or "brown sugar" of the stones.

Nothing tops this
The song "After the Goldrush" was 1st introduced to my ears while listening to the radio in my dad's pickup truck when I was 9 years old. Twelve years later my feelings for that album have not wavered. I have seen reviews by Rolling Stone magazine that say that this album was released prematurely. Upon reading Neil Young's biography and listening to many of his other albums, you will discover that whatever Neil releases is EXACTLY what he wants people to hear.
After the Goldrush is an album with mixed emotions. I am not a professional reviewer, but I know that the album brings out emotions of both reflection and love. It's an album of great contrast as well. Some songs like "Tell Me Why" and "Cripple Creek Ferry" are sort of light hearted and uplifting while the songs "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Oh Lonesome Me"...I think the names speak for themselves.
Do yourself a favor and get this album. You will never forget it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

It shouldn't be surprising that Lucy Kaplansky's music is infused with complex emotional detail when you consider that she worked as a clinical psychologist before deciding to pursue music full time. On the six songs she and Richard Litvin, her co-writer and husband, composed for The Red Thread, she never shies away from the conflicting feelings that accompany the profound moments in life. On the title track, for example, she sings movingly about the joy, wariness, and worry she felt when she and Litvin adopted a daughter from China. On "Land of the Living," which was inspired by the tragedy of 9/11, Kaplansky's sharp eye for detail creates a harrowing, but ultimately hopeful vision of that horrible day. Like many good songwriters, Kaplansky has an excellent ear for the right song to cover, and here she has chosen fine ones from Buddy Miller, Bill Morrissey, James McMurtry, and Dave Carter. The sonic territory on The Red Thread is subtle and subdued, with spare, mostly acoustic arrangements that perfectly frame the powerful emotions contained in Kaplansky's songs. --Michael John Simmons ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Lucy is in the Sky with Diamonds
Beautiful! Lucy's latest CD "The Red Thread" is an emotional gem. What a storyteller, Land of the Living, I Had Something, The Red Thread, This is Home, etc. they will make you think, they will make you sing. As any Lucy fan will testify, buy any Lucy CD and you will end up with the collection. Thanks Lucy.

Solid
Lucky me, I was in Pittsburgh the other day and so was LK. At a truly awful, smokey, overcrowded club (to the point of near fistfights breaking out if i didn't walk away from the local troglodites), Lucy managed to promo her new CD and tell gushing new-mom stories. 50% less reverb sure would have been nice.....

Lucy is so charming and so very, very talented. I think this collection, much like the last CD, however, is full of gems and a few ho-hums. Not nearly as consistent as Ten Year Night, but that is probably an unrealistic comparison---I think it will be a career highlight impossible match, let alone improve upon.

Land of the Living is worth the price of the CD, and with Red Thread, outshine the rest. Maybe is a degree of inaccessibility can develop from deeper and deeper exploration of very, very personal issues (adoption/motherhood in this case)...perhaps....

Then again, if she comes back to a GREAT club (MuckyDuck in Houston), I might have a chance to wipe the Pittsburgh show from the hard drive.

A great CD!
This is just a great CD. Her version of Dave Carter's "Cowboy Singer" is worth the price of the CD alone.

What a wonderful woman
having been a fan of lucy for many years, I'm never let down by her new releases and her live shows. and she's a wonderfully nice person to boot.

Wow...stunning!
Arguably the best of what has already been a superb career. Some may say this collection is more commercial and radio-friendly than her folk outings of the past but, to me, it just seems more realized, mature and emotionally satisfying. I immediatly felt at home with almost every track on the cd. If you're new to Lucy's music, start here, then go back and discover her from the beginning. ... Read more

Amazon.com

One of the many Nashville-based singer-songwriters whose respected stature among critics and fellow artists stands in stark contrast to his rather meager commercial acclaim, Greg Trooper has quietly built a catalog of superbly crafted albums. On his second release for the Sugar Hill label (his eighth overall), Trooper teams up with legendary songwriter/producer Dan Penn for a collaboration so natural, it's a wonder it hadn't happened before.

Trooper's music already combines strains of R&B, country, and folk, which Penn acknowledges by infusing a subtle yet palpable tenderness into these songs. Sung in a honeyed, gritty voice that combines the tough, yet resigned style of Guy Clark and longtime friend Buddy Miller with the vulnerability of Paul Simon, Trooper's songs straddle the dusty roads between Austin soul and Nashville twang--both of which cities he has called home. The lyrically provocative "When I Think of You My Friends" is one example of a typical Trooper setup where the protagonists are "out of luck, out of work, never out of dreams." Yet he won't settle for weepy sentimentality in either his words or stirring melodies. These twelve tracks flaunt the soul in the singer's emotionally rousing tunes and show him as one of the most talented contemporary acts on the roots scene. Credit also goes to Penn, whose warm, sympathetic production allows Trooper the room he needs to shine. --Hal Horowitz ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great Performance
I am a great fan of Daniel O'Donnell, having collected all of his CDs and DVDs, but this performance at Branson would now be the number 1 of my collection. His uncomplicated style and rendition of some old evergreens makes for wonderful listening and enjoyment. I also want to thank DPTV Media for its initiative in releasing both the DVD of the concert and the CDs. Now I can listen to Daniel not only in the comfort of my lounge at home but also in the car on the road. I hope that there will be further DVD releases of Daniel's USA concerts.

