Dar Williams - Mortal City
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CD Details
Artist: Dar WilliamsEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1996-01-23
Music Label: Razor & Tie
Soundtracks:
- As Cool as I Am
- February
- Iowa (Traveling III)
- Christians and the Pagans
- This Was Pompeii
- Ocean
- Family
- Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed
- Blessings
- Southern California Wants to Be Western New York
- Mortal City
Music reviews of Mortal City
Music Review: An Excellent Second Album
Rating: 5 Stars
This was the second album from Dar Williams after "The Honesty Room". Like its predecessor, it features well written, melodic songs with intelligent lyrics which Dar sings with lots of nuance and sensitivity. While Dar is generally classified as a folk rock singer/songwriter, she actually hails from the suburban commuter town of Chappaqua, 1 hour north of New York and demonstrates a sophistication that you might not expect.
The songs on this album are full of variety -- some are acoustic featuring just guitars and string instruments while others feature electric guitar, bass and/or drums. Additionally, several songs feature extra singers, both men and women, further enriching the album. Some songs are energetic while others are slower and more mellow or even sad.
The energetic songs include "As Cool as I Am" (funky anthem against men behaving badly in mixed company), "The Christians and the Pagans" (funny with a serious message; the pagans are lesbians), "The Ocean" (a poignant duet featuring John Prine), "The Blessings" (a meditation on the consequences, not all bad, of a broken love affair), and "Southern California Wants To Be Western New York" (about the yearning after someplace different).
The slower, mellow tunes include "February" (one of Dar's most moving songs), "Iowa" (featuring beautiful singing by Dar and Cliff Eberhardt), "This Was Pompeii" (a lovely poem with Pompeii being a metaphor for moments of transition), "Family" (a sequel to "I Love, I Love" about love of family in which Dar overdubs an extra vocal line), "The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed" (featuring clever lyrics about activists too high to be active), and the very somber "Mortal City" (almost a short story about two lonely people in a big city).
Each of these songs is special in its own way. I think you'll enjoy most or all of them.
Description of Mortal City
This 1996 album was a breakthrough of sorts for Dar Williams, moving her from the obscure folkie circuit to the obscure alternative singer-songwriter circuit. Mortal City comes closest to capturing her live show, and many of the songs here--"Iowa," "The Family," "The Christians and the Pagans"--have become live-set favorites. Like Williams herself, this disc is sentimental, sincere, and emotional; it's an album about growing up. When Williams titles a song "The Pointless, Yet Poignant Crisis of a Co-Ed," you know she's not writing fiction. She also could have called it "Catcher in the Rye," but that title was already taken. --Charles R. CrossGeneral CDs
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