Billfort
06-25-2005, 01:02 PM
Artist: Cassandra Wilson
Title: New Moon Daughter
Year of Release: 1996
Record Label: Blue Note
Genre: Jazz/Blues
New Moon Daughter is one of my favorite albums. I just love Cassandra Wilson’s voice, it’s so sultry, deep, dark and seductive and so well showcased here with a great mix of her own songs and interesting covers. She totally transforms songs like U2’s Love Is Blindness, Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, The Monkey’s (!!) Last Train to Clarksville and especially Hank William’s I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. I especially like her killer renditions of Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit and Robert Johnson’s 32-20. This LP is worth it for these covers alone but her original material really elevates this to something special.
The sound of this recording is first rate with a great up-front mix of guitar flavors and a solid upright bass line throughout that really lets you taste the texture and ‘wood’ of the instrument. The vocals are all enveloping and really take you away in these songs but they are a little ‘hot’ and sibilant at times. This may just be something going on with my TT or my current tube mix, but I’d like to hear the CD release of this (just once! :) ) to see if it’s the pressing. I have the Quiex SV super vinyl release of this LP and it is…super vinyl.
I am such a fan of this album that I dug into the details of the recording studio – The Turtle Creek Barn in Bearsville NY.
http://www.bearsvillestudios.com/studio/media/img1b.jpg
Located near Woodstock, it’s supposed to be one of the few purely analog studios left and has something like a 30 year history of recordings like Natalie Merchant’s Tigerlily, Joe Jackson’s Blaze of Glory and others from the likes of The Band, REM and The Dave Matthews Band. The main recording room is a 35 x 35 foot space with the expansive ceiling of a post-and-beam barn. I have to figure this analog approach in such an interesting acoustic environment plays a big part in how beautifully this music comes across.
Title: New Moon Daughter
Year of Release: 1996
Record Label: Blue Note
Genre: Jazz/Blues
New Moon Daughter is one of my favorite albums. I just love Cassandra Wilson’s voice, it’s so sultry, deep, dark and seductive and so well showcased here with a great mix of her own songs and interesting covers. She totally transforms songs like U2’s Love Is Blindness, Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, The Monkey’s (!!) Last Train to Clarksville and especially Hank William’s I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. I especially like her killer renditions of Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit and Robert Johnson’s 32-20. This LP is worth it for these covers alone but her original material really elevates this to something special.
The sound of this recording is first rate with a great up-front mix of guitar flavors and a solid upright bass line throughout that really lets you taste the texture and ‘wood’ of the instrument. The vocals are all enveloping and really take you away in these songs but they are a little ‘hot’ and sibilant at times. This may just be something going on with my TT or my current tube mix, but I’d like to hear the CD release of this (just once! :) ) to see if it’s the pressing. I have the Quiex SV super vinyl release of this LP and it is…super vinyl.
I am such a fan of this album that I dug into the details of the recording studio – The Turtle Creek Barn in Bearsville NY.
http://www.bearsvillestudios.com/studio/media/img1b.jpg
Located near Woodstock, it’s supposed to be one of the few purely analog studios left and has something like a 30 year history of recordings like Natalie Merchant’s Tigerlily, Joe Jackson’s Blaze of Glory and others from the likes of The Band, REM and The Dave Matthews Band. The main recording room is a 35 x 35 foot space with the expansive ceiling of a post-and-beam barn. I have to figure this analog approach in such an interesting acoustic environment plays a big part in how beautifully this music comes across.