DANIEL O'DONNELLLIVE FROM BRANSON
IF YOU LIKE DANIEL O'DONNELL THEN YOU MUST GET THIS PROGRAM.
IT'S A HAFTA HAVE!!! ... Read more

Reviews (59)

I Tell It Like It Is
Like She said Heaven's Here On Earth. On this album Tracy Has made a new beginning, whit her deep and soulful voice and her meaningful lyrics is this whitout doubt her best to date. Give me one reason not to like this album and not to tell all you other that this CD is a must have, At this point in my life I am very bored by the radio music, so I turn on Tracy's music and all she leaves behind is smoke and ashes. Sorry I have to end her I'm going to buy the music video " Telling Stories "

BRAVO, TRACY, BRAVO!!!
Every song on this CD cuts right to the soul. This is folk music tinged with blues and rock and soul...lyrics worth listening to. I only hope Ms. Chapman keeps putting her music out. I believe her negative reviews are coming from hiphopsters expecting somthing else. Tracy's music is not addressing any styles or fads. I dread the day where talented singer- songwriters are completely replaced by throwaway commercial [poo] music. Make no mistake, each song on this CD is poetry, messages for the listener, pure art. I consider her right up there on the same level as Dylan. If your into quality listening...buy this one.

I bought all 6 CDs
I recently saw Tracy's group on Austin City Limits (on PBS), and ended up buying all her domestic CDs to date. I also just bought a Memorex MP3 player, and managed to cram 120 songs / 8h 17m worth of songs onto an 800MB CDR: 81 songs from an old "party tape," as well as songs by Tracy, Eric Johnson, and Timbuk 3 (all three introduced to me by ACL).

Here's what made the cut, after a cursory screening of the 6 CDs:

MH - Short Supply
TS - Telling Stories
CR - All that You have is your Soul
NB - Tell It like It Is
NB - Give Me One Reason
LR - Another Sun
MH - I Used to be a Sailor
TC - For my Lover
TC - Talkin' 'bout a Revolution
TC - Fast Car
NB - Smoke and Ashes
CR - A Hundred Years
NB - Remember the Tinman
CR - Bridges
CR - Crossroads
LR - You're the One
CR - Freedom Now
NB - A Place for Me*
* sliced off the tail of "I'm Ready"

Grouped by album:

NB - Tell It like It Is
Give Me One Reason
Smoke and Ashes
Remember the Tinman
A Place for Me*

CR - All that You have is your Soul
A Hundred Years
Bridges
Crossroads
Freedom Now

TC - For my Lover
Talkin' 'bout a Revolution
Fast Car

MH - Short Supply
I Used to be a Sailor

LR - Another Sun
You're the One

TS - Telling Stories

wow, what an amazing piece of work!!
I always liked Tracy's music from listening to her songs played on the radio, but this CD made me fall in love with her music, lyrics, vocals and the soulfulness of it all.
A truly must-have!!

New Beginning
The is without question Tracy Chapman's best CD. I liked every song the first time I played the CD. Just as I did the first time I heard her debut. I fell in love with her music when a co-worker suggested her first CD to me. I had never heard of her before then. It was only after this that I began to here "Fast Car" on the radio. When I first heard The Tracy Chapman CD I was in love. I have everyone of her CD's. She must be doing something right. Her record company has not dropped her in all these years. I had the pleasure of seeing her in concert this past weekend and she was outstanding.
Critics refer to "New Beginning" and her comeback. I have never understood this. As far as I am concerned she has been consistent with her music. All of her releases deserve 5 stars. I buy all of her CD's without first hearing them. Tracy has not disappointed me yet. She has remained true to her art. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Most artists who appeal to adult listeners tend to settle into a comfortable niche, but Lucinda Williams refuses to play it safe. Instead, her music stings like an open wound, as she continues to strip away the protective layers from her art's emotional core. Though Williams has long been prized for the naked honesty of her music, this collection is even rawer than its predecessors. From the down-and-dirty bar-band blues of "Atonement" to the Rolling Stones-style swagger of "Bleeding Fingers" to the tricky balance of debasement and transcendence in "Ventura," Williams leaves the nerve endings of her music exposed. With the band opting for first-take immediacy rather than polish, some of the most powerful material is also the neediest, as the singer addresses lovers who have disrespected her ("Righteously") or abandoned her ("Those Three Days," "Minneapolis"). Though her attempts at rap on "Sweet Side" and "American Dream" might cause diehard fans to wince, her willingness to take creative chances reaffirms her position at the vanguard of a rootsy progressivism that transcends musical category. Simply put, there's more Patti Smith in her than there is Patsy Cline. --Don McLeese ... Read more

Reviews (130)

Maybe a bit too honest for some¿
Yikes! Lucinda really split herself wide open on this one. As a huge fan of her self-titled and "Car Wheels..." releases, I struggled with the nakedness of "Essence" and grew to love it. Again, with this release, I had a hard time getting through it the first time, but it gets easier with each listen. The lyrics are sheer poetry, albeit dark, painful, poetry. And Lucinda's delivery makes them darker and even more painful. I think a first-time listener might be turned off if this were their first Lucinda Williams experience.

My favorite song on this release is "Righteously". As I've played it, several people have stopped by my cubicle and asked, "What are you listening to? That song rocks!" Almost stripped down musically, it has a wailing guitar and strong bass line that moves the song along. The last line is my favorite - - "Be my lover don't play no game, Just play me John Coltrane".

"Ventura" has a beautiful steel-guitar, wavy-feeling kind of sound. "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings" (great title!) sounds very Neil Young-ish to me. "Overtime" is classic heartbreak, almost Patsy Cline-ish...the simple drum work and the verby guitar along with the simple lyrics work beautifully well together.

In most of her songs, Lucinda doesn't subscribe to the pop structure of songwriting - - stanza, chorus, stanza, repeat chorus, etc. Instead the songs are more like poems with wonderful music accentuating them. I can never decide if Lucinda's vocals are a strength or a weakness...they are often rough and "hick-ish", but they do add a substantial amount of depth to the words. While I can imagine a "better" singer singing them, I realize the song would lose so much of its impact if it were slick and smooth.

I think Lucinda has come to terms with never hearing her music played on commercial radio stations across the country. Still, and admirably so, she refuses to sell out her themes and her musical style for the spoon-fed masses, and instead brings out a different kind of honesty, a different kind of love, a different kind of relationship, those not usually revealed or acknowledged in the mainstream. We're talking about abusive and drug-addicted, twisted and unhealthy relationships here. There's not very much warm and fuzzy going on. Proof that angst is a wonderful catalyst for art.

