| Influences | Pete Seeger,Woodie Guthrie, Josh White, the MJQ. Mose Allison, Lambert Hendricks and Ross, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Roland Kirk, Charlie Mingus, L V Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Helen Morgan, George Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Stevie Wonder,Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, Monica Zetterling, Bill Evans, Peter Kaukonen, Gil Evans, Mercedes Sosa, Nina Simone, Ertha Kitt, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Joao Gilberto, Fleetwod Mac, Cream, Sting, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Helene Renaut,The Grateful Dead, Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Howlin' Wolf, Steve Manne, Janis Joplin, Mississippi John Hurt, John Hammond, Childs Ballads, Andres Segovia, Wanda Landowska, Ethyl Merman, Dr John, Frank Zappa, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, Ravi Shankar etc etc etc...
Water records has re-mastered and re-released the 1969 Warner Reprise Album
OTHER MUSIc at othermusic.com. New York.
RUTHANN FRIEDMAN
Water continues their seamless reissue streak with this '69 find, the lone album by LA-based folksinger Friedman who a few years earlier had found success by penning "Windy" for the Association. Fans of the recent psych-folk implosion (and hallucinogens) could ostensibly crawl inside this gorgeous, unadorned album of lyrical fantasy, gentle yet sturdy acoustic accompaniment, and unmistakable of-the-times demeanor, and quite possibly live contentedly within it forever...
...NEW CD from Water Records
Described as: ...A collection of previously unreleased demos, home recordings, and lost songs circa 1965-1970 from Ruthann's personal archive. Includes detailed song notes by Ruthann, unseen photos, and the original version of 'Windy'...
H2>ALL MUSIC GUIDE
When Water Records -- that venerable San Francisco label that is as unpredictable as it is funky -- reissued Ruthann Friedman's only album, 1968's Constant Companion in March of 2006, it was reasonable to assume that was that. Wrong. Instead, they went about repeating a process... Hurried Life is just what it says it is, a collection of home and studio recordings done between 1965 and 1971. They are "lost" because nothing was ever done with them. Pat Thomas and Nathaniel Russell have assembled a true series of lost gems in these 15 cuts. They are raw, utterly unpolished songs written by the woman who wrote "Windy" for the Association. On first hearing, and rightly so, these are songs that seem to come from a time and place far away. They are full of a seemingly naïve innocence: check the "Sky Is Moving South," and "That's All Right," for starters. But when one considers that the Vietnam War was entering full swing when the first of these songs were recorded, and was still raging when the last of them was, perhaps it's not so distant at all. As the Iraq war and cultural wars tear the fabric of society apart, one can find and hear in these simple songs of love, optimism, hope, change, disillusionment, and betrayal, a mirror, a "Looking Glass" as it were, reflecting the present towards the past and the culture wars that began in the '60s.
Certainly some of these tunes are acid-drenched and full of hippie visions, but there's also a tune about the paranoia and danger of methamphetamine abuse ("Method Madness") here (from her personal experience, according to her annotated notes that accompany each cut). The songs about love both realized and unrequited (check "To Treat a Friend") are certainly relevant to any day and age. What all this proves musically is that Constant Companion was no fluke. Her voice is real here, if less polished in places, and steady for the most part, but not undisciplined, and the songs themselves are full of wonderful turns of phrase, rooted as they are in various American styles (check both the words and the blues picking in "Between the Lines"). In addition to Friedman's songs, there is one by Tandyn Almer (who wrote another big hit for the Association called "Along Comes Mary") called "Little Girl Lost and Found"; it's a wild, multi-tracked and tape-sped tune where she is accompanied in places by Tom Shipley of Brewer & Shipley. It's curious, but it doesn't match the rest of the material here. And, oh yes, "Windy" is here, her demo of the song that she gave to her friends and former housemates the Association. Hurried Life is not an acquired taste. If you liked Friedman's Constant Companion this will most certainly appeal to you. If you have no idea who she is but dig the CD cover photo, (and what's not to like? the period photos are all informal and funky), then suffice to say the music sounds similar. Underlying it all, however, is the seriously under-utilized talent of a gifted pop songwriter who could wrangle words and melody alike with a ferocity that is hidden by the simple guise of the recorded medium. Perhaps Waters can coax Friedman to either dig into the trick bag for more material, or maybe even coax her into recording something new? One can almost bet that either Devendra Banhart or Noah Georgeson would volunteer to help. Recommended without reservation, Hurried Life is a sensual, mischievous, and poetic delight. Thom Jurek
Both are available for purchase online through many vendors. Visit one of the sites below to get your very own copy...
Barnes & Noble
Tower
Best Buy
Runt Distribution
|
