PS In a moment of madness brought on by intense heat and the iPod interface, I posted as if Goin' Back to Harlan was on All I Intended. In fact, it's on Wrecking Ball.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
For Emmylou
Nige mentioned that, while away, I glimpsed the blinding light of Emmylou Harris's All I Intended To Be. This is a great, great album, justifying, once again, Nige's judgment that she is the best female singer since Ella Fitzgerald. One track makes my hair stand on end every time I hear it - Going' Back to Harlan. The lyrics are wonderful, mysterious - what an opening line! - and the performance is spine-tingling. You'll be buying the album of course, so here is another performance by Emmylou with the McGarrigles. I spoil you.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
That looked like our own Ally Mcbain on fiddle and although the video was blurred it also looked like one of the original Celtic Connection programmes, one of the UKs hidden musical gems, some of which were filled with music that mined deep into the soul.
ReplyDeleteFor further listening pleasure, go invest in Calum Kennedy (singing in Gaelic) and transport yourself into the eighteenth centuries western isles, smell the peat fires, listen to the seagulls, feel the storms raging in the Cuillins, sit at the feet of bonny Jeannie as she recalls the last battle between McDonald and McCloud in Glenbrittle.
It could be argued that whilst listening to Emmylou one gains access to the pneumatic voice of Dolly and maybe that is the real reason for following Emmy, a longing for silicone Dolly.
Uh oh, I can see the headline in the NY Times tomorrow:
ReplyDeleteMandarin blogger faces lawsuit over album misinformation, blames iPod
LONDON - British blogger and London Times journalist Bryan Appleyard was today facing potentially crippling legal costs after tens of thousands of readers bought the "wrong" Emmylou Harris album based on his recommendation.
Sales of Harris' 2008 album All I Intended rocketed after Appleyard wrongly claimed that it contained a song that "makes my hair stand on end." In fact, the song in question, Going Back to Harlan, appears on an entirely different record. Appleyard attempted to correct the mistake with a hastily added postscript, but with Amazon and other retailers refusing to refund the erroneous purchases, furious blog readers are demanding that he foot the bill...
much as I like her voice, how many albums does anyone need (I have three including WB)? in fact, there is so much music broadcast these days do we even need any? pathological hunter-gatherer or like a bar of indulgence chocolate...yum-yum, forgotten.
ReplyDeleteHave yoo ever listened to her version of Springsteen's Racing in the Street? Harlan is spooky . . .
ReplyDeleteRe: malty
ReplyDeleteA correction is in order. There is NOTHING silicone about Dolly. The only thing fake about Dolly is the hair. As an old boy from Tennessee, I have it on the best of authority, she looked like that in High School. Now, can we discuss talent instead of appearance?