Damn Baby! - A True Cajun Angel
There's a reason why Time Magazine called Lucinda "America's Best Songwriter". She's honest,tortured and their is something sexy and dark about her voice and song writing. She's the girl your mom warned you about - but you couldn't help but following her down the road to ruin (then she'd write a song about you!). This album is not filled with the sugarcoated things on a Phil Collins or Micheal Bolton record. She talks about herion addiction, poverty, child abuse and love lost.

After the first cut, "Fruits of my Labor", I thought this is pretty good. Then, when Rightously kicked in, I said "Damn Baby!!". It's an incredible song, you feel jealous for the person it's written to! You gotta love a song that talks about John Coltrane. Real live Bleeding Fingers is another great track - the guitar work is very reminisant of Kieth Richards on "Exile on Mainstreet". "Those Three Days" is perfectly phrased. One of my favorite cuts is "Minneapolis", you can hear her pain. Lucinda maybe an acquired taste, like scotch, but pour me a glass - straight - and leave me the bottle. She's a poet, writing about real life. Like Dylan or Springsteen, just more honest and a sweet Lake Charles drawl. Buy the albums and don't miss her live!

Another TOP notch CD
Lucinda can do no wrong. With each album, Lucinda gets better and better. It makes my heart warm to see how wide Lucinda's following continues to grow. I miss you Lucy :) Remember B.Dalton in L.A.? LOL

Lucinda's great style mixed with a new sound
Everyone like to try new things, explore new interests and get out of the rut sometimes. Lucinda does that a bit on this CD. There are some Williams fans who may enjoy hearing her explore a new sound. I did not think it was "her". Like Johnny Cash singing Rap or Gene Simmons trying Gospel.

This music deals with anger, disallusionment, heartbreak and disappointment. I like that, oddly enough. What did not appeal to me was the style change for four songs - Righteously, Atonement , Sweet Side, American Dream. Just not the Lucinda Williams I have come to enjoy.

Still, she is free to try new things. If you want to see Lucinda explore new areas, you may like this work. I have always liked her more for her twangy blues sound and wish she had put forth her songs in that style.

I did enjoy the remaining songs.

This is still a good CD, just not her best.

Not her best
When they collect Lucinda's best work, there will be a few songs from this album. "Righteously," "Those Three Days," and "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings" all belong on a compilation. But Williams overreaches, and it can be painful at times. "Atonement" can be kindly called ill-advised, and many other tracks aren't up to her very high Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and self-titled standards. Maybe she really does need six years to make an album. ... Read more

Amazon.com's Best of 1998

A ghost, a band, a troubadour. Easily the strangest co-op project ever, and easily one of the finest and most evocative albums of the year. British socialist and folkie Billy Bragg was given unprecedented access to Woody Guthrie's unrecorded lyrics. Teaming up with alt-country band Wilco and quoting from more than 50 years of country, folk, and rock music, Billy and company bring Guthrie's politics, poetry, and morality to the end of the century and prove he's as necessary now as ever. --Tod Nelson ... Read more

Reviews (119)

I'd buy 10 cds to find this one.
I'd buy 10 cds to find this one! Billy Bragg and Wilco have created the feeling that Woody Guthrie is alive and well and enjoying a little rock and roll. Their use of Woody's lyrics with original music is still true to an evolving Woody if there could be one. The music grabs you emotionally, hard and holds you through each cut. It's riveting. The range is amazing from Woody in love with living cuts such as "Walt Whitman's Niece" to serious political tunes like "Eisler on the Go" that focus on the witch hunts of the '40s and '50s in a very human way. And then there's what could have been a children's song--"Hoodoo Voodoo." Who else but Billy Bragg with help from Nora Guthrie could have done this? The album is a real album. It's all there. You can feel Guthrie writing 1000 songs in twenty years and then spending the next twenty years trapped in a deteriorating body in a state hospital. Sadness but not desperation, Guthrie never gives! up. Bragg extends Woody's contribution by pulling music from the lyrics, many of them written after Woody realized he faced a horrifying disease. Whatever else you do, listen to Mermaid Avenue and love it!

Do you know how hard it is to JUST ADD LYRICS to music?
Especially if those lyrics are over 50 years old, practically poetry, and created by a master songwriter? Or put another way, imagine someone handing you the lyrics to a tune from "Nebraska" and saying, "OK, now just sing it real good." JESIS, I don't think so. And if that doesn't put this stellar effort by Bragg and Wilco into perspective, what more can I tell ya? [Eh, keep yer shorts on, there'll be another 3rd Blind Biscuit Korn Hole album out 'terrectly.] So i'm amazed they pulled it off? And with such interesting results -- there really is something here for all kinds of tastes: from the breadth of musical influences displayed [a bit of Dylan, Lennon, Garcia, the Band, it could on and on] to the lyrical content [from the personal to the political].

Essential? You'd have to agree.

Remember; this is not Woody's music.
This cd at least makes me wonder how Woody would've done it. I think the vocals would be edgier, and clearer,easier to understand and remember, even after one listening, as I can when listening to actual Guthrie recordings. Perhaps some of the sappier melodies here might have been a little harder, a little more manly, for lack of a better term. As for the choice of Bragg; I'd sooner have some digitalizing freak collect all of the appropriate Woody syllables, and put them back together into the 'new' material. Second choice, Dylan. Third choice, somebody who's not Billy Bragg.

4.5 Stars.... Masterful Mix of Guthrie Lyrics and New Music
Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, thought it might be fun to have new music set to Woody's "lost songs" (lyrics to which Woody had music set in his head, but he never published the music). Billy Bragg and Wilco may make a curious, or at least not a very obvious, choice for the task, but boy, are they up for it!

