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APPLESEED
TOM PAXTON/Comedians & Angels: I’ve never fully understood how someone that’s been married for the better part of 50 years can write such tormented songs about unrequited love so well. After all this time and all the turns through various folk styles, Paxton turns his attention to a full album of love songs, but it isn’t in the traditional Michael Bubby love song style, Paxton looks at love from both sides now, and then some as well. A finely crafted album that mixes some new and old material together in new renditions, one of the pillars of contemporary folk continues to show that he’s got what it takes as he veers into his 70s. Hardly a last hurrah, this is a fine reward for all the fans that have stayed with him through the years. Growing easily into the grandfatherly figure he’s seemed to be since he began wearing that Scandinavian fishing cap a bunch of years ago, this break from topics and statements and observations really shines throughout.
1105
THE KENNEDYS/Better Dreams: Back with their first album of all original material in this century, this husband/wife duo let some of the touchy feely elements they’ve been teaching in creativity workshops thread through their material. The sturdy kind of hard working, always growing act that record companies used to love when they were in the music business because the act could be counted on to log the miles and spread the smiles, this duo’s vision of touchy feely will not have you running for the exits. Contemporary folkies that know how to avoid clichés and set standards, anyone who’s been a fan will be juiced by the return to form and will probably want to help spread the word.
1107
PEGGY SEEGER/ Bring Me Home: Back to tying up her home trilogy after a detour with her great birthday concert recording last year, the grande dame for the first family of folk music does not disappoint. Once you pass 70, you might not be as concerned with being an engineer as you once were, but you are concerned with comfort in your surroundings. The view of Seeger’s vision of home rounds out the trilogy nicely. When taken with the two preceding sets, this is a pretty grand contemporary folk statement. With a gentle message and touch, Seeger knows that love can take you home again, even when some of the songs here make you want to run as far and as fast as you can from there.
1106
TELARC
BREATHE-Relaxing Piano for Lovers/various: The latest entry in the “Breathe” series is culled and released just in time for Valentine’s Day as it’s filled with piano pieces from the Telarc classical holdings that are generally from the romantic side of things. Loaded with the kind of stuff you might remember from a cheesy John Williams commercial selling romantic classics, these are unquestionable sold performances that you will appreciate even if you are a classical tourist unfamiliar with the names of the soloists. Tasty throughout, this is a set that lives up to it’s claims.
80714
Volume 31/Number 64
January 3, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
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