Elly Roberts reviews
Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow
Distributed by
XL Recordings
- Released: July 2006
- Rating: 10/10
- Format: LP (Vinyl)
Monday July 19 brings the LP vinyl version of last year’s CD release of Devendra Banhart’s outstanding album Cripple Crow.
This time around it has new artwork. Hundreds of fans entered an online
competition on his eponymous website below after which Devendra personally chose
pictures that would appear on the cover. They were added to the existing
artwork, creating a wonderful montage. (See above-right)
Clearly a man with a fondness for the '60s hippy era, 1967-1969, Cripple Crow
is a sheer delight from start to finish. Vocally he’s a dead ringer of
Tyrannosaurus Rex’s warbling Marc Bolan. Appropriately recorded in Woodstock,
the weird but wonderful Banhart, who’s also a part-time member of folk
combo Vetiver, has created an alternative folk masterpiece that includes
self-penned Spanish folk ballads – including a cover of Luna De Margarita
by Venezuelan tunesmith Simon Diaz, a hark back to his South American
teenage years.
Then there’s the gentle Queen Bee – you can just see him watching a
hovering bee and chronicling its journey, only to be flummoxed by human
references.
Deeply hippyfied I Feel Just Like A Child with playful lyrics like
from the "womb to the tomb" makes a joyous blast, as is the trippy
ballad Long Haired Child. Title track Cripple Crow sees him
at his best, a wistful floater with lashings of flute, bongos, acoustic
guitar and ‘friends’ doing backups.
There are some ‘bonkers’ moments like the lyrically unfathomable The
Beatles, but there again Banhart has turned being unfathomable into an
art form that makes him a unique and beguiling individual, who can only be
described as a genuine troubadour, and possibly a genius in his chosen
genre.
If I had to choose a special moment, it’s the 3 minutes 43 seconds of the
violin and acoustic guitar simplicity of Inaniel, followed closely by the
bluesy Chinese Children (hitting a Bolan vocal peak) and daisy waving
chorus of Mama Wolf, complete with FX.
Dreamy, beautiful, weird, gentle, and sweet: totally magical.
The full list of tracks included are :
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
