I miss Chris (Eckman) and Carla (Torgerson). They used to play in Athens often, as a duet or with their band The Walkabouts and I was always in the audience. Apart from that, they seemed to be such simple and likeable people that they become instantly familiar and it kinda felt like watching your hometown band, even though they lived (literally) half a world away, in Seattle. Ridiculously enough, I ran into them (especially Chris) all the time: Every time they were in town -even a few days after the concert- here they were: shopping at the same record stores, drinking at the same bars, sitting at the same cafes... I read recently that Chris has lived in Portugal and is now in Slovenia, while he's still visiting Athens quite often. I've also been moving around a lot: Groningen, Rotterdam, Delft, Brussels. That's the modern world for you - are we not all descended from nomads anyway? Chris & Carla were an acoustic offshoot of The Walkabouts (more about them on later posts) with roots in American folk ballads but encompassing many other influences. The album focuses on their voices and acoustic guitars, but the cello is also prominent and high profile guests abound, including REM's Peter Buck and Scott MacCaughey, various Walkabouts members and one of my favorite British bands: The Tindersticks. Both songs featuring the latter are among the highlights, but especially "Take Me" is one of the best ballads of the 90's, a love song full of longing: "Take me to Siberia / The coldest weather of any wintertime / And it would be just like spring in California / As long as I knew you were mine". The pairing of Carla's and Tindersticks' Stuart voices, accompanied by Dickon's violin...Just unbeatable. It was originally a duet by two country legends, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, but for once the cover just wipes the floor with the original. The other Tindersticks collaboration is the slow and atmospheric "Velvet Fog". The excellent opening songs "Storm Crazy" and "Death at Low Water" are more upbeat Steve Wynn-like folk-rock, while "Nights Between Stations" is straightforward country, with the obligatory steel guitar. Duets like "The Silent Crossing" and "Never Gonna Fall" invite Nancy & Lee comparisons and "Sleep Will Pass Us By" sports a Chris vocal and lonesome cello. And such a sad refrain: "This town died, but they forgot the funeral". Chris's "Comfort Of A Stranger" reminds me of Nick Cave and I think the reason is that the organ sound is identical to that of The Bad Seeds. Carla's "The Tower" and Chris's "Life Full of Holes" are two more highlights, but there are no weak moments on the record - OK, maybe "Sandy River Moon", a more experimental song with spoken word. I must have played the CD a dozen times the past two days and haven't gotten tired of it, at all. I can't recommend it highly enough!
*****for Take Me
****for Storm Crazy, Death at Low Water, The Tower, Sleep Will Pass Us By, The Silent Crossing, Comfort of a Stranger, Life Full of Holes, Velvet Fog
***for Precursor, Nights Between Stations, Never Gonna Fall
** for Sandy River Moon, The Cool and the Dark
Of course I will post a comment, how could I not. This is the lyric, this is the sound, this is greatness. This is it.
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