What Are You Listening To?

[Dennie]

Somethin' Else -- RVG Edition Remastered 24 Bit CD

Cannonball Adderley

1958/1999 Blue Note Records

The Rudy Van Gelder Edition of SOMETHIN' ELSE includes an essay by Bob Blumenthal.

The track "Bangoon" is the correct title for the track "Allison's Uncle" that was originally included as a bonus on previous editions of SOMETHIN' ELSE.

Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Rudy Van Gelder.

This is part of the Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Editions series.

When alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, a high school band director from Florida, passed through New York with brother Nat during a school break, he found more excitement than he was counting on. After Julian offered to sit in for a late reedman, the session's leader, bassist Oscar Pettiford confronted him with the challenging changes of "I'll Remember April," at a breakneck tempo designed to humiliate the young upstart. Instead, Adderley responded with a solo that became the talk of the town; within days, his recording career had begun, and within a year he was able to give up his teaching job to front a full-time band.

Adderley gave up his own band in 1957 when he had the opportunity to become a sideman in Miles Davis' epic ensemble with John Coltrane, resulting in some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time (including MILESTONES and KIND OF BLUE). Davis returned the favor in March of 1958, appearing as a sideman on Adderley's all-star quintet date for Blue Note, and the resulting session is indeed SOMETHIN' ELSE.

Both horn players are at their peak of lyrical invention, crafting gorgeous, flowing blues lines on the title tune and "One For Daddy-O," as the Hank Jones/Sam Jones/Art Blakey rhythm team creates a taut, focused groove (pianist Hank Jones' sly, intuitive orchestrations are studies of harmonic understatement). Adderley's lush, romantic improvisation on "Dancing In The Dark" is worthy of Charlie Parker or Johnny Hodges, while the band refurbishes "Autumn Leaves" and "Love For Sale" into personal cliche-free swingers. And "Alison's Uncle" puts a boppish coda on SOMETHIN' ELSE, one of the most gloriously laid-back blowing sessions of the hard bop era.

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on March 9, 1958. Originally released on Blue Note (81595). Includes liner notes by Leonard Feather and Bob Blumenthal.

"Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma) – 11:01
"Love for Sale" (Cole Porter) – 7:06
"Somethin' Else" (Miles Davis) – 8:15
"One for Daddy-O" (Nat Adderley, Sam Jones) – 8:26
"Dancing in the Dark" (Arthur Schwartz) – 4:07
"Bangoon"(initially released as "Alison's Uncle" and also noted as "Bangoon" on the RVG edition CD) (Hank Jones) – 5:05 not on original LP



Personnel: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (alto saxophone); Miles Davis (trumpet); Hank Jones (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Art Blakey (drums).

 

[Dennie]

Love's Been Rough On Me -- CD :handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup:

Etta James

1997 Private Music

Love's Been Rough on Me is a terrific latter-day album from Etta James, capturing her at the peak of her powers. James' voice has diminished only slightly over the course of her career, and she knows how to make such warhorses as "I've Been Loving You Too Long" sound fresh. She also invests contemporary music, including John Berry's contemporary country hit "If I Had Any Pride Left at All," with real soul. The result is a record that delivers the real goods with grace and style. ~ Leo Stanley

1. Rock, The
2. Cry Like a Rainy Day
3. Love's Been Rough on Me
4. Love It or Leave It Alone
5. Don't Touch Me
6. Hold Me (Just a Little Longer Tonight)
7. If I Had Any Pride Left at All
8. I Can Give You Everything
9. I've Been Loving You Too Long
10. Done in the Dark

 

[Dennie]

Jazz Workshop Revisited (Live)-- Remastered CD

Cannonball Adderley Sextet

1962/2001 Blue Note Records

"Swingin'!!!!", February 13, 2001
By Jeffrey Harris (South San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Jazz Workshop Revisited (Audio CD)

I was stopped dead in my tracks the other day while I was browsing in a record store when I heard something instantly familiar from my childhood, playing over the stores sound system. It was " The Jive Samba" by the Cannonball Adderley Sextet, which I'd heard my parents play again and again, and I did once I got my little five year old fingers all over it!!! After being out of print for many years, this classic album has been released on CD. Recorded over three days of performances at San Francisco's legendary Jazz Workshop in September 1962. Adderley's band featured his brother Nat on cornet, Yusef Lateef on saxes, flute and oboe, and pianist Joe Zawinul, later of Weather Report and writer of Cannonball's biggest hit "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy". The highlights of this album include the aforementioned "Jive Samba", "Primitivo", "Unit 7", and "Mellow Buno". Even Cannonball's between song introductions are enjoyable to listen to. It's so great to see this great album available again for everyone to enjoy.

