From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V2 #336 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Monday, November 20 2000 Volume 02 : Number 336 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Ahoy...Avast Ye Mateys [RockinRonD@aol.com] [RS] Gone From Danger, but not far enough ["Gene Frey" ] [RS] Castaway, After All, and J*** B*** ["Norman A. Johnson" > Geez, I've always adored "Castaway" especially knowing it is about the birth of his eldest son. The hooks in that song get me every time and in many ways I find the tune and lyrics quintessentially Shindell. Ditto for "Grocer's Broom," which brought tears to my eyes when I heard it for the first time played at the Turning Point a couple of years ago (back then I don't even think he had a name for it). That line, "I suppose I've worked enough for one life, anyhow...I've earned these idle days" is just so sentimental and empathetic. Reminds me of my own father who didn't retire until he was well in his 70's, working 60 hours a week up untill the end. Whew! Nobody writes em like Richard. I also agree that "After All" is much too personal a song for anyone to cover. And while I quickly learned the song based on RonG's terrific transcriptions and it sounds great, I feel kind of funny playing it because it seems such an invasion of privacy, weird as that may sound. Ron ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 15:32:14 EST From: "Gene Frey" Subject: [RS] Gone From Danger, but not far enough Hey you guys, A couple of subjects: I have mixed feelings about the Joan Baez thing. I'm sure it has helped the careers of many up-and-coming songwriters just to be associated with her, and she is very generous in giving credit to them. However, if the barely listenable 'Gone From Danger' was my introduction to the works of Richard Shindell, I'm not sure I would have pursued them much further. As for the 'favorite' thread, the civility is getting to be a bit disconcerting for a native New Yorker. No screaming, no hair-pulling, no 'The Weather sucks' posts. You're killing me. The thing that makes it so good to me is that we have about 50 or 60 Richard Shindell songs on disc (counting Cry3, alt versions on singles, compilations, tributes, etc.), and we don't have to like all of them equally. 'Wisteria' and 'Next Best Western' are two that grabbed me right away, but it took a while for 'May,' 'Nora' and 'Sparrows Point.' I will continue to listen to these discs, and maybe in the car I'll continue to skip 'Lazy' and 'TV Light.' But, the more I read about these songs from people who really care about them, the more likely it is that I'll give another listen. As for those of you who don't like the Reunion Hill CD that much, all I can say is that until you've heard 'The Weather' live, you haven't really heard it. Gene F. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 15:57:11 -0600 From: "Eley, Bill" Subject: RE: [RS] vote for SNP I feel very much like Lee in this discussion, for the most part. Except that I liked Blue Divide. It has the most songs that I seem to play over and over, and identify as RS staples. I'm a little surprised at the lack of respect it's gotten here. Sparrow's Point was the last CD I got (only several months ago), and it has its share of classics - By Now has certainly been added, since the infamous live performance in Austin. The title song has become one of my favorites. I think this is an amazing effort for an initial CD. I confess to being very lukewarm about Reunion Hill, but, from what I've heard here, I need to listen to it more. Just thinking about this has given me an appreciation for what an amazing body of work RS has already produced. Bill > -----Original Message----- > From: Lee Wessman [SMTP:lwessman@amcity.com] > Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 11:41 AM > To: shindell-list@smoe.org > Subject: [RS] vote for SNP > > After careful deliberation, I'm tossing my vote in with SNP. I long > sort of assumed Sparrow's was my favorite. But when I sat with them > side by side, I decided his newest work is his most balanced, and in > some ways his most innovative. > > Sparrow's Point has a nice-but-comparatively-weak song, "Castaway," > near the top, which slows it down. The top end of SNP builds > incredibly through the first seven songs before you come to its > weakest links, "The Grocer's Broom" and the instrumental (both of > which I like quite a bit, actually.) On Sparrow's, for me, "Howling > at the Trouble" is the weak link toward the end of the album, and > actually, now that I think about it, it is less a weakness than > "Broom" and "Merritt" ... but then