Mark Olson - The Salvation Blues
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CD Details
Artist: Mark OlsonEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2007-06-12
Music Label: Hacktone Records
Soundtracks:
- My Carol
- Clifton Bridge
- Poor Michael's Boat
- National Express
- Salvation Blues
- Keith
- Winter Song
- Sandy Denny
- Tears From Above
- Look Into The Night
- My One Book Philosophy
Music reviews of The Salvation Blues
Music Review: An Instant Classic
Rating: 5 Stars
Mid-way through Mark Olson's new album The Salvation Blues, the track Sandy Denny references the late 60's, early 70's British folk artist who would come to known as much for her personal difficulties with her husband (and alcohol) as she was for her songwriting. Such allusions echo Olson's painful split with his now ex-wife and bandmate Victoria Williams and loss of his beloved home in Joshua Tree, California; they also set the tone for this highly moving and personal recording, his first standout release since the Creekdippers' December's Child album from 2002 and My Own Jo Ellen, a classic from 2000.
As opposed to Olson's recent recordings that seem born of his life grounded in the California desert, pure Americana radiating joy, warmth, and belonging, The Salvation Blues conveys a sense of movement, distance, coldness and isolation while also making several references to Olson's travels through Europe (check out Clifton Bridge and National Express, both great songs). However, though the lyrics are evocative and moving, if not somewhat oblique, they aren't overly mournful either. Similarly, the music is generally, surprisingly upbeat, more sweet than bitter (as on Winter Song), capturing that folksy, acoustic sound Olson has become known for. Don't get me wrong, there are some sad tunes here (his solo Wurlitzer performance on My One Book Philosophy). It's just that in spite of darker themes, these songs ultimately give rise to deliverance and liberation, and in that context are as much about hope and optimism as they are about pain.
And while the excellent understated instrumentation of Olson's accompanying musicians should not go unacknowledged, Jayhawks fans will especially rejoice in Olson's former bandmate, Gary Louris offering up sweet vocal harmonies on a few tracks including Poor Michael's Boat, one of the album's standout tracks. It's revisiting Jayhawks days gone by and their collaboration on December's Child (Say You'll Be Mine), as well as foreshadowing a new Olson/Louris album which Louris himself reported has been recorded and is set to come out in early 2008. When you consider that Olson's relationship with Ms. Williams marked his departure from the Jayhawks and the dissolution of one of the best songwriting teams of our generation, this album finds him coming full circle; opening his heart, exposing his soul, and achieving epic proportions.
Salvation indeed.
Description of The Salvation Blues
Mark Olson was the founder of The Jayhawks, the most important band to emerge out of the 90's alt-country scene. Olson left after their most successful album, 'Tomorrow the Green Grass,' to pursue a simpler life in the California desert. A decade later, everything fell apart: Mark's marriage to singer/songwriter Victoria Williams ended, his group The Creekdippers disbanded, and he lost the home he had built by hand. These songs were written in the wake of that profound loss, during the two years he spent homeless - staying with friends in places as far-flung as Norway, Poland, and Wales. Produced by Ben Vaughn, 'The Salvation Blues' is Olson's first true solo album, made with some of LA's best session musicians. This album also features Mark's long-awaited reunion with Jayhawk Gary Louris, who provides harmonies on three songs.Here starts the third stage of Mark Olson's recording career. He first came to prominence as the primary singer-songwriter for the Jayhawks, before leaving that seminal alt-country band to make music with his wife, Victoria Williams, in the more acoustic, organic Creekdrippers. With his reedy voice and elemental imagery, Olson details the painful dissolution of that marriage on this solo album, clinging to music as a lifeline when everything else is lost. In the album-opening "My Carol," he compares his love to "an animal bleeding in the snow," while "National Express" asks "Where's my home? How could I lose this in a day?" Yet musically, "Clifton Bridge" and "Winter Song" rank with the best of his Jayhawks work, and both the title track and "Look into the Night" find redemption in the midst of despair. Gary Louris joins his former Jayhawks bandmate for harmonies on three cuts. --Don McLeese
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