The last couple of weeks I’ve been digging deep
into the back catalogues of artists. This next review is a cautionary tale that
it doesn’t always make for good buying decisions.
Disc 1237 is… In the Time of the Gods
Artist:
Dar Williams
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the
Cover?
Dar looks beautiful and sophisticated as she relaxes on a set of stone steps.
How I Came To Know
It: I’d
known Dar Williams for many years but a couple years ago I delved into her back
catalogue in earnest. I identified a half dozen records that looked like they
were worth getting, and “In the Time of the Gods” looked to be one of them.
How It Stacks Up: While my deep delve into Dar Williams lifted
my collection to six albums I’ve since parted with “End of the Summer” for not
being good enough. “In the Time of the Gods” is the worst of the six and is
about to suffer the same fate. Here is the full accounting.
- Mortal City: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 85)
- The Green World: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1070)
- My Better Self: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 682)
- Promised Land: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 907)
- End of the Summer: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 965)
- In the Time of the Gods: 2 stars (reviewed right here)
Ratings: 2 stars
I think the concept behind “In the Time of the Gods” was so appealing it
blinded me to its faults. I’d read somewhere this record was about Greek mythology.
I’m a sucker for myth and I also enjoy concept albums and the combination no
doubt played a role in giving this record more credit on first listen than it
deserved. Consider me cured.
At her best, Dar Williams is an earthy folk singer with a bright vocal
and a mind teeming with compelling characters and thoughtful themes. At her
worst, she sounds like an out-of-touch aunt who at a family gathering who goes down
the basement to hang out with the teenagers after having one too many daquiris;
heartfelt, but awkward.
“In the Time of the Gods” is this latter version of Dar. The record benefits
from her singing and some well-balance production - a little folksy, a little
contemporary in just the right proportion – but the songs don’t hold up their
end of the bargain.
Musically they are solid enough. “The
Light and the Sea” has an anthemic quality that lifts you up and carries you
along like a wave and “Storm King” manages
to combine the restlessness of a storm with the reassurance of a lullaby.
Something about the ocean as metaphor brings out the best in Williams and this is
true once again, where these two songs are easily the best on the album.
Unfortunately, the rest of the record doesn’t manage the same standard.
Musically it is solid enough, but the lyrics feel forced and Williams’ creative
phrasing often gets too rushed and busy for its own good. It is OK to rush
through a bunch of lyrics in a bar, but those lyrics better be lively enough to
carry the momentum.
It isn’t that Williams lacks for good ideas. “I Am the One Who Will Remember Everything” is about the resilience
of young children to forget tragedy (in this case war-torn countries and
refugees) but also about those who are old enough to not so easily forget. Williams
explores the tension between the happiness that young children can recover, and
regretful that not everyone can move on so easily.
It’s a great idea, but the song has awkward phrasing and a minor-chord chorus
that is supposed to create disquiet but instead feels like it has been
awkwardly tagged onto the song’s melody.
“I Have Been Around the World”
fails both musically and lyrically to the point that it made me a bit cranky. The
tune feels like a love theme from a Disney movie, with a grandiose artificiality,
and obvious lines like:
“I have been around the world
But all that I can see
Are these moments that we have
You’re all the world to me.”
That are supposed to be romantic but are just schmaltzy. Dar Williams is
a gifted songwriter and hearing her sing-song her way through that kind of
stuff was disappointing.
As for all that Greek myth I was promised, it was sparse and hard to
find. I think “This Earth” is about
Hephaestus and has some good ideas but they are buried in a song that doesn’t
appeal musically. There are also some other references here and there that
evoke other deities (I think I noticed Hermes, Artemis and Persephone) but it
was all veiled to the point that it would require an open-mic style exposition
to be sure.
There are snippets of great language on “In the Time of the Gods,” and
there are even a couple of gems (see “best tracks” below) but for the most part
it was too much effort to dig them out. I’ll leave that task to the next owner
of this album.
Best tracks: The Light and the Sea, Storm King
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