Shawn Calvin - All Fall Down (11/07/2012)
‘All Fall Down’ is the eighth studio record from established singer-songwriter, sometime folk, sometime country artist Shawn Colvin.
From somebody with three Grammy Awards on her mantelpiece you can rest assured that you’re in safe hands with this record. This isn’t even taking into consideration the special guest appearances on this record from such notorieties as Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Jakob Dylan, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Stuart Duncan.
The album is an interesting lyrical blend of personal reflection and social commentary, done in both a solemn but also inspiring way. Almost all of the tracks have been written by Colvin, and at least half are with her writing partner John Leventhal. In ‘Knowing What I Know Now” Colvin quips “Would I ask a seeing man to go blind, would I ask a sane man to lose his mind, could I expect you to come back somehow, knowing what I know now.” This ability to infuse an individual touch to something that we all feel and share is one of the reasons why her music has connected with such a large fan base.
‘The Neon Light of the Saints’ is a standout track, it dabbles in blues and soul and country with its twangy steel guitar, clarinet and cornet brass and mini-choir backing vocals. The cover of Rod MacDonald’s ‘American Jerusalem’ with Emmylou Harris’ backing vocals is sublime and clocking in at 5:15 is a bit of an epic tune but worth every second of its dark narrative. ‘Fall of Rome’ is a similar song to ‘American Jerusalem’, though perhaps not quite as grandiose in scope it still resonates with conscience.
Personally I felt that ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ and ‘ Seven Times The Charm’ are not quite as strong as the others. That may be because of their mellow tone and slow pace, they just seem to lack any sort of build-up and the former particularly just seems to end on a bit of flat note. However the album as a whole is the sum of all of its parts, there is more good on show here than there is bad.
The production by Buddy Miller is clean but there’s a lot of layers, and a lot of instruments and voices in almost every single song. This gives them depth without sounding too muddied or cluttered. The result is an album that is challenging in content but also easy to listen to.
Carina Nilma
From somebody with three Grammy Awards on her mantelpiece you can rest assured that you’re in safe hands with this record. This isn’t even taking into consideration the special guest appearances on this record from such notorieties as Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Jakob Dylan, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Stuart Duncan.
The album is an interesting lyrical blend of personal reflection and social commentary, done in both a solemn but also inspiring way. Almost all of the tracks have been written by Colvin, and at least half are with her writing partner John Leventhal. In ‘Knowing What I Know Now” Colvin quips “Would I ask a seeing man to go blind, would I ask a sane man to lose his mind, could I expect you to come back somehow, knowing what I know now.” This ability to infuse an individual touch to something that we all feel and share is one of the reasons why her music has connected with such a large fan base.
‘The Neon Light of the Saints’ is a standout track, it dabbles in blues and soul and country with its twangy steel guitar, clarinet and cornet brass and mini-choir backing vocals. The cover of Rod MacDonald’s ‘American Jerusalem’ with Emmylou Harris’ backing vocals is sublime and clocking in at 5:15 is a bit of an epic tune but worth every second of its dark narrative. ‘Fall of Rome’ is a similar song to ‘American Jerusalem’, though perhaps not quite as grandiose in scope it still resonates with conscience.
Personally I felt that ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ and ‘ Seven Times The Charm’ are not quite as strong as the others. That may be because of their mellow tone and slow pace, they just seem to lack any sort of build-up and the former particularly just seems to end on a bit of flat note. However the album as a whole is the sum of all of its parts, there is more good on show here than there is bad.
The production by Buddy Miller is clean but there’s a lot of layers, and a lot of instruments and voices in almost every single song. This gives them depth without sounding too muddied or cluttered. The result is an album that is challenging in content but also easy to listen to.
Carina Nilma