Blood from Stars : Joe Henry
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Most of us know Robin and what he does for a living, and we know he is a musician as well. It turns out that he is not alone in his endeavors for Robin has a friend named Joe Henry, who by all accounts has been living on both sides of the board for many years.
The album I am listening too has inspired me to write a review "In Progress" as I listen to it... yes, it is that damn good.
You too can listen to the whole kit and kabootal yourself over at Joe Henry's official website. His website is a bit messy, but the album is featured on top and is called "Blood from Stars". Just launch the online mp3 player and enjoy. If you have RealPlayer, please do the right thing, and do not download the tracks from his website (which RealPlayer lets you do without paying since they are not protected), instead do the right thing, and go buy it at Amazon.com, iTunes or from his website.
Ok, bare with me here... I am listening to tracks as I go along..
1. Prelude / Light no Lamp... : Very reminiscent of Windham Hill recordings, dark and romantic, but heart breaking.. all through a piano
2. The Man I keep hid : James Earl Jones leads in, then about 9 different sound effects tracks creep in (Immediately I am taken to DJ Shadow and his multi layers of effects to build mood) then bam, in comes a jazzy piano number that reminds me of Sting early solo efforts in its lyrics, but the blues is all his own.
3. Channel : Billy Joel in the way he uses two insturments playing off each other, the piano and his voice, the the music builds in power, but slides in force to reinforce his vocals in lieu of a duet of sorts.... the Raw guitar in the middle, acoustic.. U2 The Unforgetable Fire and Joshua Tree... still the mood never leaves. It is not starting or finishing anything, it is not telling a story, more of a sensation of sharing a brief glimpse into a world that very well could be yours...
You can tell this guy has been slaving over boards a very long time, taking in pieces of everyone and everything, looking at drunk artist making bad choices in where the slider should be.. knowing one day he would collect it all, and build something beautifull. To him it is as much an insturment as a guitar or piano.... I envy the unappreciated talent it takes to do what he does for a living.
4. This is my favorite cage : Spanish guitars, Harpsicord, sound effects... I don't mean to cheat him, but I keep thinking Sting.. or better yet, music I wish Sting had made in his last 4 efforts... this guy is amazing.
5. Death to the Storm : Chris Isaak haunts the first 20 seconds, then I am getting Tim Burton :)
Ok, Ive got it, Sting and DJ Shadow get drunk listening to Billy Joel while watching a Tim Burton movie and meet up with this Bayou Hooker with the blues.........
Out comes Joe Henry, born not in a hospital, but on a mixer board. And I mean that with all the best intentions. Oh and by the way, Wynton Marsalis delivered him.
Ok, I am going to end this post and turn the lights off to enjoy the rest of it.
Thank you RobinDanar
Ghost~
Locating MOG account...
Comments (11)
Helping to spread the word on a good thing always feels great, so thanks for the props, Ghost. I also LOVE your thoughts when it comes to people buying Joe's work. For those that still consider buying CD's, his albums don't just come with great music, but always with great artwork as well.
I was lucky to tour doing sound for Joe when his first album was coming out. It was just him and Chuck Leavell on piano, but that was enough and I became a fan early on--not just of his work as an artist but as a producer. "Blood From Stars" might actually be my favorite of his albums so far and that's saying a lot. Glad you dig it.
Definitely dig him. Nice piece. Compare fer instance Solomon Burke's Don't Give Up on Me that he produced with the follow up Burke did with Don Was,Make Do With What You Got.
The Joe Henry production is a unique approach that really makes you focus on the songs and the voice. It is not a straight up soul record, but it has a tons of soul. The Don Was record is a straight up soul record, similar to what Solomon might have done in his prime. It sounds great, but, at least for me, it didn't stand out.
Some folks might have a problem with that, saying that producers like Joe Henry, or Daniel Lanois, or Mitchell Froom, or Rick Rubin (the Cash and Diamond records) create a vibe that belongs to the producer, a vibe the artist steps into...not so for me.
Although I recognize the producers hand in the folks I mentioned and Joe Henry, it doesn't detract from the overall end product. Solomon Burke may sound different with Joe Henry than he does on any other record, just as Los Lobos sounded different with Mitchell Froom, and U2 with Lanois, and Cash with Rubin, but in all cases great records were made. That's the idea,right.
