Dave Rawlings Machine - A Friend of a Friend
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CD Details
Artist: Dave Rawlings MachineEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-11-17
Music Label: Acony Records
Soundtracks:
- Ruby
- To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
- I Hear Them All
- Method Acting - Cortez The Killer
- Sweet Tooth
- How's About You
- It's Too Easy
- The Monkey And The Engineer
- Bells Of Harlem
Music reviews of A Friend of a Friend
Music Review: Some great songs; arrangement is all over the map, though
Rating: 4 Stars
I have no doubt that Dave Rawlings is the greatest songwriter and guitar player of my generation, but let's not go overboard just yet.
Following "Time (The Revelator)" and "Soul Journey," the only way that the musical duo known as Gillian Welch could meet fan expectations after their six-year hiatus was to reincarnate as a different brand, led, in due turn, by Dave Rawlings instead of Gillian. Musically, DRM is *almost* the same performance. Gillian Welch fans will say that Gillian has a better voice and should sing lead. Dave Rawlings fans will say that Dave is just her guitar man. I can't argue that Dave isn't a god, or that his name shouldn't be a household name throughout the land, or that he shouldn't sing lead vocal. Up until now, an acoustic duo has seemed the best way to showcase his playing as well as being an unusual holdout in an industry that only sells individuals and bands. If people want Dave to be the next Jerry Garcia, this will mean the end of his primary collaboration with Gillian Welch.
When Dave sings lead--"Dave Rawlings Machine"--the effect is light and fun. What benefit Dave gets from his own brand is appealing to an entirely different audience. The heroin pace and quietness of some of his most iconic songs as "Gillian Welch"--sadly popularized at Starbucks--has a limited appeal, but the advantage of hearing every note he wrings out of his 1935 Epiphone archtops. DRM had its national debut on the Old Crow Medicine Show Big Surprise Tour, a raucus testosterone-and-Mountain Dew festival totally worthy of following across the U.S. like the Grateful Dead. By the way, criticisms of the influence of Old Crow on Dave Rawlings are a little strange given that Dave produced and promoted OCMS; I think the problem on this cd is that the OCMS-derived arrangements on a few songs don't jive with the arrangements on the cd's best original songs--"Ruby" and "Bells of Harlem."
Being under his own label gives Dave a lot of freedom, and one limitation of this cd is that it seems to lack artistic coherence other than being the product of a lengthy involvement with Old Crow. There are eight tracks, a fairly compressed introduction to what Dave Rawlings is all about. "Ruby" is a wonderful song with an early 70s southern rock setting that sounds a lot like Gram Parsons, especially with Gillian singing what would be the Emmylou part. But this song is followed immediately by "To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)" which Dave co-wrote with Ryan Adams on "Heartbreaker," for which the only continuity thereafter seems to be the Old Crow players. This is followed by Dave singing a slow and beautiful version of Old Crow's anthem "I Hear them All." In "Method Acting/Cortez the Killer," Dave is being Bright Eyes (Nooooooo!!!!) or Bob Dylan, then Jerry Garcia singing "The Monkey and the Engineer" for the pot-goofy (with a ragtime jazz trumpet), then Bob Dylan again in "The Bells of Harlem," which, like "Ruby," is a brilliant and unique song. Unfortunately, there is no actual Bob Dylan cover on this cd--Dave's version of "Queen Jane Approximately," one of his craziest and best songs--is nowhere to be found--small wonder given the royalty that might involve. Three songs, "Sweet Tooth," "How's About You," and "It's Too Easy" sound like they belong on a Gillian Welch record. Can you say identity crisis?
It's hard to criticize a dude who possesses holy/satanic levels of talent, especially when one of his talents is blending in, writing with, or even being someone else. My first impulse was to give this cd five stars, but after listening to it a few times, it started to seem so schizophrenic that I really wanted to hear an entire cd of songs like "Ruby" OR "Sweet Tooth" OR "The Monkey and the Engineer." If Dave is going to make another record as DRM, I would like to be on terra firma in a genre or at least a consistent sound. I don't think that's asking too much from a front man.
Description of A Friend of a Friend
Highly anticipated 2009 debut album from Gillian Welch's secret weapon: Dave Rawlings. A Friend Of A Friend includes appearances from Ketch Secor, Willie Watson, Kevin Hayes, Morgan Jahnig, Benmont Tench, Nathaniel Walcott, Karl Himmel and, of course, Gillian Welch.Folk CDs
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