David Olney - Through a Glass Darkly

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Music reviews of Through a Glass Darkly

Music Review: OLNEY'S BEST -- IN MY HUMBLE OPINION
Rating: 5 Stars

After listening to several of his other releases, and finding a lot of work there to admire (especially the album 'Deeper well'), I found myself returning to this cd again and again. None of the others seem to hold together as a whole like this one does. Not a concept album in the strictest sense, the songs are still linked together by the fact that they all concern events that happened in the first 30 years or so of this century.

'1917' begins the album, telling the story of the horrors of WWI, from the point of view of a Paris prostitute entertaining a young soldier, whom she sees as doomed -- all related with incredible understatement and sensitivity. 'Dillinger' takes the much-told myth of John Dillinger as 'Robin Hood' and explodes it before out eyes (or ears), exposing him for the callous, hardened animal that he was. 'Avery County' contains chilling echoes from the classic 50s Robert Mitchum film 'Night of the hunter' -- 'JT's escape' follows right behind, with some much-needed (at this point) humor. 'Little bit of poison' is a great look at the nature of love, life and relationships -- taking the bitter with the sweet. (Denice Franke does a nice cover of this on her new cd, 'Comfort')

David Olney was a friend and admirer of the late Townes Van Zandt -- and he pays tribute to him here in two ways: 'The suicide kid', an Olney original, looks at the self-destructive tendencies that have taken Townes and too many other great artists from us; and David follows it with a wonderful version of one of Townes' best-loved songs, 'Snowin' on Raton'.

The cd ends with two incredible songs. 'Barabbas' looks at the story of the Crucifixion through the eyes of the thief who was spared by the wishes of the crowd -- and speaks eloquently of the burden he must have borne. (For another well-written take on the life of Christ, check out 'Jerusalem tomorrow' on David's 'Deeper well' cd.) 'Dogwoods', the closer, is simply one of the most beautifully-written songs I've ever heard.

The musicianship is stellar throughout -- but the listener never gets the idea that the players were having anything but a good time. This is just about as perfect a collection of songs as I can imagine -- right down to the programming order. As a result of hearing this cd, I'll give anything David Olney puts out a listen -- but it's going to be hard to top this one!

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