Tift Merritt - Another Country
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.98 You Save: $18.00 (95%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Another Country
Free Music Review: Emotive, thoughtful, sweet recording
Hit: 5 Stars
Well, here I am back in the middle of the night reviewing a CD, listening on my headphones. I have listened to Tift Merritt before, but never reviewed anything by her.
This is a really well done recording, it reminds me a bit of Shelby Lynne's last CD. The CD where she sings Dusty Springfield songs. It was another artists idea that she finally got around to.
Well, let me tell you a bit of the story of "Another Country". Tift took off for Paris, France to stay in a friend's small apartment with a piano. All that she did was exist, play piano, write music, hang out with other artists and came back with some great material, that in the finished version sort of follows a theme.
I really think this is going to be a great year for music, as soon as I took off six weeks to review some guitar pedals, all of these great CDs started coming out, I can't wait to get into Carlene Carter's new music, great stuff, from what I have heard. When times get tough, usually good music starts coming out as well as other artistic mediums. I will say that will I was playing the best guitar pedals in the land, my passion for playing came back, even with my chronic pain, I'm loving it again.
Sometimes we need to do something different to get our inspiration back, for Merritt, it was go to Paris. She has made an awesome disc.
Playing with some hot studio musicians, she really puts out some great, live sounding music.
"Keep You Happy" is a ballad with acoustic guitar picking in beginning and some bell like (sounding)lead guitar. Doug Sax mastered this already great recording.
I love the guitar playing of Charlie Sexton and Doug Pettibone. Produced by George Drakoulas. Some strings in the background of this song.
"I Know What I'm Looking For Now" is an acoustic rhythmic sound with drums and full band. this recording tells the story of her Paris trip. More great guitar playing here, pedal steel with delay, just tonally grabbing. Some nice back ground vocals on this song.
"Tell Me Something True" is a rocker with some horns and great lyrics.
"My Heart Is free" rocks like a Mindy Smith song. The guitars are cooking, great melody. Another great set of lyrics.
"Tender Branch" is a tender song that like a lot of these songs have a very live vibe. Oh Boy, there goes that guitar again, "increditone", Merritt's songwriting is nothing short of inspired on this disc.
She finishes the disc singing a song in French, "Mille Tendresses".
This CD picks up where Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer left off. Just really hot inspired music. I love it. This is a must check out.
www.tiftmerritt.com
Free Music Review: So, what does she have to do to get noticed?
Hit: 5 Stars
I came in relatively early, right after Bramble Rose was released. She immediately went on my radar as an artist to be reckoned with. Seems the critics agreed, but the mainstream ignored her. Some play on GAC and CMT, but she never caught on. I really enjoyed the album, but at the time I was thinking, "Wait for the voice to mature, and show more range in style." Then, here comes Tambourine and I'm thinking, "Yah, I sure called that one." Again, the critics agreed; even the Grammys noticed. Even less play on the video channels and no one else noticed. Had tickets for her in Columbia, MO. But, that got cancelled when she got billed with Elvis Costello. Looked like Tambourine might have legs. I understood she had to do what she needed to do. Sorely disappointed though. I knew it would likely be my one chance to see her. We don't get much entertainment out here in Wheretheheckamiandwhyamihere, Iowa.
Then, nothing.
I'm no insider, and I sure don't know much about spiritual journeys to France. I just happened to be in the Target out here in Whatdididosowrongastowinduphere, Iowa and wandered over to the CD, DVD racks. Couldn't believe my eyes. A new Tift Merritt album. That's all I needed to know.
I was well rewarded for my trust in her. Her voice is rich and rings like a bell; the lyrics outstanding. In general, the sound harks back to earlier days yet, track after track stands solidly on its own. I meant to jump on Amazon and write the review right then. I don't write all that many reviews. Would have been near the first review, too. Just as well. Had a chance to play it a couple more times, which has led me to beleive that this is probably the best album of the year. And it's only March. I listen to a wide range of music, nearly constantly. Don't much like such grandstanding in the millions of Amazon reviews out there. But, I think I'm on solid ground here. Tift Merrit has the best album of 2008. Already. So, maybe this time she'll get noticed? Well, she already has been here in Getmeouttahere, Iowa.
Free Music Review: Another Country is Another Exqusite Album
Hit: 5 Stars
Apparently, I am a rareity here having loved Tift since her 1999 duets album with The Two Dollar Pistols. For those of you new to her, a (very) brief and mostly musical history. That album is a very classic country cover album with Tift's sweet soprano soaring gracefully next to John Howie's rough barritone. In 2002 she released her solo debut Bramble Rose, which went to a very 70's Gram Parson's and Emmylou Harris side of country and was produced by Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams). Two years later she teamed with George Drakoulias to record Tambourine which went off in a much more bluesy/R&B direction. In 2005 she released the live cd Home Is Loud and 2007 saw the issuing of her Austin City Limits appearence on DVD. She was dropped by her label Lost Highway and moved to Paris, not sure if she was going to stay in the business. Then she wrote all the songs for this album, came home and released them on Fantasy.