Great comment Cody. Even as a producer who's also friendly with Mitchell, I used to have problems with this saying things like "that sounds like a Mitchell Froom record". That changed awhile ago.
When i decided to make Altered States it was partly to acknowledge the producer as an artist and it was me. It was a relatively pop record, but it still allowed me to cover a bunch of eclectic bases the way i felt like it and actually get credit for the work. Most projects i produce involve a certain amount of reinvention and co-writing that I never feel is credited properly. The label wanted a "band name" for my project, but I said no because this time I needed my work to be appreciated. Mitchell, Daniel and Rick all get paid a lot more than I do for the indie projects I work on.
It was at that point that, rather than criticize a producer for a project sounding like them, i started acknowledging my peers as artists and thinking that if they produced a project i'm at least interested. it still doesn't mean i'll love the artist or songs, but the odds have increased. of course there are also producers whose style i don't like as much or it becomes a little repetitious and predictable, but for them i usually know something about what it's going to be like before i start listening.
Should "Don't Give Up on Me" be a Joe Henry record featuring vocals by Solomon Burke? i don't think so in this case, but i think that Joe's production style is the reason he was called for that gig and he deserves the respect for making a great record. I agree with your view on it.
Really interesting comments and a review of Joe Henry's latest. It is impeccably produced and recorded with really lovely work on the piano. The comments about a producer imparting style or sound to an established artist are provocative. Certainly, Rick Rubin did Johnny Cash an enormous favor and caught Nustrat Khan at his best. I don't know if Los Lobos or their offshoot the Latin Playboys would have been quite as experimental without Mitchell Froom, but I did listen to Mitchell's solo record and was not impressed. As much as I like the new one, somehow Joe's early effort Trampoline stays with me and gets frequent plays. TBone Burnett deserves a shout out for his work on the newest John Mellencamp and his performance with Allison Krause and Robert Plant.
Bruce Iglauer, the cat who started Aligator Records, did a great service to many Chicago blues people, by recording them,producing them, managing them and generally jump starting careers. Many props for that.
Still though, his production style..kind of a big,clear Rock sound became a problem for me. To such a point that if he produced it, it was a detriment for me. Even folks who worked at the label would be somewhat apoligetic about it, and would trumpet records on his label that he didn't produce.
I still love Aligator, and some artists, like Luther Allison, actually benefitted from his style. Anyway, he did have a signature, recognizable style, as many producers do. Sometimes it's a perfect fit, sometimes it isn't.
Oh yeah Robin..I totally recognize the producer as an artist. No question there.
And there goes the conversation, right over my head........... ZOOM!
I hear ya, Cody. I also won't mention names of producers whose "stamp" i don't always agree with!
Ghost--see what you started? kidding aside, this isn't really over your head. we're just basically saying that sometimes what you like or don't like is not just the band or the vocalist. try it this way:
Crayola #36 (Electric Lime) is your favorite crayon, but someone borrowed yours and drew this ugly picture with it. then you see this amazing drawing made with #56 (Macaroni & Cheese), which you NEVER use in your coloring books. you obviously dig the artist.
hope that's a little simpler. at least it was fun to type.
Not so much the intent, as much as the name dropping and personal experiences being traded back and forth. I started a conversation about how I like a painting, and how it reminded me a little of my favorite colors (#36 electric Lime and #56 (Macroni and Cheese), then Picasso, Renoir and Monet showed up and took it to the use of oil verses water on specific mediums and how it plays depending on the classical verses impressionism and the subject matter.....
I just try and grasp the low hanging fruit from the plethora of intellect going across my ears and learn a thing or two...
Then I go color with my crayons all the better for it :)
Its why I like MOG so much, it is not every day you get to partake in the caliber of conversations that happen here. This is practically like college for free some days...
You guys really do make MOG better
fun response G. i dig your crayons.
I 2nd that emotion, Ghost. I have been reading a few post where Robin and other music biz folks past and present have been telling their tales, and I love that they are. It really brings a great unique dimension to MOG.