My weekend is starting early. As
in…now! Let’s kick it off with a music review after which I’ll go watch that
football game I’m taping.
Disc 1057 is…Rites of Passage
Artist: Indigo
Girls
Year of Release: 1992
What’s up with the Cover? This cover answers the question
“What’s the least amount of fun you can have with Microsoft Paint?”
How I Came To Know It: Back in 1992 I was pretty big
into the Indigo Girls and I bought this album new when it came out. I’ve had it
ever since.
How It Stacks Up: I have six Indigo Girls albums. Of those six “Rites
of Passage” is way up there, but can’t quite dislodge their self-titled album
so I must reluctantly put it second, but only by a hair. Since is the last of
my Indigo Girls’ albums to review, here is a recap:
- Self-Titled: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 412)
- Rites
of Passage: 5 stars
(reviewed right here)
- Strange
Fire: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 50)
- Nomads,
Indians, Saints: 3 stars
(reviewed at Disc 691)
- Shaming
of the Sun: 3 stars (reviewed
at Disc 489)
- Swamp
Ophelia: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 647)
Ratings: 5 stars
“Rites of Passage” is the Indigo
Girls’ fourth album, and it is the perfect mix of what has come before. It follows
the smoother sound from “Nomads, Indians, Saints” and blends it with the stripped-down
emotion of their first two albums. The combination is masterful, and makes for
one of the finest folk-rock albums I’ve ever heard.
As always, the contrast between
the punk-tinged grit of Amy Ray’s voice and Emily Saliers sweet and light
vocals is the engine that makes this band work. Ray and Saliers come in and out
of harmony, echo one another in what is almost an ‘in the round’ style and simultaneously
paint the background and the lead vocals, creating layers of soundscapes that
thrill the ear. They have a natural timing, and an ease around one another that
makes complex well-planned arrangements seem organic and improvisational.
The album begins with the hard
hitting, beat driven “Three Hits” led
by Amy Ray, and then immediately switches to Saliers singing sweetly on “Galileo”. Like Cuddy and Keelor from
Blue Rodeo, the pair know how to use the contrast of their songs in a way that
makes you appreciate both styles more.
“Rites of Passage” adds additional
instrumentation to the vocals along with a smoother production, but unlike “Nomads,
Indians, Saints” they don’t lose any of the emotional impact in the process. A
big part of this is their ability to employ syncopation and beat to add oomph
to the songwriting.
Not that these songs need the
help. This album has some of their finest writing, as they explore everything from
social justice to history to love. They even poke gentle fun at fear of flying
at one point on “Airplane”. All the
songs have a tenderness that lets you into Amy and Emily’s innermost soul
making you feel vulnerable in the process.
There is no better example than “Ghost,” a painful exploration of love
lost but still felt, like a limb that’s been cut off but still aches and
itches. Lyrically, this song has few equals as it mixes the natural imagery of
modern America:
“And the Mississippi’s mighty
But it starts in Minnesota
At a place where you can walk across
With five steps down.
And I guess that’s how you started
Like a pinprick to my heart
But at this point you rush right through me
And I start to drown.”
With literary allusions to mythological
Greece:
“Now I see your face before me
I would launch a thousand ships
To bring your heart back to my island
As the sand beneath me slips
As I burn up in your presence
And I know now how it feels
To be weakened like Achilles
With you always at my heels.”
All in the service of making your
heart ache for lovers gone. Later, the Indigo Girls do a cover of Dire Straits’
“Romeo and Juliet” and show they can
infuse the raw emotion of their singing into other people’s words with equally
devastating effect. I heard this cover of “Romeo and Juliet” first and it felt
so natural, I had no idea it was a Dire Straits’ cover until years later (note
to self: read the liner notes).
The album puts the Girls’ hearts
on their sleeves throughout. “Virginia
Woolf” is an homage to one of their literary heroes, and “Nashville” is a bitter admission of how
Nashville never embraced them. I got the feeling listening to it that the
rejection still hurt, but like any bad ending to a relationship, the Indigo
Girls get their licks in with lines like “Nashville,
you forgot the human race/You see with half a mind what colors hide the face.”
Even in its quietest moments, “Rites
of Passage” speaks to my soul. “Let it Be
Me” is both a prayer and a promise to embrace peace and forgiveness, and “Cedar Tree” celebrates the dead with a
light and reverent touch that lifts your mood, even as it sings about the
people we’ve lost.
This album was very important to
me in 1992, and deserves a lot of credit for helping steer me back to the
light. Today it still resonates, filling my spirit with both peace and
mindfulness. After 25 years – many of which I had very few albums to choose
from – these songs still resonate as much as they did the first day I heard
them. For this reason, this album gets five stars and my enduring love and
respect.
Best
tracks: All
tracks
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