Carbon Leaf album picoreviews
Feb. 7th, 2006 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperCourtesy of Rhapsody, as per my post from earlier today, I hit all the rest of the Carbon Leaf albums I haven't listened to yet. Here are my picoreviews on each!
Shadows in the Banquet Hall: Interesting difference in style on this album as compared to Indian Summer and Echo Echo, the Carbon Leaf albums I know much better. This one is a lot heavier on the rhythm line than the later albums, and heavier with the electric instruments in general--a lot more "rock" in flavor than it is "folk". Lead singer Barry does a lot more hoarse-voiced near-shouting than he does singing, which is kind of funny since I really like his voice, and he sounds much clearer and cleaner to me on later albums. Also, the mix on this album is a bit weird... the instrumentation is heavier than the voices, not quite enough to drown the voices out, but I would have mixed the instruments down just a touch. None of the songs on this album yet are standing out as ones I really like, but I may buy it anyway.
Meander: Hrmm, this album actually came out before Shadows in the Banquet Hall, but just on a cursory listen, it seems a little closer in style to the later albums than Shadows does. The vocals are cleaner and so is the mix, but the heavy, growly rock flavor is still there on several songs. And the kinds of songs they're singing feel closer to rock than they do to folk. Have to admit there's some smokin' guitar on both of these albums so far, though. And ah, there we go, "Paper Thin" sounds like it has hints of the later goodness to come. So does "Country Monkee".
Ether-Electrified Porch Music: Getting closer here to the Carbon Leaf I know and love. Heavier mandolin here; I approve. (And I really like the intro to "Home".) There's the whistle I've come to know, too!
5 Alive!: HAH. I like the "Sloop John B" intro to "Home". ;) And I'd heard five tracks off of this album already, but now that I've heard Ether-Electrified Porch Music I think I might like the live version of "Blue Ridge Laughing" better. Giggles at the "on the count of three everybody say your name so you can hear it on the CD!" comment from Barry. Interesting jig leading into "The Boxer". Oh my, the length on the solo in "Follow the Lady", though... getting back to the words any time soon there, guys? And it's still weird to me as a GBS fan to hear Carbon Leaf cover "Mari-Mac"--or at least as they call it, "Mary Mac". Heh. Kind of a half-coherent closer to the album, but all in all, some fun live work.
Shadows in the Banquet Hall: Interesting difference in style on this album as compared to Indian Summer and Echo Echo, the Carbon Leaf albums I know much better. This one is a lot heavier on the rhythm line than the later albums, and heavier with the electric instruments in general--a lot more "rock" in flavor than it is "folk". Lead singer Barry does a lot more hoarse-voiced near-shouting than he does singing, which is kind of funny since I really like his voice, and he sounds much clearer and cleaner to me on later albums. Also, the mix on this album is a bit weird... the instrumentation is heavier than the voices, not quite enough to drown the voices out, but I would have mixed the instruments down just a touch. None of the songs on this album yet are standing out as ones I really like, but I may buy it anyway.
Meander: Hrmm, this album actually came out before Shadows in the Banquet Hall, but just on a cursory listen, it seems a little closer in style to the later albums than Shadows does. The vocals are cleaner and so is the mix, but the heavy, growly rock flavor is still there on several songs. And the kinds of songs they're singing feel closer to rock than they do to folk. Have to admit there's some smokin' guitar on both of these albums so far, though. And ah, there we go, "Paper Thin" sounds like it has hints of the later goodness to come. So does "Country Monkee".
Ether-Electrified Porch Music: Getting closer here to the Carbon Leaf I know and love. Heavier mandolin here; I approve. (And I really like the intro to "Home".) There's the whistle I've come to know, too!
5 Alive!: HAH. I like the "Sloop John B" intro to "Home". ;) And I'd heard five tracks off of this album already, but now that I've heard Ether-Electrified Porch Music I think I might like the live version of "Blue Ridge Laughing" better. Giggles at the "on the count of three everybody say your name so you can hear it on the CD!" comment from Barry. Interesting jig leading into "The Boxer". Oh my, the length on the solo in "Follow the Lady", though... getting back to the words any time soon there, guys? And it's still weird to me as a GBS fan to hear Carbon Leaf cover "Mari-Mac"--or at least as they call it, "Mary Mac". Heh. Kind of a half-coherent closer to the album, but all in all, some fun live work.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-08 01:27 am (UTC)Barry has been known to actively discourage people from buying Meander at concerts. Heh. ;)
I can't remember, is the 5 Alive "Boxer" intro the "Banish Misfortune" intro? They do that quite a bit, but I tend to listen to the bootlegs more than the actual live album, so I can't remember if that's what they do there! As for "Mari-Mac" (in whatever name), it's not my favorite song by either band, so I tend to skip it whenever it's on. I do, however, appreciate Barry's enunciation efforts, which Sean tends to give up on completely. ;)
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Date: 2006-02-08 03:34 am (UTC)*chortle* Barry tells audience members not to buy Meander? That's FUNNY.
Um! I know the name "Banish Misfortune", but I couldn't tell you the tune for the life of me, so I don't know if it's that intro or not. I'm going to have to compare it against some other track, because I know I've got that somewhere in my collection of Celtic instrumentals.
*snicker* Barry bailed completely on trying to pronounce some of the lyrics in this take on 5 Alive, which amused me.