An opening comment or two by Cannonball... – 0:51
"Primitivo" (Julian "Cannonball" Adderley) – 9:13
"Jessica's Birthday" (Quincy Jones) – 6:30
"Marney" (Donald Byrd) – 6:52
Talk – 0:13
"Unit Seven" (Sam Jones) – 9:02 Bonus track on CD
Another few words... – 0:26
"The Jive Samba" (Nat Adderley) – 11:00
"Lillie" (Jones) – 4:41
"Mellow Bruno" (Yusef Lateef) – 6:00
Time to go now... really! – 0:36

Recorded at the Jazz Workshop, San Francisco, CA on September 22 & 23, 1962

 

[Rope]

Dennie -
You've been absent for a period. Did you bring a note from home?

Rope

Yes, but my dog ate it. :happy-smileygiantred:




Dennie :music-listening:

Please follow your dog around until he/she drops the note. I'd like to read it.

Rope

 

[Dennie]

Dennie -
You've been absent for a period. Did you bring a note from home?

Rope

Yes, but my dog ate it. :happy-smileygiantred:




Dennie :music-listening:

Please follow your dog around until he/she drops the note. I'd like to read it.

Rope

Okie Dokie! :handgestures-salute:

I'll let you know when and if it becomes readable again! :confusion-scratchheadblue:



Dennie ................:animals-chickencatch:

 

[Dennie]

Time Further Out - Miro Reflections -- Remastered CD

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

1961/1996 Columbia Legacy

TIME OUT is Dave Brubeck's most popular album and one of the most famous small-group jazz recordings of all time. The 1959 LP features the odd-metered hit "Take Five" (penned by saxophonist Paul Desmond), which became a calling card for the pianist. As a 1961 follow-up to TIME OUT, Brubeck and his band decided to work from that album's momentum and record a musical sequel. The result was an ambitious nine-part blues suite called TIME FURTHER OUT: MIRO REFLECTIONS. (The latter part of the title is a tribute to the renowned painter Joan Miro, whose work is featured on the cover.) Not surprisingly, TIME FURTHER OUT continues where TIME OUT left off. For example, Brubeck's "Far More Blue" and "Far More Drums," are both reminiscent of "Take Five." The latter even includes a long drum solo by percussionist extraordinaire Joe Morello. "Unsquare Dance" continues the trend toward odd meters, and serves as a kind of lopsided hoedown, replete with handclaps and a funky bass groove. Much of the remaining album is in waltz time, including the ballads "Bluette," "Blue Shadows in the Street," and "It's a Raggy Waltz" (which is reprised as a live bonus track on the 1996 reissue).

Track Listing
1. It's a Raggy Waltz
2. Bluette
3. Charles Matthew Hallelujah
4. Far More Blue
5. Far More Drums
6. Maori Blues
7. Unsquare Dance
8. Bru's Boogie Woogie
9. Blue Shadows in the Street
10. Slow and Easy (A.K.A. Lawless Mike) - (bonus track)
11. It's a Raggy Waltz - (bonus track)

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Dave Brubeck (piano); Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Eugene Wright (bass); Joe Morello (drums).Producer: Teo Macero.Reissue producer: Russell Gloyd.Recorded in New York, New York between May 3 and June 8, 1961. The bonus live track was recorded at Carnegie Hall, New York, New York in 1963.

