I enjoyed this album so much that
I almost skipped writing this entry tonight so I’d be able to listen to it
again tomorrow. However, this Odyssey won’t get to Ithaca on its own, so here I
sit, reveling in a good record, hopeful the next one will be just as good.
Disc 875 is….Living With Ghosts
Artist: Patty
Griffin
Year of Release: 1996
What’s up with the Cover? The classic Giant Head cover.
Gordon Lightfoot would be proud. And no I didn't wreck the album cover - it is designed to look like that. No, I don't like it either.
How I Came To Know It: This was me just drilling through
Patty Griffin’s back catalogue after I discovered her through her 2007 album “Children
Running Through” (reviewed back at Disc 196). I discovered that album
through a series of other music connections. If you want to know more, go read
the review.
How It Stacks Up: I now have seven Patty Griffin albums. Of
those “Living With Ghosts” is one of my favourites. I’m going to put it tied
for second behind “Children Running Through.” I’ll say what it’s tied with –
and maybe even take a stand on which is better – when I roll it.
Ratings: 4 stars
Not many artists record their first record at the
age of 32, and fewer still that deliver a debut with such raw power as “Living with
Ghosts.”
There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Patty
Griffin. Contemporary folk music has never been a way to become internationally
famous, even in these indie-friendly times. That is a damn shame.
When a lot of artists in the mid-nineties were
opting to throw a lot of instrumentation into their music, on “Living With
Ghosts” Griffin relies entirely on an acoustic guitar and her voice. Her vocals
are brassy and powerful, with a multi-octave range that she engages
effortlessly. She writes songs that are very hard to sing, and then makes them
seem easy. On some songs (“Moses” and
“You Never Get What You Want” come to
mind) her vocals are so big it hurt my ears a little. Despite that, I couldn’t
bring myself to turn it down. I wanted it to vibrate right into my bones, so I’d
never forget what she says.
Those words tell the stories of ordinary people
trying to get by. A woman pines for love on “Moses,” another lets a failed love go on “Let Him Fly.” “Forgiveness”
is a powerhouse vocal about letting yourself (and others) have a second chance.
Through it all, Griffin gets that life and love are complicated.
The songs are about individuals, but their quest for meaningful lives,
unselfish loves and the stark truths of the street they encounter while searching
are universal. This is a record that makes you think.
Like any good record, each listen brings something new
for me, and on this go around, I latched onto the character study of “Sweet Lorraine,” which begins:
Sweet Lorraine the fiery haired
brown eyed schemer
Who came from a long line of drinkers
and dreamers
Who knew that sunshine don't hold
up to dark”
Lorraine comes from an abusive home with no
emotional or financial support, but somehow goes to school and gets married.
Still, we know from early in the song that Lorraine’s “businesses fail” and that
she “sleep in the park.” Griffin sums up the apparent disconnect at the end of the
song with:
“In the battle of time, in the
battle of will
It's only your hope and your
heart that gets killed
And it gets harder and harder, Lorraine,
to believe in magic
When what came before you is so
very tragic.”
Like all the songs on the album, “Sweet Lorraine” is also propped up by
some heartfelt guitar strumming that is sneaky good. There are no other
instruments on the album, and Griffin masterfully makes the guitar serve as both
percussion and melody, using it like her voice: sometimes big and brash,
sometimes soft and sweet, and always ranging effortlessly between the two.
As you might expect from the album title this is a haunting
record. Griffin turns that haunting into an insightful experience about the one
spirit we all feel trapped alone in a room with from time to time; our own. However isolated we can feel at these times,
it is no accident that the final song on the record is “Not Alone”.
“Not Alone”
is a slow, sad observation on how easily we can lose the ones we love, but
somehow carry on. The album is full of tragedy and no more so than on this
song, but Griffin has an innate understanding that deep down everybody needs a
little forgiveness and her songs give us permission to find it.
Best
tracks: Moses, Let Him Fly, Poor Man’s House,
Forgiveness, You Never Get What You Want, Sweet Lorraine, Not Alone
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