Spring was in the air today as I
walked home. Cherry trees blossomed and the sun felt like it might soon be
sufficiently bold to kick winter to the curb for good. Well, for six months or
so anyway.
Disc 987 is…Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions
Artist: Linda
Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris
Year of Release: 1999
What’s up with the Cover? The ladies look like they are
part of a wedding party – a super-hot wedding party!
Later
they’ll stand gracefully beside the bride in a garden photo shoot. The bride
will have a strained smile on her face as she wonders why she told the
bridesmaids to wear white, and how much better Emmylou and Linda look in it
than she does. Later she’ll blame the maid of honour for a night on the town
the previous evening that left bags under her eyes, then get too drunk at the
reception and fall in the hotel fountain.
I have a
vivid imagination.
How I Came To Know It: I just bought this album in the
last couple of months. I think my coworker Sam alerted me to it and a used copy
coincidentally showed up a few weeks later.
How It Stacks Up: I only have one album with this particular
pairing but I have three Emmylou Harris albums where she partners up with
another singer. Of the three, “Western Wall” is about even with her Rodney Crowell
collaboration, “Old Yellow Moon” but behind “All the Road Running” with
Mark Knopfler.
Ratings: 3 stars
What’s
better than one of country music’s most defining voices? Two of those voices,
of course! On “Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions” CD Odyssey frequent flier Emmylou
Harris teams up with fellow chanteuse (and Odyssey newcomer) Linda Ronstadt to
take some great songs and make them their own.
Emmylou
is famous for the sheer volume of her collaborations. She is so prolific she
has five separate Wikipedia pages cataloguing
them all. Seriously, check it out. With her emotive quaver and natural
airy range, Emmylou can make anyone sound good: Bob Dylan, Guy Clark, you name
it – and that’s just from the A-F section of the Wiki pages.
So when
she teams up with Linda Ronstadt, with her power, range and thick rich tone,
good things are going to happen. Together, the two women sing duets, sometimes
taking turns on the verses, sometimes blending into harmony where both the
richness and the quaver find a delightful balance. This is candy for the ears.
Access
to material was obviously not an issue, either, because “Western Wall” is
packed with famous songwriters ‘lending’ their tunes. The album features songs
written by Jackson Browne, Roseanne Cash, Sinead O’Connor, Leonard Cohen, the
McGarrigle Sisters, Bruce Springsteen and others.
Despite
this august company, my favourite track is by lesser known Andy Prieboy. Harris
and Ronstadt cover Prieboy’s “Loving the
Highway Man,” which is about a woman who is ostracized for falling in with
an outlaw. The song has amazing production. It mixes ethereal electric guitar,
sweet but stark vocals and some well-placed percussion that emphasizes the frustration
of the character’s bad decisions like a fist beating a wall.
As
usual, Emmylou quietly slips in a couple songs of her own which are every bit
the equal of the covers. “Raise the Dead”
is a retrospective of Emmylou’s career (already long, and this was 17 years
ago). It has a nice mix of bluegrass, country and rock tinges around the edge.
Even Ronstadt wisely takes a back seat here and lets Emmylou tell the tale of the
musicians that fell before her, and how she knows she’s trapped by the same
calling until it’s her time to follow.
Not so
good is Harris’ “Sweet Spot” (co-written
with Jill Cunniff) which suffers from some very unfortunate production decisions,
including a weird echo of some lines flashing only in the right speaker. It
felt like my headphones were shorting out. When I realized it was on purpose it
made it worse.
“Sweet Spot” is also one of a number of
songs on “Western Wall” that feel a bit too…motherly. On this track and Sinead
O’Connor’s “This Is to Mother You” it
sounds like the duo are going to bake you some cookies or bring you soup in
bed. It is all just a little domestic. Worst of all, this vibe seeps into
Leonard Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy.” It
was hard to hear two of my favourite vocalists take one of my favourite Cohen
songs and trade its weary respite for a peace that felt just a little too
perfect.
“1917” is a nice juxtaposition to this
vibe. It tells the story of a French woman having an affair with a soldier on
leave from the front. The motherly concern is here as well, but it is
intertwined with a steamy romance that is so intimate it is a little
uncomfortable to listen to; like you are hearing something that should rightly
be between the two lovers alone.
When “Western
Wall” sticks the landing, it feels like magic. The musicians are top notch, and
the production is sharp, clear and in service to the amazing voices of Ronstadt
and Harris. When it misses, the production is overblown, leaving the vocals
saccharine and trite. Overall, though, it hits a lot more than it misses, and
when you have these two singers it is hard to go far wrong.
Best
tracks: Lovin’
the Highway Man, Raise the Dead, For a Dancer, Western Wall, 1917
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