|
November 25, 2006
I watched this DVD the other night to learn more about John Prine, whom I only knew from the odd song and video. Prine is acknowledged to be a fine American singer and a great songwriter, and many of his songs have gained critical approval. Can the songwriters step into the gap left by the poets?
 I was interested in hearing the stories told by a songwriter in an urban world of gas stations, traffic noise, neon lights, beggars and street kids, myths, glittering commodities in consumer dream worlds and wars.
The show----part of the Sessions at West 54th TV series--- was a mixture of Prine's great songs from his then current CD In Spite of Ourselves. It was all very human with pithy and humorous observations on the state of life and personal experience of regional America.
It was all very downhome, warm and friendly. The band was good in an understated way. We are invited to read the traces of living history in the stories that Prine tells, rather than decoding the surfaces of old commodities.
It is in the individual stories of songs like "Sam Stone," and "Hello in There" that we find a critique of both the big-city glitter of modernity that offers material proof of progress, and an expression of the withering of experience in a world of late capitalism that becomes alienated from its history as it celebrates progress.
It was much more interesting than watching The Corrs DVD Live at Landsdowne Road (2004). What a disappointment. Where was the musical innovation?The Corrs music was more light pop than traditional Celtic sounds. It was a long way behind the groundbreaking fusion achieved by Fairport Convention 30 years ago.
An earlier DVD, The Corrs Live at the Royal Albert Hall, (2000) indicated that they are within the pop mainstream both musically (a transatlantic sound) and their magazine-friendly looks. The concert was musically better:
Still a lot of the songs sounded the same and the lead singer(Andrea Corr) had limited vocal expression and range. Again the claim about 'the innovative blend of pop music and traditional Celtic sound' was not evident. Instead of achieving a genuine synthesis of traditional folk and contemporary pop, The Corrs offered accessible and charming modern pop built on Fleetwood Mac, the Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel etc that is mixed in with some Irish jigs, reels and melancholy airs.
|
Although he has always been magnificent he suffered somewhat unfairly from the early application of "the next Dylan" label.
I've always thought the line:
"There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes"
one of the best in all songwriting.