"Mermaid Avenue" (15 tracks, 49 min.) is a true collaboration between the artists. Some songs find Wilco's Jeff Tweedy at lead vocal, Bragg on others. Music on some tracks is written by Bragg, others by Tweedy/Bennett, yet others by Bragg/Wilco. While I'm a huge Wilco fan, I must admit that the Bragg-written songs are more coherent within the Guthrie legacy. Check out for example the sparse "Eisler On the Go", and "Another Man's Done Done" (with Tweedy on lead vocal). The best is "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key" (with Natalie Merchant on back vocals). Natalie also sings lead on "Birds and Ships". (So you really shouldn't be surprised by Natalie's fab collection of folk tunes "The House Carpenter's Daugther", issued independently last year).

In all, this is a terrific collection, which deservedly received a second volume as well. Recommended for fans of Billy Bragg, Wilco, Woddy Guthrie, and of course Bob Dylan.

I'll try to be brief, for a change
. . . If you are a Wilco fan and you don't have this album (and Vol. II), you should feel very silly, and buy this right now. It is absolutely sublime. ... Read more

Album Description

Damien Rice has quite simply taken the music world by storm.From ecstatic reviews to winning the third annual Shortlist Music Prize honoring the most adventurous and creative albums by emerging artists, Damien offers his new legion of admirers and friends in the States an EP of B-sides previously released outside the U.S. These seven stunning tracks will undoubtedly whet the appetite while fans await his forthcoming record. ... Read more

Reviews (115)

Everything From The Greatest Rock Band And More.
I was truly AMAZED when I recieved this as A gift. This is the ultimate Zeppelin collection.

As you probably know, this box set contains: Led Zeppelin I,II & III, Zoso, Houses Of The Holy, Presence, Physical Graffiti, In Through The Out Door & Coda. Coda contains four bonus tracks. Each album is digitally re - mastered and sounds great.

This is also A whole lotta music for not A lotta cash. The box set is about 14 hours. This is A great value!

This is A must for all Zep fans.

You also get A book with A mini - biography, photos and all the track listings.

This box set contains every thing! All the hits ( Good Times, Bad Times, Stairway to Heaven, ect..) and much more. Sit back, relax and let Robert, Jimmy, JPJ and John B take you to the beginning of their legend.

This box set is perfect in every way.
At college, a bunch of my CDs were stolen, including every Led Zeppelin CD I owned. My insurance replaced them within a week. I didn't own every Zeppelin album on CD, and I owned two of the pre-remastered editions. When I replaced them, I got this set to compensated for my stolen Zep. I could not be more pleased with the results of this box set. There are three great things about it that will be discussed here.

THE MUSIC: Every true rock fan knows the greatness of Led Zeppelin. Every song and album is a gem, and is essential to any music collection. Everyone has heard songs such as "Whole Lotta Love," "Stairway to Heaven," "The Song Remains the Same," and "Kashmir," to name a few. There are also many not so well known great tracks here, including "Achilles Last Stand," "In My Time of Dying," "All My Love," "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp," and "Black Mountain Side," to name a few. Plus, with the album Coda, you get bonus tracks unavailable anywhere else unless you buy the other two box sets, including the non-LP B-side "Hey Hey What Can I Do," the outtake "Baby Come On Home," and the excellent songs recorded for the BBC "Travelling Riverside Blues" and "White Summer/Black Mountain Side." Once you buy one Zeppelin album, you will want to buy more, and more, and more (just ask anyone), so you may as well get it all and more now instead of buying all the albums separately and wishing you had just bought all of them this way and also gotten the great bonus tracks. Plus, though not in the short run but definitely in the long run, it is cheaper to buy all the albums this way than to buy them separately, and this way, you get more for less.

THE SOUND: Having heard two of the albums before Jimmy Page himself took control and remastered them, I know from personal experience that the new sound shows a difference between night and day. Before, they sounded like a lot of old, unremastered CDs do, dull, not enough volume, and need improvement. Here every single track from start to finish sounds so fresh, almost as if it were recorded quite recently. It shows that Jimmy Page really cares about the fans, as there are many under 21 who are discovering or will discover Led Zeppelin, and fans from the time upgrading their music collection to CD, and the sound should be as sharp and "current sounding" as possible. And here, Jimmy Page not only satisfied himself, but also satisfied CD buyers everywhere with the incredible sounds coming off of these 10 discs.

THE PACKAGING: The way this box set is packaged is excellent. What exactly is on the cover of the box, I do not know, but it is cool. The lid of the box set fold up and can be pushed in so you can access the CDs right from your shelf without having to take the box off the shelf and disassemble it, which is quite convenient. Inside there are five hardcover books, each housing 2 CDs. In order for the packaging to work, the Presence album is coupled with Houses of the Holy in order to give the double Physical Graffiti its own book. But that doesn't matter, you can listen to the CDs in any order you want. Each of the books contain graphics of the original vinyl packaging, such as the six different covers (front and back) from In Through the Out Door, the turning wheel from III, all the inner sleeves, everything is here. There is also a very entertaining booklet, filled with a biography and plenty of pictures.

If you like Led Zeppelin at all, this is the way to go. All the studio albums with graphics of the original vinyl and as originally sequenced. Please take my advice, if you like Led Zeppelin, invest your money and buy this set. If you have any hesitations at all, it is very likely that you have friends that like Led Zeppelin. Listen to their copies of the ablums and find out for yourself. Even if you have to make sure that the investment is worth it, you will not be disappointed in the end. This is sure to provide you enjoyment for a long time to come.

5/5

An incredible collection, worth every penny
I had been interested in Led Zeppelin before this set, but my knowledge was scattered and I was missing tons of their very best songs. When I got this collection I became hooked and now Zep is my favorite band. It introduced me to a whole lotta great songs. I've had several friends borrow it and they have all loved it as well. The bonus tracks are nice, and the packaging and cover art is excellent. A must for all fans, and its a great initiation for those who aren't old enough to have seen Led Zeppelin at their height (like me).

