Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball (21/08/2014)
Wrecking Ball is the latest (re-)release from prodigiously talented, widely acclaimed, extraordinarily prolific country music icon Emmylou Harris. Emmylou has delighted fans of country, folk and Americana music more broadly for no less than 40 years and blessedly, she is not going anywhere.
The reissue of her seminal work Wrecking Ball (originally released in 1995) presents to a whole new audience, and her faithful following, a hefty chunk of definitive alt-country and folk songs. Emmylou achingly and poignantly gives voice to the stories belonging to downtrodden vagabonds, the ceaselessly toiling working classes, the homeless and marginalized, the depressed, and even that of an orphan girl. A collection of songs penned by an intimidating class of songwriters has been repackaged as a Deluxe Edition with 2 audio discs (the scrubbed-up original and Deeper Well: The Wrecking Ball Outtakes) and a DVD documenting the making of Wrecking Ball. This is a highly refined reissue of a classic album that proves some works of artistry are indeed timeless. |
Just some of the legendary songwriters showcased herein are Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch (aforementioned Orphan Girl), Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, the late great Jimi Hendrix and Wrecking Ball's esteemed producer Daniel Lanois, who at the point of initial release was a close colleague of none other than U2.
As someone relatively ignorant to Emmylou's immense body of work, I was most pleasantly surprised by what I heard as echoes of The Boss (aka. Bruce Springsteen), especially potent on the superb opening track. Where Will I Be gently rolls forward, with a certain sadness at its core, but an defiantly uplifting tone to put you in mind for a quiet, reflective and sometimes sombre afternoon of music.
Deeper Well: The Wrecking Ball Outtakes features cutting-room floor recordings of songs such as Where Will I Be, Blackhawk and title track Deeper Well. These are slotted next to four tracks that didn't appear on Disc 1.
Lanois's Still Water, Emmylou's own song Gold and notably a sprawling epic by Leonard Cohen, The Stranger Song, are all previously unreleased (out)takes. How Will I Ever Be Simple Again (Richard Thompson) is another striking unearthed recording from the Wrecking Ball sessions – oozing old-school country charm, it's a simple albeit melodic ballad made simultaneously sweeter and grittier by Emmylou's raspy lilt.
In an especially eloquent forward written last year for the album sleeve, fellow Americana legend Gillian Welch asserts that Grammy-award winning Wrecking Ball “is so generous an offering and so illuminating a self-portrait that it cannot help but forever define Emmylou Harris and her artistry”.
I will leave my appraisal there, with the final words from one far more qualified to judge such things as this inimitable monster of a country recording.
Rebecca McCann
As someone relatively ignorant to Emmylou's immense body of work, I was most pleasantly surprised by what I heard as echoes of The Boss (aka. Bruce Springsteen), especially potent on the superb opening track. Where Will I Be gently rolls forward, with a certain sadness at its core, but an defiantly uplifting tone to put you in mind for a quiet, reflective and sometimes sombre afternoon of music.
Deeper Well: The Wrecking Ball Outtakes features cutting-room floor recordings of songs such as Where Will I Be, Blackhawk and title track Deeper Well. These are slotted next to four tracks that didn't appear on Disc 1.
Lanois's Still Water, Emmylou's own song Gold and notably a sprawling epic by Leonard Cohen, The Stranger Song, are all previously unreleased (out)takes. How Will I Ever Be Simple Again (Richard Thompson) is another striking unearthed recording from the Wrecking Ball sessions – oozing old-school country charm, it's a simple albeit melodic ballad made simultaneously sweeter and grittier by Emmylou's raspy lilt.
In an especially eloquent forward written last year for the album sleeve, fellow Americana legend Gillian Welch asserts that Grammy-award winning Wrecking Ball “is so generous an offering and so illuminating a self-portrait that it cannot help but forever define Emmylou Harris and her artistry”.
I will leave my appraisal there, with the final words from one far more qualified to judge such things as this inimitable monster of a country recording.
Rebecca McCann