| This Week's Highlights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
|
@ DVDfever Youtube |
|
|
|
|
May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
|
Kristofferson’s swansong? Maybe. Johnny Cash’s late renaissance was masterminded by producer Rick Rubin. Let’s not forget he effectively turned round Neil Diamond flagging career too. It’s Don Was’s turn again to try the same trick for off-the-radar country icon Kris Kristofferson, on his 20th studio album. Of course, to make any impact, (Cash certainly did), you need the songs. The key, as with Cash, the singer, as vocally frail as 73 year-old Kristofferson sounds, needs to be the focal point. Don Was has allowed that to happen. As with Cash latter albums, this also sees Kristofferson in deeply reflective mood on these rugged country ditties, instead of his penchant for ranting about military aggression and civil rights. He says of his album, “I like the intimacy of the new album. It has a general mood of reflecting on where we all are at this end of life.” Married three times with eight children, he dedicates a melancholic lullaby to his kids (and wife), From Here To Forever. This is a beautiful and tender song sung with great feeling as he declares his love for them, but there are some hints of guidance too. Holy Woman is a sweet dedication to his third wife of 26 years, wedding attorney Lisa Meyers. There’s some great harmonica on this.
Sister Sinead is a swipe at Sinead O’Connor, where he recalls the events in 1992 when she was heckled at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary show for tearing up a photo of the Pope on American television. This is where he really hits his stride, with his country twang coming to the fore, as he huskily glides the lyrics across a simple template of acoustic guitar and harmonic. Kristofferson wrote Hall Of Angels for the late Eddie Rabbit ( I Love A Rainy Night) after his son’s unsuccessful liver transplant operation touched him. Following a heartbreaking Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, about the desperate state of a relationship (not to be confused with pop hit by Rose Royce) he whips up a jaunty little number about his old friend and mentor Johnnie Cash – Good Morning John. It tracks the devastating effect of addiction in Cash’s early life. “You scared me John / Because you crossed so many borders into danger with a price upon your head / They got you John,” he sings of the risks he took. It’s apparently lifted from a letter he wrote to his buddy many years ago. At the end, he sings the first song he wrote, aged 11 years – The Wonder, very mature song for a youngster. The verdict – well worth checking out.
Weblinks: kriskristofferson.com
The full list of tracks included are :
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
|
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
