Robert Cray Shoulda been home
If you like Robert Cray you will love this new album looking forward to seeing him in concert at Basingstoke anybody else going to see him there.

Mary Chapin Carpenter Time,Sex,Love
A fine collection of new songs we have waited a long time for this album. Well worth the wait imho

That is just up the road from me, can you tell me where and when? I last saw Bobby Cray in Morecambe in the late 80's at the "Blue Rhapsody."
There were just enough cooks and no stew was spoilt.

TA

Jonathan

This is, to my ears, a perfect album in every way possible: music, lyrics, performance, production, recording, mix. It sounds warm and beautiful, has spices where needed, is clear, balanced, nuanced, inviting, and colorful. It has complete dynamic, emotional, tonal, dimensional range. It has a distinct vibe, its own personality, and plenty of mystery.

Of course, listening to it will reveal why it's such a great album more than my words ever could.

With their previous A Few Small Repairs, this makes two masterpieces in a row for Shawn Colvin and producer John Levanthal.

Don't forget John Martyn on 20th June either

The Anvil is a fine venue

See you there

P.

BTW Fred - Shawn Colvin? - only one I own is Fat City - Tennessee was a bit of a reference point - guess I just might buy these too - Thanks for the reminder

[This message was edited by Pierre on TUESDAY 15 May 2001 at 20:39.]

Colvin and Leventhal are simply an excellent match. I find the title track on Whole New You is a bit of a let down, but apart from that it's the same magic as with A Few Small Repairs.

John's the man! Have you got Patty Larkin's latest album? He didn't produce that, but contributed some amazingly tasteful and idiosyncratic playing.

Pierre,

If you liked "Fat City", "A Few Small Repairs" is definitely for you! There's an online shop in Germany (zweitausendeins.de) who used to sell it for approx. 4 quid. They also have many classic rock/pop albums in that price range, but I don't know whether they deliver to the UK.

Thomas

"a few more repairs" is appently quite good too -- i think i was reading somewhere that she did this after her divorce?

phew, so much music and so little time to play it...

enjoy...

ken

Fat City is maybe my least favorite (not that I don't love it, just love it the least) because while it has magnificent writing and performances from Shawn, the production (by Joni Mitchell's ex-husband, bassist Larry Klein), while very well done, is a bit too "normal" compared to Levanthal's much more imaginative and idiosyncratic production and arrangements.

A Few Small Repairs is, as I've said, a stone masterpiece in every way. And Whole New You matches it song for song (even the title track, which to some is too far gone pop, but to me is wonderful, smart, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth pop, like Beatles, Beach Boys, etc. ).

A large aspect of Levanthal's thing is assimilating various influences from 60s and 70s pop/rock and filtering it through his and Shawn's own sensibilities, putting their stamp on it. For instance, there are phrases that fairly shout "Beatle-esque!" but you can't quite put your finger on exactly which Beatles' song it's referencing. And yet sometimes you can, like the uncanny (yet very canny) Penny Lane modulation on the bridge of You and the Mona Lisa from A Few Small Repairs.

Along the way Shawn also released a very good album of covers titled Cover Girl, and a beautiful album called Holiday Songs and Lullabies.

One more not to miss is Live '88 (Plump Records, if still available), on which Colvin proves that she can do it brilliantly all by herself, just voice and guitar. I've heard her several times live, and she is a world class musician.

Jonathan

Robert Cray - cracking.

Yell if anyone fancies apint beforehand.

Jonathan

When we got home on Sunday night I put it into my system and it sounds absolutely amazing! It's been on repeat since!

Even the cat likes it. She's taken to sitting on top of my CD3.5 with a happy look on her face.

I bought Reveal in the same batch and I'm holding back judgement until I've listened to it for the mandatory 50 times. I always find that a new REM release needs to be listened for a while before "clicking in".

Jay

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If Fred Simon rates then she must be pretty good

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You know, that is so true (insert emoticon here)

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I think I'll pick up one of her albums next time I'm near a record shop. What sort of music is it? Alt. Country?

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What sort of music is it? Good music.

More specifically, it's singer/songwriter folk/rock/pop with an awareness of other music like country, jazz, classical.

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Bought Whole New You before the weekend and listened to it for the first time in the car. Half way through the first song my partner says "this isn't you, it's so boring" ... When we got home on Sunday night I put it into my system and it sounds absolutely amazing! It's been on repeat since!

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Yes, it isn't really a "car" album, at least until you've digested it properly at home.

Digging it as much as you do, I think you'd equally dig her previous album A Few Small Repairs, which you definitely should eat at home first before taking to the car.

Jay

The pen-ultimate studio album, Perishable Fruit, was played with stringed instruments only, but a lot of percussive sounds were created with muted strings, on the backs of instruments etc. The album has a number of hauntingly intense songs. Regrooving the Dream is her latest album, also stunning.

Both have been excellently recorded. The current reincarnation of my active system shows up the sonic flaws of a lot of recordings I previously thought were very good. The two Larkins, however, have weathered a number of upgrades and emerge as perennial winners in that respect.

Thomas

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The current reincarnation of my active system shows up the sonic flaws of a lot of recordings I previously thought were very good.

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my experience too. a bit worrying at first, but you soon get used to it. i wonder what the situation will be when i get the cdsii??

enjoy

ken

Perhaps when you get the CDS2, the "hardware deficiencies" aspect is eliminated and not-so-good recordings will sound a bit better again. In any case, it seems to me that *really* good recordings just get better as the system does, and I suspect that is because these recordings were monitored on many different systems ("high end" to car stereos) to ensure they will sound good anywhere. While some recordings sound really harsh on an active system, others retain their perfect sonic balance across the frequency range - Regrooving the Dream is one of these (with musicality to match). From what I know of you, I'm almost certain you would like it.

Thomas

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With their previous A Few Small Repairs, this makes two masterpieces in a row for Shawn Colvin and producer John Levanthal.

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using tony L's language, "a few small repairs" is definitely a "good call".

the shop didnt have "whole new you". the chick (really nice bird by the way...) at the counter was rather dismissive about shawn colvin when i asked about this other album. when she was putting "a few small repairs" in its case, she had her fingers all over the cd -- when i complained, she simply looked at me and protested "snob, what difference does that make?"

now, i tell you, a long time ago i would have definitely asked her out. but i am married, so... but i will probably end up buying quite a few cd's there -- and she can have her fingermarks all over my cd's. i dont care.

get a life, ken...

fred simon, thanks for the "call" --- i thoroughly enjoyed the first spin. those lyrics!!!
i am looking fwd to "whole new you" when i get it...

enjoy

ken

Not that I assume anyone is necessarily interested, but back when the album came out I wrote, mostly for my own amusement, a little compendium of Beatles and other 60s rock influences in AFSR. Very geeky but fun. It somehow made its way through cyberspace to producer John Levanthal who emailed me that he was very flattered that someone heard the details, even some things he didn't realize were there.

On Whole New You he continues his brilliant assimilation and modernization of 60s influences, but I'll leave it to someone else to catalogue them.

[This message was edited by fred simon on SUNDAY 27 May 2001 at 06:44.]