CD Odyssey Disc 965: Dar Williams

I started off the week a bit in the doldrums, but as the weekend approaches I can feel my energy levels rising. It is the perfect time for an inspiring music review!

Instead, I give you this one.

Disc 965 is…End of the Summer

Artist: Dar Williams

Year of Release: 1997

What’s up with the Cover? Commenting on this cover so soon after reviewing “Promised Land” at Disc 907 I’m starting to think Dar has a thing for gardening. Whatever she’s doing she should have changed out of that party dress and worn gloves.

How I Came To Know It: This was one of a glut of four Dar Williams albums I’ve bought in the last year as I worked my way through her back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up:  I have six Dar Williams albums. Of these I had held out hope that “Promised Land” would be the worst, given that it barely cleared the bar to stay in my collection. Sadly, it has now been displaced by “End of the Summer” which I am going to part ways with, scant months after purchasing it. Not all relationships work out, I guess.

Ratings: 2 stars

I bought this album because I liked a couple of the messages, but after listening to it a few times I’ve come to the conclusion that a good message isn’t enough; you need to like the songs.

Listening to Dar Williams I always get the impression that she is a thoughtful and self-examined person, and as she goes through these inner journeys she helps shepherd me through some of mine as well. This album didn’t connect that way, and the fact that it tried hard to do so just made it all awkward.

One message that appealed is “Teenagers, Kick Our Butts.” So much protest folk takes aim at the establishment. Dar released this album at the age of 30; hardly the establishment, but old enough to realize it is just around the corner. Instead of straining youthful metaphor and messages of rebellion she takes on one of the biggest challenges of aging; becoming mentally inflexible. On “Teenagers…” she welcomes the generation behind us to both push us and do better than us, exhorting:

“I’m sure you know there’s lots to learn,

But that’s not your fault, that’s just your turn

Teenagers, kick our butts, tell us what the future will bring

Teenagers, look at us we have not solved everything.”

That’s for sure, and bonus points for using a fuddy duddy word like “butts” in the song, underscoring her point. The song is a reminder that wisdom can come at any age and it doesn’t just arrive and permanently hang around; it’s an ongoing process.

The other strong track is “If I Wrote You” a heartbreaking song of regret and self-doubt. This is also the strongest songs on the record melodically, with a gentle trill like a forest stream, and a chorus sung high up in Dar’s range, cascading down at the end in a waterfall of sadness. This is the Dear John letter never sent, but quietly sung instead.

Unfortunately, “If I Wrote You” was the exception for me, as I found a lot of the musical decisions on this album hard to enjoy. A lot of them have the same rolling quality, but most don’t have a strong melody to support it and feel a bit more like a back eddy than a river. To get away with it, the lyrics need to carry the songs.

Usually that’s no problem for Dar, but I didn’t dig those either. “What Do You Hear in These Sounds” is set up as a therapy session, which feels contrived, particularly compared to the genuine pathos of “If I Wrote You”.

And one of the songs that drew me in the first place – “Party Generation” – progressively started to bug me on repeat listens. It has a catchy rhythm and I liked the idea of someone wandering in search of a party, but the lyrics began to irk me. It begins:

“When he turned 34 but who’s counting

He couldn’t find anyone who wanted to party

So he walked around a playground with a bag of Mickey’s tallboys

And he heard the sound of laughter

And he followed it for fifteen blocks.”

So much wrong here. If he turned 34 then you’re counting Dar, but more importantly who at the age of 34 can’t find a party? And of those people who (other than the homeless) walks around the park with a bag of tallboys looking for one? Not the kind of guy I would invite in from the porch, but the party he finds is full of people playing quarters (seriously) so I guess any new guest was an upgrade at that point. Also, how does a party full of people playing quarters make enough noise to be heard 15 blocks away?

Anyway, the point is that a song called “Party Generation” that is about partying should feature a reasonably good party.

On my walk home today (and on my third consecutive listen) my mind wandered a little at one point and the record ended and skipped to the next song on the device, the Rankin Family’s “As I Roved Out”. This is not the Rankin’s greatest song, but it took me until the second verse before I realized I was no longer listening to Dar Williams.

Much as I’d like to say it was the power of the Rankin Family, I’m not much of a fan of “As I Roved Out.” I had just lost interest in the record I was supposed to be listening to.

I have a lot of time for Dar Williams. Hell, I own five of her other albums and am on the lookout for one more, so that says something. But apart from a couple exceptions “End of the Summer” didn’t grab me. It isn’t a terrible album it just isn’t an album for me. I will now work to find it a better home than mine.

Best tracks: If I Wrote You, Teenagers Kick our Butts,