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Reviews

Welcome to a Review Page!
We solicit your considered reviews of both recorded and live music. If you'd like to have your new CD reviewed or contribute a review, please send your CD or ideas or submissions to Roots66 or
Bill Yates
Webmaster, Roots66.com
1911 Arlene Avenue
Oxnard, CA 93036-2704
 or Erika Harding
Roots Productions
60 South Anacapa Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Please note that we review music in the categories listed in the links above. CDs submitted for review are not returnable and no guarantee is made that a CD will be reviewed.

CD Review
[Frisco Mabel Joy CD] Various Artists

Frisco Mabel Joy Revisited: for Mickey Newbury
(Appleseed Recordngs APR CD 1048)


Produced by Peter Blackstock and Chris Eckman Released October 1, 2000

Available from:
Appleseed Recordngs
P. O. Box 2593
Westchester, PA 19380
(610) 701-5755
http://www.appleseedrec.com
1) Prologue (Bill Frisell)
2) An American Trilogy (Midnight Choir)
3) How Many Times (Must the Piper Be Paid for His Song) (Walkabouts)
4) Interlude (Side A) (Bill Frisell)
5) The Future's Not What It Used To Be (Gary Heffern)
6) Mobile Blue (Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men)
7) Frisco Depot (Meredith Miller Band)
8) You're Not My Same Sweet Baby (Chuck Prophet)
9) Interlude (Side B) (Bill Frisell with Robin Holcombe)
10) Remember the Good (Michael Fracasso)
11) Swiss Cottage Place (David Halley)
12) How I Love Them Old Songs (The Hole Dozen)
13) San Francisco Mabel Joy (Kris Kristofferson)

Review by Bill Yates, Roots66.com

If you don't know Mickey Newbury's music, this is as good an introduction as you can find. Newbury is deservedly a member of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded over 500 times by more than 100 artists including Ray Charles, B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, and Joan Baez.

Back in 1971, an album of Newbury songs called "Frisco Mabel Joy" was released. It made minor ripples in the wider music world but found a place in the hearts and minds of many. In 1999 and 2000, producers Peter Blackstock and Chris Eckman began assembling a "cover" of the original album, with the same songs but by different artists. The wonderful result is "Frisco Mabel Joy Revisited: for Mickey Newbury". And what an album!

Blackstock's album notes tell how the project came together and the sometimes surprising results. Guitarist Bill Frisell provides the Prologue, several interludes, and intros and 'outros' to several selections. The first song is one Elvis used to close his shows with, "American Trilogy". It is a moving rendition that I listen to repeatedly. And it was done by "Midnight Choir", a Nowegian band and recorded in Slovenia! But absolutely right on! This is followed by a fine example of Newbury's lyric writing: "How Many Times (Must the Piper Be Paid for His Song)". Vocalist Carla Torgerson gives a moving interpretation, backed by the rest of the Walkabouts. The imagery here is both poetic and powerful in a song of how past(?) love and unfaithfulness intrudes on the present. Gary Heffern delivers a deep-voiced rendition of "The Future's Not What It Used To Be", followed by Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men doing "Mobile Blue". Meredith Miller and her band give a nice, banjo-accented, "Frisco Depot", which moves right along. This is followed by the change-of-pace ballad, "You're Not My Same Sweet Baby", sung by Chuck Prophet.

Michael Fracasso says he'll "Remember the Good", a positive spin on the lost love theme. David Halley remembers the house built for love in "Swiss Cottage Place" as his love leaves for Saint Loo. The album winds up with an old-timey pick-up band ("The Hole Dozen") rendition of "How I Love Them Old Songs". But there is one extar selection that didn't make the original album. Starngely enough, that song is the album's namesake, "San Francisco Mabel Joy", a story of doomed love sung here by Kris Kristofferson.

Almost all these renditions of the original album selections could be considered the definitive versions. I especially liked "American Trilogy". "How Many Times (Must the Piper Be Paid for His Song)", and "Frisco Depot", but all the material is excellent. This is an album you'll want to keep close to your CD player. And it is an excellent example of one of our bestsongwriters, the remarkable Mickey Newbury.

Copyright 2002 William Theron Yates

6/11/02

This review is copyrighted but may be quoted in whole or part provided credit is given such as "--Bill Yates, Roots66.com". If you post the review on a web site, please link to http://www.roots66.com if you can.


Last updated 2/22/03.
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