Cover Art Too Small
How can I write a review that encompasses all of Led Zeppelin's studio material and not give 5 stars? This stuff is legendary. Nevertheless, I have something negative to say about this particular box set. Firstly, I think this box set has beautiful packaging, excellent photos etc. Also, this is a great way to buy all the studio albums and save some $$$. HOWEVER, the cover artwork was really designed to be presented on the 12" x 12" cover for a vinyl record. Many people would argue that the 5" x 5" jewel case booklet that comes with standard CDs is too small to really appreciate the covers of many of these albums. Here, the cover artwork gets even smaller, so there's a black area of unused CD case around the artwork. Other than this drawback, I highly recommend buying this box set.

Excellent box set and cheap way to buy all of Zep's discs
Led Zeppelin's The Complete Studio Recordings which was released in September of 1993, is a great box set featuring all of the band's studio albums in one place instead of spending an extra $30 or so buying them individually. The real treat is Coda has four bonus tracks which were four of the five bonus tracks on the two separate Led Zeppelin box sets released in 1990 and 1993. The sound of the albums as a whole never sounded better, especially Presence and Led Zep III(two of my favorite albums of theirs). Also, the albums come with the original vinyl artwork and excellent liner notes courtesy of Cameron Crowe. The bonuses on Coda are Baby Come on Home(OK), Travelling Riverside Blues(excellent and was a rock radio hit in 1990 and MTV promoted the Zep box set when MTV was good), White Summer/Black Mountain Side and the long-lost B Side Hey Hey What Can I Do. This set is well worth the $100 price tag(10 CDs for over a $100, a bargain). Hugely recommended! ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

Dylan was virtually gushing great songs when this masterpiece arrived in the summer of 1965. From the epochal opening of "Like a Rolling Stone" through the absurdly apocalyptic closer, "Desolation Row," his command of surrealistic language was daring and amazing. As a vocalist, he was rewriting the rules of the game. Jimi Hendrix made note of Mr. Z's technically suspect pitch and decided that he too was a singer. And the backing, though ragged, is precisely right. Is this the essential Dylan album? It's certainly one of them. --Steven Stolder ... Read more

Reviews (54)

A peak for one of the greatest singers of our time.
If you have any doubts as to the merits of Highway 61, they'll be promptly blown to Hell by the first ten seconds of "Like a Rolling Stone," the album's oppening track. That musical oppening is truly amazing, a gust of wind that blows open your mind. In fact, that whole six-minute epic shows Dylan in full form, with his trademark voice and brilliant lyrical explorations ("Never understood that it ain't no good/ You shouldn't let other people get their kicks for you.") All nine of the album's songs are upbeat electric rockers, mixed in with Bob's typical wild, enthusiastic, attitude. As per usual, the album incorporates blues ("It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"), folk ("Desolation Row") and flat out garage rock ("Tombstone Blues").
All throughout Highway 61 Revisited, Bob's songwriting skills are better than they've ever been. Here he experiments with strange lyrical themes that give the album a surreal feel, as well as brilliant puns ("The sun's not yellow, it's chicken!"). The lyrics range from the profound and meaningful stuff of tracks such as "Desolation Row" and "Like A Rolling Stone" to the downright bizarre, on songs such as "Ballad of a Thin Man," and "Queen Jane Approximately."
Backing Dylan this time are a full-scale garage-rock band. They give the album a sort of speed and rabid intensity that goes excellently with Dylan's fast-paced singing and blistering harmonica. "Tombstone Blues," for example, sounds like the soundtrack to a car chase. There are slower moments, such as the eleven-minute ballad "Desolation Row," which are just as superb as the more hyperactive ones. The afformentioned ballad is beautiful and warm, and so fun to get lost in.
Highway 61 Revisited is by far Dylan's best and most creative work, an album that you will listen to again and again. Absolutely essential.

One Of Dylan's Two Perfect Albums
in 1965 the most amazing thing in all of music took place. bob dylan created the greatest album to ever be recorded up to that point, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, and then he created an even greater album in the same year HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED.

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED is one of dylan's two perfect albums, the other being BLOOD ON THE TRACKS.

"like a rolling stone" is one of those moments in music, that dylan is famous for, that is bigger than music. many consider it dylan's greatest song (5/5).
"tombstone blues" is a, fast paced, surreal social commentary, and dylan brings multiple grand images down to a relative level in a way that only he can (5/5).
"it takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry" slows things down, and the contrast is welcome. the lyrics are folky, and the song comes through (5/5).
"from a buick 6" burns with energy, and though the lyrics are fairly simple, they are executed perfectly (5/5).
"ballad of a thin man" is another one of dylan's greatest songs and probably his most under appreciated song. the band really comes through with a chilling atmosphere to match dylan's dumbfounding message (5/5).
"queen jane approximately" has as beautiful a melody as any that's ever been created, and dylan sounds pefect singing over it (5/5).
"highway 61 revisited" is another song that is filled with energy, and similar to "tombstone blues," dylan's lyrics remain complex against a fast paced backdrop. (5/5).
"just like tom thumb's blues" is another song that is melodiously spectacular. the lyrics are abstract yet easy to relate too (5/5).
"desolation row" is another song that is notorius for being one of dylan's most genius moment and rightfully so. it serves as the perfect ending to the perfect album (5/5).

no musical artist has ever had a year like dylan did in 1965, and no musical artist has ever created an album as brilliant as HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED.

Mike Bloomfield rocks the house
A rock album from our Boy, hmm?

Dylan has guitar flash Mike Bloomfield along for this ride, and he adds jets to this whole shebang. If you want to hear Dylan rock, really rock, then you need this album. Forget all the lyrical tricks, the hidden meanings, and just get it because it is electric, it has guitars, and they go fast.

