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Gillian Welch - Hell Among the Yearlings
CD DetailsArtist: Gillian Welch Edition: Music CD Format: Original recording reissued CD Release Date: 2001-06-12 Music Label: Acony Records Soundtracks: - Caleb Meyer
- Good Til Now
- The Devil Had a Hold of Me
- My Morphine
- One Morning
- Miner's Refrain
- Honey Now
- I'm Not Afraid to Die
- Rock of Ages
- Whiskey Girl
- Winter's Come and Gone
Music reviews of Hell Among the YearlingsMusic Review: Title for my review Rating: 5 Stars
I saw Gillian Welch & David Rawlings a month ago at the Fillmore in San Francisco. At the time, I'd purchased the "O'Brother" soundtrack, and "Revelator" cause I liked her voice so darn much from that Cohen Bro's film sndtrk. So I go over to the merch booth, look for a tee, dissapointingly don't see any, but there, lying on the table in front of me is the "holy trilogy", if you will.I only had enough to buy one cd. Out of complete random choosing, I picked up "Hell Among the Yearlings". And here I am, having this cd for the little while that was, and it is absolutely one of my favorite albums of all time. Whereas, I can honestly say, "Revival" and "Revelator" both have a few much stronger individual songs, this album can be heard front to back without missing a beat. It is a complete sonic experience within itself. Unlike her other two albums, Welch opens this masterpiece with the heavy hitting "Caleb Meyer", a tale of rape and revenge that immediately lays the foundation for the rest of the raw, dark Appalachian-inspired world Welch creates with every new track. Understated and appropriate storytelling flow evenly, emotionally and musically, through tracks like "The Devil Had a Hold of Me" - evoking the spirit of Robert Johnson, "Rock of Ages", and "Honey Now" - the entirely too short "electric" showcase of the album. And possibly the only song where the focus is not as strongly aimed towards Welch's lyrics as much as it is the music. I keep finding myself unable to concentrate on other things whilst listening, which, to me, means this is NOT backround music, nor a happy cd to tap your feet to. Almost grabs you by the gullet, and doesn't take the grip off 'till its good and ready to let you go. So what else is there... yes, Dave Rawlings, what a graceful lead guitar/harmony vocals compliment to Welch's grit. Gillian also rocks out with her banjo most on this album (so if you're a big fan of "My First Lover" you'll get a huge kick out of this cd!). Again, if you enjoy Robert Johnson-esque material, this is one is a keeper. If you're lookin' for the happy Christian music found in "Revival", you're looking in the wrong place. So if you're ready to take upon you the middle child of Welch's albums, allocating the nice with the not-so-nice, then this is what you're looking for. Either way, go check her out now. She's on tour for "Revelator", and what a lovely experience that show was.
More Hell Among the Yearlings free music reviews: 1 2 3 4
Description of Hell Among the YearlingsSecond album from the melancholic folk revivalist from 1998. Produced by T. Bone Burnett. Acony Records. A much more quietly celebrated CD than her debut, Gillian Welch's sophomore effort assured fans of old-timey country folk that she was salt of the earth. Her songs speak with both plaintive yearning and a seasoned storyteller's moxie, urged on by her and David Rawlings's economical guitar picking and strumming. Welch's vocal timbre bears ideally twangy power, giving her a constantly strong vault into her similarly creative tales, which help place this CD clearly in the realm of the exceptional. -- Andrew Bartlett On her remarkable debut, Revival, Gillian Welch sang of men and women who were intimately tied to others, even as they mourned dead children or lost homes. Hell Among the Yearlings finds Welch in even darker territory. In this world, loss can't be assuaged by human connection because there is none: morphine junkies, dying hobos, and alienated workers stand utterly alone in a sparse landscape where hope comes, if at all, in merely surviving. For example, the woman who kills her rapist or the singer who unconvincingly declares her troubles have flown because "Winter's Come and Gone." Appropriately, Welch's stunning voice goes it alone, surrounded by little more than her own banjo and the spare old- time and country-blues guitar of partner David Rawlings. --David Cantwell
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