 

[Dennie]

Jazz: Red Hot and Cool -- Remastered

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

1955/2001 Columbia Legacy

Recorded during three different stays at New York's Basin Street, Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool is making its first appearance in the U.S. on CD. It documents -- with the addition of two additional performances that were previously unissued -- the original Brubeck quartet in its final years. In 1956 Joe Morello would replace Joe Dodge, and in 1958 Eugene Wright would take over the bass chair from Bob Bates. What strikes the listener about this band, is a having been seasoned for five years when the first of these performances were recorded, the Brubeck quartet was far more immersed in the blues than anyone -- at least the critics of the time -- had given them credit for. Paul Desmond's alto tone had yet to take on the dry martini velvety texture that became his trademark, and Brubeck was not yet inserting the totality of his classical ideas about the extrapolation of dissonance from consonance and its resulting harmonic theory that was built on an elaborate contrapuntal system. These ideas, that were introduced to him by the French composer and instructor Darius Milhaud and the music of Shostakovich and Stravinsky would later result in the wildly inventive tonal identity expressed in his compositions on Jazz Impressions of Eurasia, Jazz Impressions of New York, and even Time Out. On this set, while Brubeck is playing with large augmented chords and without the use of arpeggios, his strident melodic sense keeps him rooted in the American vernacular musically. There is the gorgeous, post-bop blues in "Lover," and the Gershwin-esque balladic structure employed in "Little Girl Blue." Desmond, for his part was a constant, the most rock steady part of the band. His solos were the epitome of melodic improvisation even then. His break on "Fare the Well, Annabelle," carries the melody and harmony in its venturing. Brubeck, never content to just comp, offers Desmond a few additions on the diminished seventh and he goes for them stitching his counterpoint through them, taking the tune's body into an entirely new intervallic mode. Brubeck's solo quotes Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik," Pachelbel's "Canon," and variations on a classical theme from the Orient -- Korea, in fact, which was provocative, given the time. The beautiful reading given here of "Love Walked In" is worthy of note because it features the band at its most intimate, hunkered down inside the tune's melody, reworking it to close it off even more from undue influence while re-creating its harmonic architecture. And then there's "The Duke," offered to Gil Evans, a simple stroll through the blues with a nod to both Gershwin and Rogers & Hart. As the band launches into "Indiana" the classic quartet flourish becomes evident; the rhythm section keeps it all steady no matter what happens, and, in Desmond's solo, crossing rhythmic patterns, full time signatures, and meter at lightning speed, this was no mean feat. The two added performances "Taking a Chance on Love" and "Closing Time Blues" were recorded a month after the previous four in August of 1955. Both of them display Brubeck's now trademark two-part counterpoint and Desmond's "in flight" manner of response. They are worthy additions to a record that was already wonderful for its inspiration and the way in which it displayed the band's innovative energy that was unique to live ...

Track Listing
1. Lover
2. Little Girl Blue
3. Fare Thee Well, Annabelle
4. Sometimes I'm Happy
5. Duke, The
6. (Back Home Again In) Indiana
7. Love Walked In
8. Taking a Chance on Love - (previously unreleased, bonus track)
9. Closing Time Blues - (previously unreleased, bonus track)

------

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Dave Brubeck (piano); Paul Desmond (saxophone); Bob Bates (bass); Joe Dodge (drums).

 

[Dennie]

Something Cool -- CD

June Christy with Pete Rugolo and his Orchestra

1954/1991 Capitol Records

The ultimate collection for fans of the Misty Miss Christy, Something Cool features June at her best. The twenty-four songs on this CD cover the period between 1953 and 1954, the most productive and successful years of her career.

Eleven of the selections on Something Cool are from the original album of the same name which gave June her first real commercial success and convinced the critics that she was a capable jazz singer. The odd title song, with its sad rhythm and its lyrics about a pathetic woman lost in the haze of her own mind, is truly a classic. Most of the songs that June recorded fell into the category of ''odd,'' in a good sort of way. Many of the numbers on this CD are relatively unknown and little recorded, but June, with the help of arranger and orchestra leader Pete Rugolo, turned these oddball numbers into true gems of the ''smoke-filled room'' jazz variety. Those numbers that are familiar, like ''Midnight Sun'' and ''The Night We Called It a Day,'' are given the same twist as the unknowns, making the album, from beginning to end, flow quite dreamily through the unique world of Miss June Christy.

A definite recommendation.