again, "By Now" is creepy, and > "Transit" redeems any weakness and ... and ... and... > > Oh, crap, I think I just punched both holes and invalidated my ballot. > > lee ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 17:24:58 -0500 From: "Norman A. Johnson" Subject: [RS] Castaway, After All, and J*** B*** RE: Castaway-- It seems like this is his "dad song" and that it probably helps to be parent to really get into it. I'm not a parent and I don't really get the connection. Are there any parents who don't get "Castaway"? Conversely, are there any non-parents who feel a strong bond to it? Re: Dar's "After All". It is my favorite Dar song. Even though I've heard it hundreds of times on the CD and I've heard Dar perform it three times before, I still felt shivers when I heard Dar perform it at the Calvin on Saturday. It's an amazing song-- both uniquely personal AND incredibly universal. The part of the song that grabs me is the family history and the finding of herself through it. I love the story of the refugee "children of the war" finding each other to build a great romance who then try to hide their pain from their children. This brings us to Joan. There seems to be a polarization wrt Joan on this list-- I think I'm one of the few people who fall in between. I think her primary contribution has been her efforts in promoting excellent songwriters (Dylan, Dar, Richard, etc.) & I really admire her for that. That said, I'd still rather hear the original Dar or original Richard than Joan's covers, except for "You're Aging Well" (but that's a duet). I do find it a little odd that Joan Baez would pick "After All" (I would have thought she'd do "I had no right") but I'm positive her intentions are good. So, is Joan still doing "Abeulita"? Norman ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 01:29:09 +0100 From: Katrin.Uhl@t-online.de (Katrin Uhl) Subject: RE: [RS] Gone From Danger, but not far enough > I have mixed feelings about the Joan Baez thing. I'm sure it has > helped the > careers of many up-and-coming songwriters just to be associated with her, > and she is very generous in giving credit to them. However, if the barely > listenable 'Gone From Danger' was my introduction to the works of Richard > Shindell, I'm not sure I would have pursued them much further. ouch, that hurt. ;-) come on, Joan-listers hiding in the back rows, come out and help me here! :) Or we could just agree to disagree, that's fine by me, too. Even though the words "barely listenable" and Joan in the same sentence are an oxymoron for me. ... :) Alright, enough smilies for one mail, I better change the subject... > The thing that makes it so good to me is that we have about 50 or > 60 Richard > Shindell songs on disc and we still want more! (counting Cry3, alt versions on singles, > compilations, tributes, etc.), and we don't have to like all of them > equally. 'Wisteria' and 'Next Best Western' are two that grabbed me right > away, but it took a while for 'May,' 'Nora' and 'Sparrows Point.' I just have to add my two cents on May. I absolutely love that song. I don't listen to it often, it needs the right atmosphere, but if the setting is right that song is oh so haunting! Somehow that song is like a chapter outof a novel - the story goes on and I wish I knew how. It's such a Richard-song (you know what I mean, right?) okay, no more posts for this night, Katrin PS: Norman asked: > So, is Joan still doing "Abeulita"? Has anybody ever actually heard her do that in concert? I know she likes the song a lot, but my Joan-concert-spies have not reported any life performances of that song so far (and I have a very reliable source :) ) - -------------------------------------------------------- - If I didn't dream I'd be dead - Peter Mulvey (all in good fun) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 19:46:21 EST From: SMOKEY596@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Castaway, After All, and J*** B*** >>>Conversely, are there any non-parents who feel a strong bond to it?<<< I'm a "non-parent", and while I won't admit to any strong bond to the song, it is one of my favorites. I just like the song itself, the melody. I also have to swoon a bit and wish that *I* could find a man who could feel that deeply and express it in such a heartfelt and beautiful way. :-) SMOKEY Help Find Jill (http://www.alumni.indiana.edu/iuaa/jillbehrman/) "The memory is a useful thing, store the good stuff in the easy to reach places, put the rest in the attic with the cobwebs where it belongs..." - -Ellis Paul ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V2 #336 ***********************************