From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V10 #39 Reply-To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Sender: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jangle-poets-digest Tuesday, September 22 2009 Volume 10 : Number 039 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] Maura Kennedy "Parade of Echoes" CD Release [MercyHouse1@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:10:54 EDT From: MercyHouse1@aol.com Subject: [JP] Maura Kennedy "Parade of Echoes" CD Release Yesterday, Sunday 9/20/09 at 4PM at the Turning Point in Piermont NY, Maura Kennedy had her CD Release for her new solo album, "Parade of Echoes," an album that had been steadily in the works throughout 2008, as Maura released a song a month online, leading eventually to the entire album, by an entirely organic process of growth and discovery by Maura herself. I was at the Turning Point for the CD Release -- I was the first one there - -- I was the first person to get "Parade of Echoes" at a show -- and just as importantly, I was absolutely the first person to play the CD, right after Maura's solo set opening for the Kennedys, on my drive down Route 9W, down the Palisades Parkway, and across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, for the 7PM Nields / Red Molly show at Joe's Pub. I was in ecstasy, flying across the GWB when I first heard Maura's rarely performed live song soaring along with me, "Time Will Steal Your Heart." Then the ecstasy yielded to the agony on the FDR going south, when I realized for the first time that the ecstatic and wonderful "Freefall" had been left on the cutting room floor, and was not to be found on "Parade of Echoes" at all. It sounds to me as if virtually all of the tracks on the album have been re-mixed or otherwise reconfigured from the original versions put online by Maura -- with the notice given that all of the vocals (with the possible exception of "The Thing With Feathers") are the same as before. There are two surprise tracks on the album -- the scarcely-played "Summer Coulda Lasted Forever," and the audience favorite "Shadows With the Lonely," which Maura was constantly threatening to leave off the album, due to its being stylistically different than the other songs. "Shadows With the Lonely" is in fact the best track on Maura's new CD, for all of that, I believe, a standard that will live forever. It is perfectly realized on the album too, replete with jazzy piano and excellent guitar solo, a form the song never assumed when Maura was playing it everywhere just by herself. Here's the track order of "Parade of Echoes" -- The Thing With Feathers New Way to Live Sun Burns Gold Chains Patience Time Will Steal Your Heart October Just the Rain Some Kind of Life Dreamless Sleep Make It Last Summer Coulda Lasted Forever Shadows With the Lonely I was at the first performance of many of these songs -- "The Thing With Feathers," "Sun Burns Gold," "Patience," "Time Will Steal Your Heart," "October," "Just the Rain," "Some Kind of Life," and "Dreamless Sleep." Following the Kennedys during this time of incredible growth of Maura's new solo repertoire has been one of the most exciting times ever for me, right alongside my cutting my teeth on the Nields in the Greta years of the mid-90's. Fierce following, fierce excitement. "The flowers bloom like madness in the spring." Even without the stellar "Freefall," this is a great album, and an exceptional debut album by any artist. Melodies pour down like silver -- the yearning spirit soars -- hopes take flight and are dashed again -- mines of musical gold are unearthed and brought to light, a veritable treasure trove of new Maura Kennedy music. The phrase "Parade of Echoes" comes from one of Maura's favorite novels, Milan Kundera's _The Unbearable Lightness of Being_. Now the "unbearable lightness of being" has taken flesh as it were, and become incarnate in the way I feel when I listen to the heart-rendingly touching "Sun Burns Gold," the rocking "Just the Rain," the majestic "Thing With Feathers," the beautiful "Patience," the spirited "Make It Last," the indescribably different "October," in which we truly hear the "Parade of Echoes" in the lush multi-tracking. Oh -- and Maura looks like a rock star in the album art too! Did I say "rock star"? Freefall crashes down to earth -- the Thing With Feathers has come to roost -- the Mothership has landed. Maura Kennedy's "Parade of Echoes" -- very highly recommended indeed. Bruce Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ End of jangle-poets-digest V10 #39 **********************************