It also has maybe the best rock song of all time, "Like A Rolling Stone". From the opening rim shot to the last note, it is a classic's classic. "How does it FEEL?" asks Dylan, as he takes a former debutante to the woodshed after her world falls in. Misogynistic? Maybe, but so what? It is an awesome track.

"Desolation Row" features two harmonica solos that rise the hair on your arms. The song gradually builds in its stridency, until Dylan can hardly keep from shouting the words. He solos one time, comes back with the last verse in a voice almost shaking in its intensity, then solos again to put an ending to this great, great album. Woof.

In between these two songs lies a set of perhaps the greatest collection of music ever put onto record. If you are a folkie, and electric music makes you nervous, then I'm sure you prefer an earlier Dylan album, or maybe "Blonde on Blonde". If you are a rock and roll person, this disc is the one.

Nothing else like it.
Some people criticize Highway 61 Revisited for being sloppily produced and too weird. On first listen, most might agree with those claims. However, once Dylan's 1965 masterpiece grows on you, these 2 criticisms just add to its charm. I mean, it would be hard to imagine a well-polished version of Tombstone Blues or From a Buick 6... and who would really want songs like that to sound polished? This album was purposely recorded in a spontaneous fashion. Not only were band members brought in on the fly (improvising through most of it), but even Dylan's lyrics were sometimes written just minutes before the tape was rolling. Knowing this just adds to the brilliance of the finished project. This is Bob Dylan at his peak of genius (and probably the peak of his drug use as well). Some argue Blood on the Tracks to be his crowning achievement... to be honest, the guy's got MANY crowning achievements. Highway 61 Revisited, though, is his greatest.

Highway 61 Revisited (Hybr) [HYBRID SACD] [ORIGINAL RECORDIN
Highway 61 Revisited (Hybr) [HYBRID SACD] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]~ Bob Dylan is an amazing album with stupendous story telling lyrics and with dylan is a great mood. He seems to have a fun time recoding this album and that makes it even better. ... Read more

Reviews (89)

An amazing debut from an amazing talent....
I've heard Patty Griffin say that her debut wasn't exactly her style, that she didn't really want to do an acoustic studio album. However dissatisfied she may be, she has created a masterpiece. Her tremendous voice and poetic lyrics carry the CD beautifully. From the pain of heartbreak in 'Every Little Bit' to the whimsy of 'Mad Mission,' Patty writes songs that tell stories, and then she conveys them with a clear, strong, gorgeously terrific voice.

This album is definitely one of the best I've ever owned. It's hard to imagine that someone can exhibit so much range within a pretty narrow genre, yet Patty manages to do it. Each individual song can stand on its own as vividly and poetically written, beautifully sung and performed; together, they become a seamless, smooth, coherent album, one with enough different pieces to suit whatever mood I'm in. Living With Ghosts is one of the few albums I can listen to over and over and still enjoy the surprises and nuances of every song.

It's become quite common now for other artists to cover Patty's songs, from the Dixie Chicks to Emmylou Harris to Ben Harper (whom I heard sing my all-time favorite Patty song, 'Mary,' which is on her second CD). But no matter how good these other versions - and singers - are, they never quite achieve the power that Patty does. And this is the place to begin getting to know Patty, discovering what others have about the beauty of her music. This CD is innovative yet classic, mellow yet powerful, simple yet complex... it's almost beyond description except to say, again, that it's one of the best I've ever heard or bought and one that everyone should give a try. And after this one, there's the very different treat that is 'Flaming Red,' but that's a whole different story... Just buy this one, settle down, and enjoy the ride of truly great songwriting, singing and music.

First review that I have written...
I just feel compelled to write this. What an incredible CD! I came back to buy two more copies to give to friends. I heard "Not Alone" on LA Radio 103.1 (Sunrise Sunday) and I had to have it. My favorites: "Time Will Do the Talking" for anyone who has tried to connect with someone who wasn't ready for a relationship, this is the perfect "letting go" song...lyrics "I don't believe there is such a thing as saying too much, there are those who like to look and those who aint afraid to touch". The song "Forgiveness" I put on repeat and listened to for days. Incredible! Other favorites: "Mad Mission", "Every Little Bit", "Not Alone", "Let Him Fly"...funny, I am listing them all. They are all masterpieces. Patty Griffin, if you read these reviews, thank you for these songs. Others, buy this CD and go through every emotion in the book. You won't be disapointed. Enjoy!

Kept getting it as a recommendation....
So I finally bought it and found out that on at least one song, she yells! That is not signing. Some of the other songs sound OK, but that yelling song grates on my nerves and is making it hard for me to be objective. Singers shouldn't have to scream.

Buy this CD!!!!
Spectacular debut album from an incredible talent. I had the privilege of seeing Patty on the Concert for a Landmine-Free World tour. Despite being on stage with stars like Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Bruce Cockburn, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty stole the show. I was completely unfamilair with her before the show, but I came away with 2 reasons to believe I had just heard something special --1) Earle had to follow her in the rotation, and at one point simply reacted to her song with a "yikes" and 2) my ex-wife hated her.

I am in awe of every little bit of Patty Griffin ...
and that's also my favorite of her songs. I bought the CD after hearing a track on headphones at a music store. It turns out this was not the CD I had heard, so I was shocked by the raw, edgy solo performance, wasn't sure I liked it. Now I LOVE this CD. The lyrics are intelligent, poignant, and insightful and the melodies, the voice intonation, and the guitar licks match them perfectly. She is masterful. Sometimes it seems she can take my deepest, most hidden emotion and then yank it out and place it in front of me. ... Read more

Amazon.com

James Taylor's mid-'70s departure from Warner Bros. may be one of the best things that ever happened to the label; otherwise, it might not have been in such a rush to compile his Greatest Hits, one of the company's biggest sellers ever at 11 million and counting. Taylor's style, which all but defines the word diffident, has more backbone than it's often given credit for. Here, as surprisingly complex songs like "Carolina in My Mind" (in a newly recorded version) and "Steamroller" stack up, he sounds like an artist worth spending some time with. At the least, few of his singer-songwriter cohorts came up with a melody as lovely as "Sweet Baby James." --Rickey Wright ... Read more

Reviews (86)

In my mind I'm going to Carolina!
There has always something very soothing and pleasant about the soft rock god James Taylor. He's not a great guitar player, nor a great singer, yet his down home personality and poetic whimsy of his songs can bring you on a train to heaven after you've been through heck.