Track Listing

* 1. Not I
* 2. Whee Baby
* 3. Why Do You Have to Go Home?
* 4. You're Making Me Crazy
* 5. Something Cool
* 6. Magazines
* 7. Midnight Sun
* 8. Lonely House
* 9. I Should Care
* 10. It Could Happen to You
* 11. The First Thing You Know, You're in Love
* 12. A Stranger Called the Blues
* 13. I'll Take Romance
* 14. Look Out Up There
* 15. Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
* 16. Out of Somewhere
* 17. Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore
* 18. I'm Thrilled
* 19. This Time the Dream's on Me
* 20. The Night We Called It a Day
* 21. Kicks
* 22. Pete Kelly's Blues
* 23. Until the Real Thing Comes Along
* 24. I Never Want to Look into Those Eyes Again

 

[Dennie]

Days Like This -- CD

Van Morrison

1995 Polydor Records


Amazon.com

In an era when most old rock stars are left to recycle their greatest hits for megatours and MTV Unplugged, it's refreshing to know that Van Morrison still pours on all the originality and wit he had when he made Moondance. On Days Like This, Morrison continues his lifelong exploration of the human psyche, offering up highly entertaining and danceable (yes, danceable!) tunes about everything from love to manic depression. As always, Morrison's vocals rumble along through intelligent lyrics, plowing up a range of emotions almost too numerous to catalog. Needless to say, the sweet, soulful harmonies of Morrison's adroit backup singers and Pee Wee Ellis's fabulous horn arrangements serve as fabulous counterpoints to Van the Man's energetic and pointed performances. When all is said and done Morrison sums it up best in "Songwriter," a self-effacing ditty about the job he has done, and still does, so very well. --L.A. Smith

All songs by Morrison unless noted otherwise;

1. "Perfect Fit" – 4:33
2. "Russian Roulette" – 3:56
3. "Raincheck" – 5:53
4. "You Don't Know Me" - (Arnold, Walker) – 4:32
5. "No Religion" – 5:14
6. "Underlying Depression" – 4:35
7. "Songwriter" – 2:50
8. "Days Like This" – 3:13
9. "I'll Never Be Free" - (Benjamin, Weiss) – 3:37
10. "Melancholia" – 3:56
11. "Ancient Highway" – 8:53
12. "In the Afternoon" – 6:21

 

[Dennie]

You Get What You Give -- CD

Zac Brown Band

2010 Atlantic Records

'You Get What You Give' features a genre-defying collection of songs that the band has been testing on the road over the past year.

Praised for the ability to blend 'down-home country with bits of reggae, bluegrass and rock to create a high-quality musical stew' (USA Today), front man Zac Brown notes that the new album 'is representative of where we are right now. It combines elements of our southern rock and country roots, but also stays true to our jam-band style musicianship from the live show.'

'You Get What You Give' is the follow up to the band's double platinum-certified, major label debut 'The Foundation' (Atlantic), which is one of Billboard's Top 20 albums of 2009 and features the band's first four #1 singles.

Also available in a Deluxe Edition with 2 bonus tracks and special embossed packaging.

Track Listing
1. Let It Go
2. Knee Deep - (featuring Jimmy Buffett)
3. No Hurry
4. I Play the Road
5. Cold Hearted
6. Whiskey's Gone
7. Quiet Your Mind
8. Colder Weather
9. Settle Me Down
10. As She's Walking Away - (featuring Alan Jackson)
11. Keep Me in Mind
12. Who Knows
13. Martin
14. Make This Day

Personnel: Zac Brown Band (vocals, guitar); Clay Cook (vocals, guitar, piano); Zac Brown (vocals, guitar); Jimmy de Martini (vocals, violin); John Hopkins (vocals); Coy Bowles (guitar); Chris Fryar (drums).

 

[Dennie]

But Not For Me -- Remastered CD

Ahmad Jamal... at the Pershing 1958

1958/2012 101 DISTRIBUTION

Ahmed Jamal, master of the laid-back groove, produces a timeless gem for all seasons, October 31, 2011
By The Guardian (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)


This album was compiled from a live jazz club recording in 1958 at The Pershing Lounge, and originally released on vinyl by Chess Records.

The masterful Jamal trio, with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums, get into a good groove in front of an appreciative audience. The music has a lightness of feel (some of Jamal's critics have claimed he played "cocktail bar music") but at the same time rewards the listener who pays attention. Jamal is a truly great jazzman, not least because you don't need to be a jazz-obsessive to `get' his music: just sit back and enjoy.

