Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris - Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou HarrisEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-08-24
Music Label: Asylum Records
Soundtracks:
- Loving The Highway Man
- Raise The Dead
- For A Dancer
- Western Wall
- 1917
- He Was Mine
- Sweet Spot
- Sisters Of Mercy
- Falling Down
- Valerie
- This Is To Mother You
- All I Left Behind
- Across The Border
Free Music Notes for Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions
Free Music Review: GOOD SONGS, VOCALS AND PLAYING - BUT SOME QUESTIONABLE SOUND MIXING
Hit: 4 Stars
This album contains a selection of fine songs from several different songwriters. The music is more folk than country, with maybe one or two songs belonging to neither of these genres, there's even some pop/soft-rock influence. EH and LR turn in some pretty good performances (but I don't think either ladies are 'at the top of their game').
The lead and harmony vocals are good - the fragile soprano of EH combines well with the velvety alto of LR. The instrumental accompaniment is also good - courtesy of a bunch of consummate session musicians (and also Neil Young); BUT, a few tracks feature layered electric guitars/synthesized sounds and I think these should have been 'mixed back' because, at times, the vocal/instrumental backing and the lead/harmony vocals seem to be competing with each other (very noticeable with the opening chorus on the first track). This 'problem' doesn't exist on those tracks which are predominantly semi-acoustic (the tracks which I tended to prefer). Also, in more general terms, I found the sound to be a little 'bright' (but this could be my hearing) - to compensate, I play this album with my amp's treble taken down a few notches.
I liked all tracks (some more than others) - a few brief comments about my personal favourites (songwriters in brackets) :
FOR A DANCER (Jackson Browne) - Jackson Browne's voice has, I think, a slight edge to it, but this edge isn't present with LR's lead vocals (not a criticism, just an observation) - hers is a fine, straight forward and 'easy on the ear' rendition of a classic song from the mid-1970s L.A. singer/songwriter era. The song demands a wide vocal range and LR certainly has the skill to handle it well.
WESTERN WALL (Rosanne Cash) - The lead vocals are shared by LR and EH (sometimes, on the lower notes, LR sounds a little like Rosanne). I haven't heard the original version but this version loses none of the poignancy that I often associate with Rosanne's songwriting. The instrumental accompaniment and the sound balance are both fine.
SISTERS OF MERCY (Leonard Cohen) - Another 'blast from the past' ('blast' isn't entirely appropriate because this is a gentle song given a suitably gentle treatment - again, with LR and EH sharing the lead vocals). The track features a (now obsolete) instrument called an 'optigon' - a sort of organ. If you hear some occasional and faint background hum and crackling, rest assured that it is not your hi-fi, your hearing or the production - these 'sound effects' are characteristics of this instrument. It seems a rather curious choice to have on a modern digital recording and I found it's rather 'lo-fi' effect somewhat disconcerting (but some people might like it).
1917 (David Olney) - A poignant song with remarkable lyrics about soldiers during WW1 seeking brief refuge from the horrors of trench warfare in the killing fields of Flanders. The 'story' is told from the perspective of a prostitute who fulfils her role by providing her clients with a night of comfort and 'cheap ecstasy', before they return to the battlefield and almost certain death. EH's lead vocals are superb and the instrumental accompaniment is restrained; but, a song which may not be to everyone's liking.
THIS IS TO MOTHER YOU (Sinead O'Connor) - An exquisite song - a lullaby with a soft lilting melody. Sinead almost whispers her original version and I much prefer the more 'full bodied' vocals which LR lends to the song (but the ambience of the original is not lost, by any means).
ACROSS THE BORDER (Bruce Springsteen) - A smooth 'laid back' sound with a slight Mexican feel to it. Everything works for me with this track - from LR's fine vocals to the outstanding playing (especially the wistful sounds of Neil Young's harmonica and Greg Leisz's pedal steel guitar).
If you are a fan of either ladies, particularly their music from the mid to late 70s, then I strongly recommend that you do NOT buy this album on an 'unheard' basis. There are many substantial customer reviews here and I think you should also take look at some of these (5-star thru' 1-star), So, in conclusion, there was something about the sound/production, on a few tracks, that I found a bit distracting - had it not been for this, I would have unreservedly rated this album 4.5/5.0 stars; but, as it is, I can only give a rating of 4-stars.
Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions Poster
Emmylou Harris once said of her four-shows-a-night salad days that she refused to sing anything on the hit parade, opting only for "bizarre, left-field songs" that "made it hard to make a living." Decades later, Harris still spends a lot of time in left field, and it's those offbeat, haunting gems--more than the classics here from Leonard Cohen or Jackson Browne--that make Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, her duet album with Linda Ronstadt, so memorable. That, and her exquisitely pained soprano--reminiscent of "cracked crystal," as Linda puts it--nestled up against Ronstadt's thicker, corduroy harmonies. With arrangements that meet somewhere between Harris's Wrecking Ball and Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind, the two explore a mood of morose dreaminess, but profound beauty. Ghosts gather here, to the sounds of rattling bones--in songs of abandoned love, of musical giants now gone silent, and of World War I soldiers, who parade from the arms of prostitutes to the arms of death. Left field, dotted with the wreckage of heartache and regret, never sounded better. --Alanna NashCountry Music CDs
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