Greatest Hits Volume One gather together some of the greatest songs from James Taylor's creative peak. Within these 12 tracks are tales of love won, love lost, lost friends, wandering a Country Road, dreams of "women and glasses of beer, and a glorious trip to Mexico. All centered around a simple accoustic guitar and a simple voice that just might be you or me. There's something very beautiful about that. (Oh yeah! If you think this man is "sensitive" you have yet to hear this classic live version of Steamroller)

So if you want to hear some relaxing (but never boring) folk-rock/singer-songwriter music then I suggest you look towards one of the best. One of the most personal, most melodic, most modest, simply one of the greatest songwriters around turn to James Taylor. And if you want to start with the best, start here!

P.S. Get Greatest Hits Volume 2 after that.

P.S.S. What are you waiting for. Get it NOW!

A chapter from 70's songwriting no one should miss
His warm, earnest vocal style has always gone down easy, and his folky, introspective compositions are among the most touching and astute in pop history. So, packed with 12 songs from Taylor's definitive and acclaimed Warner Brothers years, this is one Greatest Hits package no one should be without.

The somber tone of "Fire and Rain" didn't stop it from becoming one of Taylor's biggest hits, and the song still aches with a gorgeously-sung longing that is impossible to resist. "Something in the Way She Moves" and "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" are among Taylor's best romantic ballads, and his reading of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" (featuring backing vocals by Joni Mitchell) remains the definitive version of the song. "Carolina in My Mind," "Sweet Baby James," and "Walking Man" are all beautiful acoustic ballads with a sweet hint of country, but Taylor proves adept at lightening up too, on the touching "Shower the People" and a joyous reading of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You)," both featuring vocals by Taylor's then-wife, Carly Simon.

Without so much as one lackluster composition or performance in tow, this hits package plays like an old friend you're always happy to visit. 11 million people can't be wrong.

MUST MUST MUST HAVE
Wherever I take my backpack, which is pretty much everwhere, I take this cd in my cd holder, along with my Peter Paul and Mary "Around the Campfire" cd, Zachary Provost, Josh Groban
BSB, *NSYNC, Beatles 1 cd and Elton John "One Night Only" cd. James Taylor is one of the classics. There's something so simple and beautiful abobut his music: it's just his voice and the guitar. We need to get back to that!!

Truly essential
I can't imagine a music lover who could resist to stay without this record in his/her collection for too long. This is what I called an "essential album". I think that noone should be without it, I'm talking about the common listeners too not only the music connossoirs. Each track here is fantastic. There's not a single weak moment in the entire album. This is probably the best of the best in folk acustic music. James and Jim Croce are surely the best in this style but where Jim Croce is a little bit folker and harder in a sense, a little bit locked in the style, James's music is universal, incredibly sweet and lovely and it never sounds dated or trivial. James's music was able to trascend the genre boundaries and to become part of the universal pop culture, part of the world music mainstream of the last 40 years. This greatest hits contains some of the best overall music of the last forty years. That's for sure.

WHO DOESN'T LIKE JAMES TAYLOR?
WHO POSSIBLY COULD DISLIKE JAMES TAYLOR'S GREATEST HITS? WITH SONGS LIKE "YOU GOT A FRIEND," "CAROLINA ON MY MIND" AND "SWEET BABY JAMES," THIS ALBUM IS ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITES. I'VE BEEN THROUGH 2 TAPES AND 2 CDs ALREADY IN SEVERAL YEARS.

HIS VOICE IS SO GENTLE, SWEET AND MELODIC, IT TAKES YOU AWAY TO A PEACEFUL PLACE (UP ON THE ROOF)WHERE TROUBLES ARE SO EASILY FORGOTTEN. IN MY HUKBLE OPINION, THERE IS NO MAN ALIVE WITH A BETTER SINGING VOICE AND A BETTER REPETOIRE OF SONGS! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Many bluegrass musicians have incorporated contemporary elements into their work,Jim & Jesse, the Osborne Brothers, and Mac Wiseman among them., but Krauss's contemporary bluegrass contains particularly heavy doses of pop, folk, and modern country. Whatever style she chooses, her flawless voice and her crack Union Station cohorts usually maintain a high standard. The instrumental "Little Liza Jane" and the traditional "I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers" prove their instrumental chops, and songs like "No Place to Hide," with an impressive fiddle turn from Krauss herself, effectively mold modern elements into the bluegrass idiom. However, others such as "It Doesn't Matter" and "Deeper Than Crying" have very little to do with bluegrass at all. A mostly solid contemporary-bluegrass album, except when the contemporary drowns out the bluegrass. --Marc Greilsamer ... Read more

Reviews (46)

Pain of a troubled life
As of this writing, Alison Krauss continues to grow as both a roots-oriented performer (O, Brother and O, Sister) and mainstream roots-tinged singer (New Favorite). This CD was my introduction to her and Union Station, acquired somewhat by chance a few years ago when I discovered it at a music store listening station. I bought it because I loved the sound of it, and while I've listened to a lot of bluegrass since then (live and recorded), this remains both fresh and soulful, with a style that is distinctively different from the usual.

If you like really bright and upbeat bluegrass, the music on this CD tends to be darker and more mournful than Bill Monroe ever envisioned. The recording volume is even low; you have to crank up the system to hear it. The finest and most touching song on the album for me is "Looking in the Eyes of Love," sung so yearningly by Krauss that you'd swear she's pulled it up out of her own bitterest experiences. If my copy of this song was on vinyl, the grooves would have been worn out by now.