Jamal's accessible, easy-to-listen-to piano style belies his musical virtuosity. Greatly admired by Miles Davis and by almost all top-line jazz musicians of the day, Jamal's playing has endured and is still entertaining, relaxing and - yes - even humorous.

At least two different editions of this album are available: the original with only 30-minute running time (but every minute a gem), and an expanded version titled `Complete live at The Pershing Lounge' with added tracks and extended running time. Whichever variant you have in your collection, it is likely to be played often.

If you get to like this, give the album titled `Ahmed's Blues' a listen. It's another live jazz club recording from the period and (if this is possible) it's even better.

Track Listing
1. But Not for Me
2. Surrey With the Fringe on Top, The
3. Moonlight in Vermont
4. (Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music!
5. No Greater Love
6. Poinciana
7. Woody 'N You
8. What's New?

Personnel: Ahmad Jamal (piano); Israel Crosby (bass); Vernel Fournier (drums).

This is part of this set....

 

[Dennie]

Jamal At The Penthouse -- Remastered CD

Amhad Jamal - Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by Joe Kennedy

1959/2012 101 Distribution

This LP was a change of pace for pianist Ahmad Jamal, whose trio (with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernell Fournier) is joined by a 15-piece string section arranged and conducted by Joe Kennedy. The interpretations are generally pretty, but with enough variety to hold one's interest. Among the nine selections are Hoagy Carmichael's "Ivy," "Tangerine," "Ahmad's Blues" and "I Like to Recognize the Tune." ~ Scott Yanow

Track Listing
1. Comme Ci, Comm Ça
2. Ivy
3. Never Never Land
4. Tangerine
5. Ahmad's Blues
6. Seleritus
7. I Like To Recognize The Tune
8. I'm Alone With You
9. Sophisticated Gentleman

Bonus Track: Poinciana (Single Version)
Personnel: Ahmad Jamal (piano); Israel Crosby (bass); Leo Kruczek, George Brown , Seymour Miroff, Lucien Schmit, Felix Orlewitz, Al Rudnitsky, Sylvan Shulman, Bertrand Hirsch, Isadore Zir, Bernard Eichebaum, Alexander Cores, David Soyer, Harry Katzman, Gene Orloff, Harry Lookofsky (violin, viola, cello); Vernel Fournier (drums).

This is part of this set...

 

[topper]

:happy-smileygiantred: ---- no Beatles
Albert King and Stevie Ray 'In Session' ~~~ (image went somewhere . . . ?)

 

[Zing]

^ Beatles' White Album?

 

[Dennie]

Today's work truck music...

The Greatest of The Guess Who -- Remastered CD

The Guess Who

1990 RCA Records

A good collection, but. . . ., May 13, 2000
By John A. Kuczma "RogueUlfric" (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Greatest of (Audio CD)

This is a very satisfactory collection of The Guess Who's hit recordings, highlighted by the extended version of American Woman and the classic Clap for the Wolfman. The mastering is excellent. The only drawback is that a few of the group's popular earlier efforts, must notably, No Sugar Tonight, are missing. For a truly good collection of Guess Who hits, add both this disc and the Best of the Guess Who to your collection.

Track listing

1. These Eyes
2. Laughing
3. Undun
4. No Time
5. American Woman
6. Hand Me Down World
7. Albert Flasher
8. Glamour Boy
9. Star Baby
10. Clap for the Wolfman
11. Dancin' Fool
12. When the Band Was Singin' "Shakin' All Over"

 

[Botch]

 

[Dennie]

You Are Not Alone -- CD

Mavis Staples

2010 Anti Records

You Are Not Alone finds Mavis Staples teaming up with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, who produced the album and arranged the songs, and while Tweedy may seem an odd fit, he obviously knew what he was up to, crafting material that fits Staples' gospel-fueled vocals.

Track Listing
1. Don't Knock
2. You Are Not Alone
3. Downward Road
4. In Christ There Is No East or West
5. Creep Along Moses
6. Losing You
7. I Belong to the Band
8. Last Train
9. Only the Lord Knows
10. Wrote a Song for Everyone
11. We're Gonna Make It
12. Wonderful Savior
13. Too Close/On My Way to Heaven

 

[Dennie]

Today's work truck music...

