unprecedented case of writer's block, but Vashti Bunyan can at least point to mitigating circumstances. An acolyte of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Bunyan reco...
unprecedented case of writer's block, but Vashti Bunyan can at least point to mitigating circumstances. An acolyte of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Bunyan reco...
LOOKAFTERING
Touted in the late 1960s as a promising British folk artist, singer/songwriter Vashti
... more
Bunyan faded into obscurity after her 1970 debut, JUST ANOTHER DIAMOND DAY. Encouraged by that record's warmly received 2000 reissue and a growing number of admiring ...
Lookaftering -
For an artist's second album to appear 35 years on from their debut suggests an
... more
unprecedented case of writer's block, but Vashti Bunyan can at least point to mitigating circumstances. An acolyte of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Bunyan reco...
Lookaftering -
For an artist's second album to appear 35 years on from their debut suggests an
... more
unprecedented case of writer's block, but Vashti Bunyan can at least point to mitigating circumstances. An acolyte of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Bunyan reco...
unprecedented case of writer's block, but Vashti Bunyan can at least point to mitigating circumstances. An acolyte of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Bunyan recorded one of British folk's great lost works, 1970's Just Another Diamond Day. That record's re-release and subsequent glowing reappraisal has led to a new generation of celebrity fans--Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Four Tet--and with Lookaftering, a new suite of songs as beautiful as anything that came before. Bunyan's voice is high, stately and choiral, somewhat akin to Nico, had she been born not in Cologne, but some verdant English meadow. Accordingly, it's the perfect vehicle for these dainty, pastoral sing-songs. A number of musicians guest here: Devendra Banhart plays steel acoustic guitar on "Wayward", while Joanna Newsom contributes restrained but elegant harp to "If I Were" and "Against The Sky". But their performances are restrained and supportive, never threatening to overwhelm Bunyan's florid, fragile nursery rhymes. A quietly terrific return; consider this a case of writer's block shaken.-Louis Pattison
Album Notes: Touted in the late 1960s as a promising British folk artist, singer/songwriter Vashti Bunyan faded into obscurity after her 1970 debut, JUST ANOTHER DIAMOND DAY. Encouraged by that record's warmly received 2000 reissue and a growing number of admiring young artists--including Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Adem--Bunyan unveiled a new album in 2005, aided by the aforementioned performers. The result is a warm, inviting set of songs that showcases Bunyan's delicate voice and, like much of Nick Drake's work, succeeds in being spare and lush at the same time.
Album Reviews: Mojo (p.63) - Ranked #33 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[With] a pure, gauzy backdrop for solemn ruminations on a grown-up, battle-scarred world."
Advantages: Beautiful songs, fragile recordings, utterly unique Disadvantages: Not exactly catchy, can't dance to it, "different" vocal style
..., rushing past like the wind, or swaying like a tree. I guess that people wouldn't buy it based on that, so I will merely suggest that it reminds me slightly of early-Bob Dylan, VashtiBunyan, the Decemberists and Neutral Milk Hotel, combined and being told to "keep the bloody noise down!" - that is to say, it's quite folky but with a little more dynnamic tenderness and musical scope.
If you aren't at least slightly accustomed to "lo-fi" music, that is, albums that aren't made on a Coldplay or U2 style budget, but recorded around homes and garages with cheap microphones, you may find this album slightly hard to approach. Radio-friendly production makes music instantly accessible, but also instantly forgettable. It is practically designed to be ignorable, faceless and static, compressed into a mush of noise that, technically speaking, goes...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Humourous lyrics, Pleasing melodies, Disadvantages: Can be a little difficult to get
...Bare was quite innovative for his day. He always promoted his belief that the songwriters were more important than singers. He was the first country singer to produce his own records and the first to make what was termed a concept album..
That album was this, "Lullabys, Legends and Lies." A concept album in which there is a common theme to each of the tracks on the album. The theme is somewhat obvious from the title. Each of the tracks tells a story; some about great American legends such as Paul Bunyan, some cleaning tell a whole bunch of lies and I guess the lullaby is the aforementioned duet with Bobby Bare Jr. And yes it was produced by Bare himself.
Each of the songs, fourteen in total, was penned by the wonderfully talented songwriter Shel Silverstein. Silverstein's songwriting is notoriously tongue-in-cheek; sometimes laugh...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful 04.06.2006
(02.07.2006)
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