The theme of pain deeply felt and slow to recover from is reflected in many of the titles: "Deeper than Crying," "Pain of a Troubled Life," "Blue Trail of Sorrow." Monroe would do these songs fast and make them sound like a day at the beach, but here they are sung and played for all the pathos in them. Thankfully, resolution of sorts comes in the final cut, "There is a Reason (for it all)."

Is it a concept album? Hard to say. The band seems to have wanted to roll back the sunny, upbeat sound of traditional bluegrass and expose the sadness often underlying it. As an experiement, it's worth a listen because the group is so darn good, and the musicianship is so fine. Buy it, and feel the songs seep into your soul.

Balancing Act
Sometimes an abundance of talent can be a curse - take Alison Kraus, for example. On one hand, she has bluegrass afficianados (like me) begging her not to give in to the lure of almost certain pop/country superstardom, while the rest of the world is screaming, "Get rid of those hayseeds!"

I've already tipped my hand, so I will tell you that the bluegrass component of this album is about the best that can be heard in the genre's more contemporary incarnation. And while Alison is clearly the star, the boys in the band more than hold their own, both vocally and instumentally. Dan Tyminski is a terrific singer and guitarist - his voice blends superbly with Alison's on "Blue Trail of Sorrow" and particularly "The Road is a Lover," which also features some great train-like bowing from Alison. Banjoist Ron Block takes Scrugg-style picking to a higher level - his driving solo on the title track blows me away every time I hear it. And Adam Steffey's mandolin playing ranks among the best.

What more can be said about Alison's voice? It's clear, emotive, and haunting. My only complaint about Alison these days is that she is growing less and less inclined to cut loose on the fiddle. I've read her statements of getting away from "flashy playing for its own sake," but she's far too talented on that instrument to let it collect too much dust.

For those whom skip over the non-Alison tracks, or complain that the guys sing to much - Alison is following in the best tradition of the original bluegrass bossman himself, Mr.Bill Monroe, who handed over the reigns repeatedly to such (later) stars as Lester Flatt, Jimmy Martin, and Peter Rowan. Alison Kraus and Union Station is a BAND - and a damned fine one at that. I just hope that she doesn't follow the path of the late Keith Whitley, Marty Stuart, Dolly Parton, and Ricky Skaggs (although we got him back), forsaking bluegrass completely.

Alison stays true to Her Artistic Vision
Ever since Elvis began his famed recording career with a Rockabilly cover of Bluegrass Bossman Bill Monroe's signature "Blue Moon of Kentucky" Bluegrass has been regarded by *some* as the poor barefoot hayseed step-child of Country Music. Acoustic Guitars and Banjos and Fiddles were overwhelmed and swallowed up by Electric Guitars and Peddle Steel Guitars. A successful Bluegrass album sold maybe 30,000. The "dirty little secret" in Nashville was that the Bluegrass musicians were the ones who could really PLAY, so talented bluegrassers who wanted to make a decent living became Nashville studio musicians. Bluegrass fans, who are often as fanatical about the music as a religious zealot is about their religion, considered such musicians to have "sold out", and so it was that artists like Ricky Skaggs, Bill Keith, Marty Stuart and Vince Gill were considered. Once big fish in the small Bluegrass pond, they were thought by Bluegrass Purists to have compromised their artistic integrity to become Country successes. (Was it ironic that Ricky Skagg's first Country Hit was a "countrified" version of Lester Flatt's "Don't Get Above Your Raisin'?")

The purpose of this review isn't to give even a thumbnail history lesson of the evolution of Bluegrass and a comparison to more popular and "mainstream" forms of music, but it is important in having a complete appreciation of this album to recognize the historical rarity of a "popular" or "breakout" Bluegrass artist or band or recording. In the past half-century before Alison Krauss the number of Bluegrass recordings which received any degree of popular airplay could be easily counted on one hand:
Flatt and Scruggs "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" - the music used as the musical theme to "Bonnie and Clyde".
Flatt and Scruggs "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" - the theme to "Beverly Hillbillies"
"Dueling Banjos" - from the soundtrack to "Deliverance"
"Rocky Top" - by the Osborne Brothers
"Fox on the Run" - by the Country Gentlemen

Then along came Alison Krauss, with her stunning crystalline voice that caught the attention of the Bluegrass community while she was still a teenager.

She recorded several albums which were among the most well-received in the Bluegrass community leading up to 1995 when her label, Rounder, persuaded her to put together a few new recordings with mostly previous releases, some as "guest star" on other CDs to come up with the compilation "Now That I've Found You"(It may have been called "Greatest Hits" for an artist that had HAD a "hit").

That CD stunned everyone, sold 6 million copies and suddenly Alison Krauss was the hottest female voice in Nashville - winning a handful of CMA awards.

Under the expectations of THAT success Ms. Krauss and her band, Union Station, went to the studio to record the follow-up album.

Many on either side of the "Bluegrass Purist" fence were expecting the next CD to be the "Sell-Out" CD - full of steel guitars and guest duets with Barbra Streisand.

What came instead was THIS CD, "So Long So Wrong", an album that celebrates the Bluegrass heritage that these musicians hail from in addition to showcasing the extraordinary contemporary talents of Alison and Union Station.

Newcomers to Bluegrass expecting a recording with nothing but Alison's voice were likely put out a little that some GUY was singing the lead vocal on several of these cuts. Alison knew that Dan Tyminsky was an extraordinary vocalist YEARS before Dan was chosen to do the singing voiceover for George Clooney in "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

The CD is one of the prominent ones that Alison jokes about in which her lead vocals are predominantly on beautiful but sorrowful ballads like "Deeper Than Crying" and "Find My Way Back to my Heart." These tracks are beautiful and they're NOT "straight bluegrass" for you purists - Ron Block trades in his trusty 5-string for some tasty acoustic guitar work and these are closer to folk or even just "unplugged pop" than to bluegrass. The Dan Tymin