I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You -- Reissue CD

Aretha Franklin

1967/1994 Atlantic Records

After the end of Aretha Franklin's five year stint on Columbia Records (who tried marketing her as a jazz vocalist), she signed on with Atlantic Records. Produced by music biz veteran Jerry Wexler, Franklin's Atlantic debut found her flexing creative muscle and making music that forever altered the course of pop and soul. Accompanying herself on piano throughout, Franklin's powerful and passionate vocals garnered comparisons to Ray Charles, while her blend of R&B, gospel and jazz rightfully earned her the moniker "Queen Of Soul."

Full Title - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You. Aretha got instant ''Respect'' for her 1967 Atlantic debut album, now an immortal soul landmark & the best soul album ever released, according to The Rolling Stone Record Guide. This masterpiece is newly restored to its original mono splendor, and features extensive liner notes plus 3 bonus tracks, 'Respect' (Stereo Version), 'I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)' & 'Do Right Woman - Do Right Man'. 14 tracks. Rhino. 1995.

1 Respect 2:27
2 Drown in My Own Tears 4:07
3 I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) 2:51
4 Soul Serenade 2:39
5 Don't Let Me Lose This Dream 2:23
6 Baby, Baby, Baby 2:54
7 Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious Business) 3:23
8 Good Times 2:10
9 Do Right Woman, Do Right Man 3:16
10 Save Me 2:21
11 A Change Is Gonna Come 4:20


BONUS TRACKS In Stereo
12 Respect Bonus Track / Stereo Version 2:28
13 I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) Bonus Track / Stereo Version 2:46
14 Do Right Woman, Do Right Man Bonus Track / Stereo Version 3:14

 

[Dennie]

Hymns of the 49th parallel -- CD

k.d. lang

2004 Nonesuch Records

Amazon.com

Was it homesickness that compelled longtime Los Angeles resident k.d. lang to fashion her one-woman campaign for north-of-the-border nationalism, or just plain good sense? All Canadian content has long been a mainstay of the Canadian Broadcasting System, but few have selected their material with such a fine hand and a high aesthetic. The expatriate singer has taken great pains to create a sophisticated homage to her Canadian roots, elegantly reinterpreting 11 songs penned by some of her more illustrious countrymen (and women) such as Jane Siberry, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen. The idiosyncratic chanteuse turns Cohen's "Bird on a Wire" into an aching monochromatic lament, exploring new tributaries of pain that didn't exist in the original, while recasting Neil Young's "Helpless" into a haunting anthem of memory and comfort, all the while sounding anything but helpless. A gorgeous love letter to her brethren, complete with an intelligent and understated orchestration. --Jaan Uhelszki

"After the Gold Rush" (Neil Young) – 4:00
"Simple" (Lang, David Piltch) – 3:02
"Helpless" (Neil Young) – 4:15
"A Case of You" (Joni Mitchell) – 5:12
"The Valley" (Jane Siberry) – 5:31
"Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen) – 5:01
"One Day I Walk" (Bruce Cockburn) – 3:24
"Fallen" (Ron Sexsmith) – 2:56
"Jericho" (Mitchell) – 3:45
"Bird on the Wire" (Leonard Cohen) – 4:28
"Love is Everything" (Jane Siberry) – 5:43

 

[Dennie]

The Way I Should -- CD

Iris DeMent

1996 Warner Bros. Records

Amazon.com

Iris DeMent's 1994 My Life is the best country album released in the 1990s. Yet with its gorgeous string-band arrangements and its heartbreaking tales of home and family, it's so timeless it could just as easily have been released in the '30s as the '90s. By contrast, there's no mistaking which decade DeMent's album, The Way I Should, comes from, with its crossover-country sound and its references to Calvin Klein, MTV, child abuse, "quality time," and Beavis and Butt-head. Nonetheless DeMent's twangy Arkansas soprano and detail-filled lyrics are as sharply original as ever. DeMent's voice seems to glow on "This Kind of Happy," a love song co-written with her outspoken admirer, Merle Haggard, and on the prayer-like "Keep Me God." --Geoffrey Himes

Track Listing
1. When My Mornin' Comes Around
2. There's a Wall in Washington
3. Wasteland of the Free
4. I'll Take My Sorrow Straight
5. This Kind of Happy
6. Way I Should, The
7. Letter to Mom
8. Keep Me God
9. Quality Time
10. Walkin' Home
11. Trouble