Richard Youngs - Sapphie
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Free Music Notes for Sapphie
Free Music Review: it's all true
Hit: 5 Stars
Yes! It's just classical guitar and vocals! Yes it's beautiful! Yes all the things people are saying! But I'll tell you the quote that sold me on it:
"Sapphie is a map of the heart, sorrow and humanity rather than a good example of how to play the guitar or how to solve the world's problems. In essence, it is an absolute masterpiece and ranks among the greatest works of passion that the world has ever known."
-ben chasny (six organs of admittance)
I read that and ordered it right then and there. Once it arrived I listened to it virtually uninterrupted for four days.
Free Music Review: As moving as "In C" or "Plastic Ono band"
Hit: 5 Stars
This record stands as the line in the sand which Richard Youngs' so brazenly crossed a few years back leaving many people more than a bit confused. Then known as being a world renown minimalist composer with at least a dozen records on some of the most prestigious labels all over the world it was more than a bit shocking to hear his voice careening all over quietly picked guitar melodies when this was first released and more than a few admirerers were at a loss for a reaction. What Richard Youngs did with this record was not so much reinvent himself as a musician/composer but rather he brought all of his ideas & aesthetics into a whole new context. I remember more than a few people being completely disappointed with Youngs' foray into what would often be referred to as the British folk tradition but I think those people missed the point completely.
With this record Youngs brought emotion back into minimalist composition; setting his voice adrift inside the slowly changing cyclical drone of his nylon guitar he may have brought minimalist music as close to pop music as Terry Reily did when he debuted his composition "In C". Using his voice & guitar as the most delicate of instruments, he holds onto the almost centripetal force that his music has always utilized; replacing that calm that would normally serve as the center with a feeling of sadness or loss.
I've always admired Youngs' vision of music, a vision wholly personal and uncompromising; this record, if nothing else, is Richard Youngs unarmed. Without guitar pedals, keyboards, wind chimes, baking pans or alarm clocks at his disposal Youngs is forced to show you how truly powerful he can be; creating a tender music whose effect is as complex and inspiring as any I've ever heard.
Free Music Review: Smells good
Hit: 4 Stars
I didn't give this record 5 stars because that's just impossible, at least on this earth. But it is one of my favourite records ever. It is beyond my powers to describe its beauty. Instead of attempting to do so, I can only urge you instead to check out Richard's cook book 'Cook Vegan' which is also for sale here! What a man.Free Music Review: A bit more to say...
Hit: 5 Stars
I agree with Welsh but this is a 5 star album all the way! It must also be mentioned that Sapphie is really quite emotional unlike so much shoegazer stuff. Sapphie is a tribute to a dog of the same name, and I think the loss of a pet really comes through in the music. When I have shared this recording with people it's rarely failed to grab them whether they are fans of the more outside music with Wickham-Smith (yes, it is the same Richard Youngs) or not. In this sense, Sapphie is probably my favorite album by Youngs because it is his most accessible and shows how the man can really make some beautiful music, despite his leanings toward the more obtuse and difficult music that is documented everywhere else.Though short, I think Sapphie is an album for everyone.
Free Music Review: chinese mollases torture...
Hit: 4 Stars
...dripdrip
dripping onto your forehead until you lose all sense of anything but the drip. Unlike his more 'challenging' work with Simon Wickham-Smith (which I never entirely bonded with, assuming this is that same Richard Youngs), SAPPHIE is classic late-1990s toe-gazer skronk Unplugged: a man, his accoustic guitar, his trembling soul: 3 dirges coming in at almost 40 minutes in total. Imagine a sparse grey tundra spanning the distance between the wind-stroked prairies of Jim O'Rourke's recent 'pop' outings ("Eureka" and "Halfway to a Threeway") and the lassitudinous, bug-infested swamps of Jandek... It's music to lie on the floor and nod off to when you're not feeling any particular compulsion to feign Happy Happy Joy Joy.