Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Showing posts with label David Rawlings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Rawlings. Show all posts
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Friday, November 25, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Album Review: Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
Gillian Welch is someone I'm not very familiar with, but I have been enjoying her third album, 2001's Time (The Revelator). The inclusion of "The Revelator" in the title evokes The Book of Revelations while simultaneously conjuring up visions of old bluesmen.
The actuality of the music is more of a late-night, country-tinged, gentle folk. Opening track Revelator is a downbeat folk tale, over ringing acoustic guitars which drift along in a stately fashion. It's quite jarring when just before the end she sings "leaving the valley, f**king out of sight." There's a great electrified version of this song on Ryan Adams' Destroyer bootleg, but this version is good in its own right.
Much of the rest of the album is quite bluegrass. We get banjo romps (My First Lover), glacial bluegrass (Dear Someone, Elvis Presley Blues), as well as the sparse folky tracks which really grab me. David Rawlings' contribution should also be noted, as he chips on guitar, backing vocals, not to mention co-writer and producer.
April 14th, Part I starts off quite beautifully with gentle acoustic guitar and Gillian Welch's drawling, yearning vocal. It evokes insomnia on a warm summer's night, like most of the material here. Its sister piece, Ruination Day, Part II takes the same lyrical theme in a similarly sparse musical setting.
Everything Is Free is another sparse gem, but I Dream A Highway is another thing entirely. It sounds like a kind of folk mantra, though at 14 and a half minutes it will probably lull you into a stupor. It's better than I make it sound. In fact it's a charming album, not just for ardent bluegrass fans.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Album Review: Ryan Adams with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings – Destroyer Sessions
This album was recorded in 2000, before Ryan Adams’ debut but never released. Most of it was never released in any shape or form, which is understandable as it’s not very commercial, but it’s a shame, as it’s a lost gem.
Adams sounds really relaxed on most of the tracks here, and most of them sound like they just came accidentally into being. The backing music is largely himself plus Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and they conjure up a subtle backing on tracks like Dreaming’s Free, which is a relatively simple tune where Adams “thanks God dreaming’s free cos I spent all my money making make-believe”. Poison and the Pain has a classic acoustic country blues progression with a weather beaten vocal from Adams.
Rainy Days is a lovely gentle melody featuring some pretty xylophone, while Statuettes with Wounds is a barely there ditty where you can almost feel the warm breeze. Hey There, Mrs Lovely was later resurrected and retitled as “These Girls” on 2007’s Easy Tiger, but it sounds fully formed here. It’s a largely acoustic song, like a lot of the material here featuring a nice relaxed vocal from Adams.
The xylophone makes a welcome return on Nighttime Gals, and then later on the album In My Time of Need and Bartering Lines were salvaged for Heartbreaker. Neither differ particularly here from the released versions, though Bartering Lines is a little rawer, featuring a creeping acoustic guitar line and more prominent backing vocals from Rawlings.
Final track, Time (The Revelator) is a total change of pace. It’s completely different to the acoustic version which ended up on Gillian Welch’s Revelator. Here it’s a Neil Young / Crazy Horse style swampy where the band display an admiral grasp of dynamics, as the song lurches along with great guitar work. The unfortunate thing is it fades out all too quickly.
The problem with reviewing this is it hasn’t received a ‘proper’ release, but it’s another interesting sideline in Ryan Adams’ large back catalogue.
Adams sounds really relaxed on most of the tracks here, and most of them sound like they just came accidentally into being. The backing music is largely himself plus Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and they conjure up a subtle backing on tracks like Dreaming’s Free, which is a relatively simple tune where Adams “thanks God dreaming’s free cos I spent all my money making make-believe”. Poison and the Pain has a classic acoustic country blues progression with a weather beaten vocal from Adams.
Rainy Days is a lovely gentle melody featuring some pretty xylophone, while Statuettes with Wounds is a barely there ditty where you can almost feel the warm breeze. Hey There, Mrs Lovely was later resurrected and retitled as “These Girls” on 2007’s Easy Tiger, but it sounds fully formed here. It’s a largely acoustic song, like a lot of the material here featuring a nice relaxed vocal from Adams.
The xylophone makes a welcome return on Nighttime Gals, and then later on the album In My Time of Need and Bartering Lines were salvaged for Heartbreaker. Neither differ particularly here from the released versions, though Bartering Lines is a little rawer, featuring a creeping acoustic guitar line and more prominent backing vocals from Rawlings.
Final track, Time (The Revelator) is a total change of pace. It’s completely different to the acoustic version which ended up on Gillian Welch’s Revelator. Here it’s a Neil Young / Crazy Horse style swampy where the band display an admiral grasp of dynamics, as the song lurches along with great guitar work. The unfortunate thing is it fades out all too quickly.
The problem with reviewing this is it hasn’t received a ‘proper’ release, but it’s another interesting sideline in Ryan Adams’ large back catalogue.
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