Disc 85 is...Mortal City
Artist: Dar Williams
Year of Release: 1996
How I Came To Know It: I actually discovered this album (and by extension, Dar Williams) from Sheila's "interweb" community. Someone she posted with liked it, and recommended it. Ironically, I'm the one who really liked it - Sheila almost never plays it.
How It Stacks Up: I have two Dar Williams albums. Both are good, and I'd say this one is the better of the two. I had a third album of hers and it was so awful I gave it the requisite three listens and sold it.
Rating: 4 stars
I find it passing strange that during my heydey of folk music in the early to mid-nineties I never knew about Dar Williams. Probably because I was more focused on Celtic folk, and she is more on the Americana side.
Years later, when folk was more of a side interest, Sheila found this gem.
Dar Williams has a sing-song voice that when you first hear it makes her sound a little too "college radio" but that initial disjunction is quickly healed by the refreshing honesty of her songs, and the incredible writing.
There are so many good things to say about this album. It is so fervently written from a woman's perspective, but that just made me enjoy getting emotionally in the head of such an interesting woman all the more.
Many of the songs are about relationships, with a bit of political commentary thrown in - but even this commentary is couched within intensely personal experience.
The crowning jewel on this album is the five star folk song "Iowa". They lyrics are great, but not half as great without the emotional music that accompanies them. Sadly, "A Creative Maelstrom" is not a multimedia experience - and for those who would show me how to make it one, let me offer a pre-emptive "no thank you". So here is the first verse, although I was sorely tempted to put them all:
"I've never had a way with women,
but the hills of Iowa make me wish that I could
And I've never found a way to say I love you,
but if the chance came by, oh, I, I would
But way back where I come from, we never mean to bother,
We don't like to make our passions other people's concern
And we walk in the world of safe people,
and at night we walk into our houses and burn."
This is a good point to note that Dar Williams correctly punctuates her songs in the CD sleeve, and doesn't improperly use or ignore capitals or commas. From the failing hands of an English Literature graduates across this fair and frozen land, I salute you, Dar.
Back to the CD. As I noted above, each of the excellent songs on this album showcase another facet of human relationships.
"As Cool As I Am" is a track about the face we put on to meet women at clubs or parties (I am pretty sure Dar likes to meet women as much as I do, based on a couple good listens).
"The Christians and the Pagans" is a song about a family featuring both these groups, coming together over an unexpected Christmas dinner and finding a lot of common ground amid an awkward moment.
"Pompeii" is a song that evokes the sad display of those killed in the eruption with the suddenness and permanence of something ending.
"The Ocean" reminds us that our love of others is part of what we have learned since we stepped out of the ocean millions of years ago. It reminds us that it is love and empathy that makes us human, and it is through this intensly direct relationship that we can juxtapose the uncaring vastness of the sea which still calls us back.
"Family" is nothing but a raw and beautiful song about how family is there for us when we need them. As Robert Frost once wrote, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."
And just when I was happily falling into a deep emotional well, Williams does a song like "The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed" which is a song about political activism and love gone wrong on campus. If I had been in school when I heard it, I would have declared it 5 star humour. 18 years removed from that experience I still thought it was damned funny.
When I start writing a review, I quickly enter the album on an excel spreadsheet (this is how 300 albums from now I won't have repeats). I also quickly rate it for quick reference, and when I did this album I gave it a 3. However, as I wrote this review and thought about it some more, I had to upgrade to a 4. This is a quality record, that legitimately has something to say, and is not afraid to say it.
Best tracks: As Cool As I Am, Iowa, The Christians and the Pagans, Family, The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed, The Blessings.
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