In My Own Time. Karen Dalton
When I first came to town
They brought me drinks plenty
Now they've changed their tune
They bring me the bottles empty
(Katie Cruel, Trad.)
I thought of this album last night but decided to leave it until later in the list but I kept listening to it and so decided by default that it would be the album added today.
I discovered this album a few years ago. First I heard her name in an interview with Nick Cave and in Bob Dylan's Chronicles. Then I heard Katie Cruel and knew I had to have the album. Katie Cruel is as unearthly as Hank Williams' Ramblin' Man, which is a kind of low water mark of earthliness for me. Dalton's voice and banjo are timeless, the catch in her voice as she sings gets me every time. This is fatalism made sound.
This is all about the interpretations, as this is an album of covers. Dalton's voice is a dark folked up echo of Billie Holiday. At times it is a quiet howl, at others full of whispered intimacies. She sounds like she's uttering the songs for the first time, as if they've been wrenched from the livid flesh of experience. (Is that over the top enough for you?) Like the cliché says, she makes all these songs her own.
This could have been my number one if it hadn't insisted on being No. 88, with a Rocket.
I'm listening to this revelation now.
ReplyDeleteInitially struck by how contemporary the pumping bass sounds; then read that it was Miles bass player from 'Bitches Brew' who also produced the album. With most 'lost classics' you expect the inevitable poor sound quality; this sounds pretty pristine; the fiddles wail; her 12 string shimmers; and the voice... I've read it described as Hillbilly Holliday which kind of describes and insults at the same time...
You can hear the need to nail; no 2nd take rule often gets performances that linger... Seems that hers was a short and sorry existence.
He also played bass on Highway 61 Revisited and John Cale's Vintage Violence & with The Doors & Hendrix). He deserves a post all of his own.
DeleteGreat review Seamus,..She also does "A little bit of rain" a lovely song by Fred Neil, I think Nick rewrote Katie Cruel as "When I first came to Town" off Henry's Dream.... who is the bass player..quite a diverse bunch he's played with.
DeleteBrendan
His name on most recordings is Harvey Brooks although he was born Harvey Goldstein. Info here - http://www.discogs.com/artist/Harvey+Brooks
DeleteGreat review… she's a long time favourite and I always find it difficult to articulate what it is about her that is so compelling.
ReplyDeleteYou've nailed it with "At times it is a quiet howl, at others full of whispered intimacies. She sounds like she's uttering the songs for the first time, as if they've been wrenched from the livid flesh of experience."
And 'yes' for Harvey Brooks getting some recognition.
Also listen to Something On Your Mind (Dino Valenti) and In A Station (Richard Manuel) from this album. There's an earlier album produced by Nik Venet off the back of Fred Neil's Sessions album… live takes in a very , er… "laid-back setting"
Thanks Clarence, and I've been meaning to get my hands on more Dalton. Love the Band doing Ina Station alright but Valante is new to me. I'm listening now and he sounds great.
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