With all that out of the way, how does this album stack up? Sonically speaking, she returns to the same overall sound as Bramble Rose, but pushes past what she did on that album. The lyrics are much more personal than they have been on her earlier albums, but she retains her sense of incident based storytelling. In a way she is almost the anthesis of Neko Case. Where the red headed torch singer wraps her life in dark images that pull the everyday into the realm of fantasy, Tift grounds her images in incidents so everyday that often the lyric passes before you realize the full weaight of truth behind it. Her voice here is sweeter than it has been on previous albums, fuller and more mature, with a control of her higher registers that sometimes came off as a bit squeaky before. While Tift does play both the piano and guitar, her voice is a true instrument of rare value, as fine, delicate and strong as a well cut diamond, as as capable of refracting a multiplicity of colors.
Oh, and for those who were wonder, she is an absolute must see live. Her voice soars to the rafters and fills the room in a show that is half glorious music and half a brilliant revivial show for the human spirit. And that is the element that she brings to each of her songs, both vocally and lyrically, a simple and elegant knowledge of the messy beauty of her own very human spirit, and by extention, each of ours.
Free Music Review: Big Step Forward
Hit: 5 Stars
I'll start off this review by saying that I'm a longtime fan of Tift's music, ever since her 2002 debut "Bramble Rose." It was obvious from that album that she had an amazing gift in her voice--a beautiful, expressive, and natural instrument, reminiscent of great singers like Emmylou Harris, Dusty Springfield, and Lucinda Williams; and, while occasionally musically derivative, she showed great capability and even greater potential as a songwriter. Her next album, 2004's "Tambourine" found Tift broadening her horizons as a musician. In addition to the breezy country rock of her first album, she dabbled in 60's soul, Springsteen-esque electric rock, and even gospel music.
As much as I enjoyed her first two albums, there was always something slightly superficial and forced about them. I always got the feeling that Merritt was out more to impress critics than to really make the kind of music that reaches out and connects with people. Now, maybe that's a bit harsh, but one thing is certain--"Another Country" is anything but superficial and forced. Tift floats gently from genre to genre, usually ending up somewhere in the middle with a sound you can't quite put your finger on. Additionally, at a lean eleven, this is probably her strongest set of songs yet. Hidden behind such mundane titles as "Broken," "I Know What I'm Looking For Now," "Tell Me Something True," and "Keep You Happy" are songs that are beautiful and tender, natural and understated. Producer George Drakoulis gives the record a warm, lush sound, with a variety of instruments creating a tapestry of sound that frames but never overpowers Tift's gorgeous voice. Speaking of Tift's voice, it sounds better here than it ever has. Her voice sounds older, slightly worn, yet at the same time she has never sounded more confident in her abilities as a vocalist. One listen to the Joni Mitchell-esque "Keep You Happy" and you can hear how far Tift has come since "Bramble Rose."
"Another Country" finds Tift coming into her own as both a songwriter and a vocalist, graduating from "artist to watch" to "artist to actually listen to."
Free Music Review: Three For Three For Tift
Hit: 5 Stars
Without question, Tift Merritt is one of the finer female artists to have come down the pike in the last ten years. She made an Americana splash with her 2002 debut album BRAMBLE ROSE, then injected Southern soul into her 2004 album TAMBOURINE. And now comes ANOTHER COUNTRY, and another great album, making it three fine albums in a row for this North Carolina-based lady.
Getting great assistance from her former Carbines drummer Zeke Hutchins, Americana musician great Charlie Sexton, and her TAMBOURINE producer George Drakoulias, who also mans the controls here as well, Tift once again shows a great songwriting intelligence and spunk that makes her out as a truly authentic talent. There is the use of R&B-style horn sections on "Tell Me Something True"; and songs such as "Something To Me", "Tender Branch", and "Broken", like much of her debut album, see her meld the influences of legendary country-rock icons Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris into her own brew. She even indulges in a little French on "Mille Tendresses", inspired by her experiences in Paris.
Thus far, Tift has been largely a critics' and fans' favorite, though she did get a Grammy nod for TAMBOURINE. But with her songwriting gift and her talent so on display here, there is reason to believe that true stardom is within her reach now. There is also reason to believe that should that stardom come, Tift won't let it go to her head. She clearly loves what she does, and that kind of enthusiasm is very much in evidence on ANOTHER COUNTRY, definitely a winner.