Antone's Nightclub
My Taste Is Right; Yours Is Wrong
RECEIVED Wed., Oct. 8, 2003
Not to berate you, but boy did you miss on Zevon's The Wind ["Phases & Stages," Oct. 3], one of the better representations of the human condition in music in a long time.
With it we can understand what Faulkner meant when he said in 1950 that yes, we all die, but we will not only endure but prevail because of the heart of a poet who writes about compassion and pity and anguish and other worthy matters of the heart as opposed to matters of the glands (so prevalent in crap out there people pass off as music).
Now, the "I hear dead people" comment was in poor taste, but we'll let that go and not detract from the record.
You do spot good things: the cry of "open up for me" on "Heaven's Door," Springsteen's energy, and the beautiful lyrics of "Keep Me in Your Heart." Nicely done.
Also, you are right to approach with skepticism; he was dying, creating the temptation to give him a pass, but he doesn't need it – Warren was "on" for this final opus, yet your review fumbles.
Try again:
Listen to the first song, "Dirty Life and Times," facing the painful dilemma of reconciling a life's mistakes with those he loves (calling his "a four letter world").
Listen to "Prison Grove" as an honest facing of the inevitable – we all die.
Listen how Springsteen, Petty, Yoakam, Emmylou, Ry Cooder, and others bring their A-game, yet don't upstage Warren – it is Warren's voice we hear distinctively.
Now consider "Keep Me in Your Heart." In sum, it is beautiful.
Feel better? I do. There is no shame in admitting you were wrong.
This is a great and wonderfully human album. Those are rare.
With it we can understand what Faulkner meant when he said in 1950 that yes, we all die, but we will not only endure but prevail because of the heart of a poet who writes about compassion and pity and anguish and other worthy matters of the heart as opposed to matters of the glands (so prevalent in crap out there people pass off as music).
Now, the "I hear dead people" comment was in poor taste, but we'll let that go and not detract from the record.
You do spot good things: the cry of "open up for me" on "Heaven's Door," Springsteen's energy, and the beautiful lyrics of "Keep Me in Your Heart." Nicely done.
Also, you are right to approach with skepticism; he was dying, creating the temptation to give him a pass, but he doesn't need it – Warren was "on" for this final opus, yet your review fumbles.
Try again:
Listen to the first song, "Dirty Life and Times," facing the painful dilemma of reconciling a life's mistakes with those he loves (calling his "a four letter world").
Listen to "Prison Grove" as an honest facing of the inevitable – we all die.
Listen how Springsteen, Petty, Yoakam, Emmylou, Ry Cooder, and others bring their A-game, yet don't upstage Warren – it is Warren's voice we hear distinctively.
Now consider "Keep Me in Your Heart." In sum, it is beautiful.
Feel better? I do. There is no shame in admitting you were wrong.
This is a great and wonderfully human album. Those are rare.
Hodgson Eckel