Shawn Colvin - These Four Walls
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Free Music Notes for These Four Walls
Free Music Review: Life in 4/4 Time
Hit: 4 Stars
I've stated in other reviews that Colvin can be hard for a casual listen. 'These Four Walls' is no exception. I'm having a hard time finding it to be an accessible disk - but I said the same thing of 'Whole New You' and in time I found that to be her best and most consistent disk.
If you're looking for up-tempo songs here, you may as well keep looking. Most of the disk comprises of songs in 4/4 time - only a few trying to break that mold ("Tough Kid", "The Bird"). The title track is a little more buoyant and is not as weighty as the rest of the disk. It makes perfect sense that it is the lead song and what has been released to garner interest in the record.
There are some extremely strong tracks here: "Tough Kid", "Summer Dress" and "Venetian Blue" (possibly the best song on the disk). On first listen, I was disappointed w/"Cinnamon Road", but it is growing to be a stand-out cut also. Colvin does a good job w/the Bee Gee's "Words" too.
John Leventhal's production takes no risks here. He doesn't stray too much from what he has done w/Colvin over the last 20 yrs. The vocals are strong, the playing is solid.
Accessible and good are two different things. 'These Four Walls' is a good disk. But don't be looking for it on radio or any outlet that would generate strong sales.
Free Music Review: Fills you up
Hit: 4 Stars
Shawn Colvin has always been a rather charming artist of smart sentiments and pleasant arrangements - it leads to lovely, not especially challenging songs, and a general feeling of goodwill towards Colvin. I'm a fan, I suppose, but I'd never think of her as one of the great "artists" of her time. I suppose that's still the case after These Four Walls, but I did find myself compelled to buy it, and, a good year and a half after purchasing it, it strikes me that I still listen to the songs regularly, and that there's not a clunker in the bunch. "Fill Me Up" begins the set with charming guitar and a vulnerable, winning melody, and "These Four Walls" capitalizes on it with rather lovely anxiety. Throughout the records, though, Colvin seems to be on a songwriting roll, and songs surprise you with ways they creep up in your memory - "That Don't Worry Me Now" with its sweet, soulful satisfaction, "Ventian Blue" with its rainy-day malaise, "Let It Slide" with its old-person-feeling-young kick. I can't say that the album as a whole adds up to anything more than a good collection of songs, but I suppose that's plenty to ask from an album anyway, and on "Summer Dress" I'm reminded of all of the great musical moments Colvin's career has given us over the years - and I'm very much given another.Free Music Review: A new, great achievement.
Hit: 4 Stars
The first song Shawn Colvin completed for "These Four Walls", her Nonesuch debut, was the wistful "Summer Dress", which opens with Colvin singing over the austere strum of a lone acoustic guitar, then builds into a lilting folk-rock arrangement.
Colvin maintains a delicate balance between confidence and vulnerability as she describes a dream-like venture out to 'face a wilderness'.
Like much of this deeply felt album, "Summer Dress" is about looking ahead, moving on, performed from the vantage point of someone who's had a chance to glance back somewhat ruefully at where she's been.
"Summer Dress" could be a veiled recounting of the picaresque route Colvin herself took to hard-earned solo stardom, from her South Dakota birthplace to the Southern Illinois college town where she was raised, to the bars and clubs of Boston and New York City, where she first attracted a following.
Then again, it might be an artfully composed fiction about escaping a small town or running after love, a postcard from a youthful time when freedom seemed like a mere bus ticket or car ride away.
Whatever its origins, the emotional and musical pull of "Summer Dress" along with the rest of "These Four Walls" is powerful.
Somehow we've all been there, too.
Free Music Review: Nothing But Sky
Hit: 4 Stars
Shawn Colvin's "These Four Walls" is a good set, well worth the wait. Of my favorites, "Tuff Kid" pulses with Antoine Silverman's fiddle adding a nice touch, "So hey everybody at the old schoolyard, took it all the way & we took it hard; Did a lot of things make you feel alright; Said the kind of things keep you up at night." "The Bird" struts with a smart melody and Colvin's breathy vocals crosscutting with the edge of the lyric, "What I like about time is it don't ask why; What I like about love is it makes me cry; What I like about the bird is she don't need nothin' but sky." "Even Here We Are" has a gorgeous melody with Colvin's passionate voice, "Beautiful flower in your garden, but the most beautiful by far is the one growing wild in the garbage dump." The closer is a cover of the Bee Gees' "Words." Colvin's acoustic version contrasts with the orchestral production the Gibb Brothers employed & bares the emotional content of the track, making it stark & emotional. Other cuts like the opener "Fill Me Up" & "Cinnamon Road" are strong. It's nice to have Shawn Colvin back in form. Enjoy!Free Music Review: Classic Shawn
Hit: 4 Stars
I've been a Shawn Colvin fan since "Steady On" was released, and I saw her perform live eight times during the nineties. I've kept reaching for her earlier CD's and letting releases like "A Few Small Repairs" and "A Whole New You" collect dust on the shelf. I didn't purchase "These Four Walls" when it was first released, but I'm glad I finally took the chance. To my listening ear, "These Four Walls" feels more like the early Shawn that I loved so much -- a bit lighter and happier. Her guitar playing is still amazing -- an inspiration for my own -- and her vocal phrasing brings amazing delivery of her poetry. "Fill Me Up" kicks off the CD with energy and hope. The harmonies with Marc Cohn and Patty Griffin on "Cinnamon Road" are so tight, making this one of my favorites on the album. This is also a versatile CD -- great for background music but complex enough to keep my interest for more focused listening, as well.