Dar Williams - The Beauty of the Rain

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Music reviews of The Beauty of the Rain

Music Review: Dar discovers some new terrain, and finds some inner peace
Rating: 5 Stars

Dar's songs can sound like country ballads, party ditties, folk rock, love poems, girl-power anthems, hipster-coffeehouse musings, and plenty else besides, but mostly they just sound like Dar Williams songs, and any one of her songs would sound in context on any one of her albums. As with any truly unique article her sound is hard to describe but I'll try. She brings a voice as smooth and earthy as streamwater, with just the slightest evocation of a whisper, but it has the clarity of a laser, evidencing that rare singer who actually takes care so that listeners can discern all the words. This is layered above instrumental parts that always retain a kind of rustic serenity whether they have all the staples of a rock and roll band or just consist of the gentle strumming of a lone acoustic guitar.

To these essential components, The Beauty of the Rain adds an eclectic crew of guest musicians, most of which amalgamate seamlessly into Dar's sound. There is also a piano presence here that never surfaced on her previous records. My worry, on the basis of the early promotion, that the album might turn out overproduced disappeared when the new songs demonstrated more character and depth on the album than in a recent live concert that Dar performed solo. (The show, on Staten Island, was still great enough to justify the three hours each way by bus, train, and ferry. "It felt like an adventure. Isn't that what you would call it?")

As with any Dar record, with the overall quality level so high that what's best is simply a matter of taste, all listeners will have their own favorites here. I'll share my first impressions anyway. "Farewell to the Old Me" is my early favorite, and it's comforting to think of it as a happier postscript to The Green World's "After All." "Mercy of the Fallen" and the title song follow closely behind. "The World's Not Falling Apart" is performed with the triumphant bluster of an anthem; musically, it's the sort of song that could accompany the closing credits of a movie as an aerial camera slowly pans out around a city skyline. "I Saw a Bird Fly Away" is more pastoral. Melodically, it proceeds very similarly to The Green World's "What Do You Love More than Love" -- I was actually startled by their resemblance to each other. Blues Traveler's John Popper contributes background vocals, though I wish he hadn't. Cliff Eberhardt's verses on "Whispering Pines" (a cover) are more successful and more at home in Dar's universe, executed to similar effect to John Prine's vocals on Dar's "sea shanty gone awry," "The Ocean," from Mortal City. Alison Krauss also contributes haunting background vocals to "Whispering Pines" and gives its opening a minimalist, otherworldly quality.

In the liner notes, each song is introduced with a short summary of its inspiration and the names of the cities in which Dar began and ended the composition. Maybe it's just the power of suggestion, but the songs seem to convey a real sense of place, perhaps subtly evocative of their origins but more abstractly conveying the idea that they could not have sprouted just anywhere. It's been suggested that this album is more "urban" as opposed to the rural terrain of the rest of Dar's catalog, The Green World particularly, although such a generalization has only a limited capacity to characterize an album that includes so many diverse styles. I don't think it's a coincidence, though, that "The World's Not Falling Apart," given the imagery that it suggested to me, was finished in New York. Everyone who lives here has experienced the contrasting emotions that its lyrics express -- the insuperable tension and clamor of its first verse against the chorus's ultimate contentment, in spite of everything. It's nice to see Dar recognize the places that can stir our emotions in this way. And it's nice to see her happy with her new home.

Description of The Beauty of the Rain

Alison Krauss, Bela Fleck, John Medeski, Stefan Lessard, Chris Botti and John Popper among guests joining Dar on this album.

24 bit / 96 kHz DVD-Audio, 24 bit / 48 kHz Dolby Digital 5.1, and stereo options
Stunning 5.1 surround sound
Lyrics
Artist Photos
Weblinks
Plays on ALL DVD players

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