Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
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CD Details
Artist: Kathleen EdwardsBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-03-04
Model: 00601143111525
Music Label: Zoe Records
Soundtracks:
- Buffalo
- The Cheapest Key
- Asking for Flowers
- Alicia Ross
- I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory
- Oil Man's War
- Sure as Shit
- Run
- Oh Canada
- Scared at Night
- Goodnight, California
Music reviews of Asking for Flowers
Music Review: Asking For Flowers: Pure Pop for Poetic People
Rating: 5 Stars
Let me start by admitting that I am a songwriter. This makes me simultaneously more critical of the failings of others willing to wear that badge and more ecstatic upon finding those few who sublimely take the art to some new level. With each album, Kathleen Edwards has done just that. This latest effort is no exception. What makes it different is that Edwards has changed the "formula"--such as it was. Her first two albums were finely-crafted detailed studies of personal relationships. Without hesitation, I count them as among the finest ten records of the 2000's. This latest is even better. Although it contains personal tales, it rarely seems to be about Edwards herself, but expands its canvas to the broader human comedy. It contains hook-laden pop songs, country-inflected story songs, and a genuine unabashed courageous work of undeniable genius: the extraordinary "Alicia Ross."
One thing that marked Edwards' first two albums was a highly idiosyncratic singing style. Although I personally loved the unique modulations of her pitch that conveyed both a vulnerability and an unapproachable strength, many I tried to turn on to Edwards' songs recoiled from the vocals without ever taking in the lyrical sophistication. Then, last year, Edwards sang a duet on John Doe's recent album that shocked me (and my reticent companions) with its unexpected tunefulness. Sure enough, Edwards' new album displays a newfound on-note singing that loses none of the soulfulness and beauty of her prior efforts.
Also evident here is Edwards' debt to Tom Petty and other hook-heavy-yet-full-of-integrity artists. Both musically and lyrically, these songs shine. Certain lines (e.g., "My life is like a picture, left out too long in the sun," "You're the Great One, I'm Marty McSorely") are the kind that make us songwriters set down our pens because it all seems hopeless. The musical hooks are similarly revelatory.
Also extraordinary is the production. The mixes, tones and feels are perfect for each song. It is clear that nothing was rushed on this album. The arrangements allow the songs to tell their stories comfortably and in their own time. The guitar work, frankly, is perfect--perfectly subtle, perfectly appropriate. Benmont Tench's organ and piano work is similarly inspired.
But for all the works of pop genius found in abundance here, there is one piece that goes beyond. "Alicia Ross" is based on the true story of an unfamous Toronto woman who disappeared from the home she shared with her mother--her body found months later in the back yard of a neighbor only because of the persistence of her mother in finding her. The literary genius of the song is the result of Edwards' extraordinarily literary device of telling the story from the perspective of the slain woman, who speaks from beyond her murder to her mother, apologizing for causing her such pain for not knowing where she was. The sheer unpretentiousness of the narrative makes utterly real the dialogue between this genuine woman and her mother. It is nothing merely so common as a song about a woman who died or even a woman who was unfairly taken too soon from those who loved her. Instead, it is nothing less than a perfectly uninflected tribute to the majesty of humanity and each of our capacities to love others without reservation. It is an example of that rare genius that is brave enough and subtle enough to allow the elegant emotional clarity of our simple unbearable emotional lives to speak.
For all its pop charms and languid beauty, "Asking For Flowers" is a substantial literary work, displaying equally the finery, grace and rhythm of great poetry, as well as the drama, humor and narrative core of the best novels. It is a great display of the songwriter's art.
Description of Asking for Flowers
Kathleen Edwards' Asking for Flowers is her first new album in three years, and the acclaimed artist's most penetrating collection to date. The album features eleven new songs, all written by Edwards, and finds her performing at the peak of her creative powers, supported by a group of master backing musicians. Flowers tells indelible, clear-eyed stories of hope and resignation, humor and death, unconditional love and brazen inequality.Co-produced by Edwards and Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Whiskeytown), the album features, among others, keyboardist Benmont Tench from The Heartbreakers, drummer Don Heffington (Bob Dylan, The Wallflowers), bassist Bob Glaub (Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Leonard Cohen), guitarist Colin Cripps (Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams), and pedal steel ace Greg Leisz (Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss).
On her third album, Kathleen Edwards is poised reach the larger audiences she deserves. More striking on this new release is her stronger vocal and lyrical prowess which makes it apparent that she?s in the zone of her craft. After proving her mettle on previous outings, she delivers with further conviction and confidence across songs suited for both quiet country roads and late night city bars. Her songs are often delivered with rough edges and heavy, somewhat smoky breath, yet nothing is overstated. As one of the latest great female voices to emerge on the Alt-Country scene, Kathleen Edwards stands tall next to other significant genre partners including Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, and Patty Griffin. In her lyrics she willingly reveals the ghosts in her closet, as well as her own self recriminations, at one point stating that, ?Choosing my words carefully / has never been my strength / I?ve been known to be vague and often pointless.? Maybe so, but the essence of her meaning and the tone of its delivery still resonates with lonely hearts and souls driving down life?s dustier roads.
--Lucas Hilbert
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