"…Let The River Rock You Like A Cradle..."
Although more famed as a superb interpreter of other people's great songs (Dylan and The Beatles in particular), Richie Havens was possessed (and still is) of one the most beautiful and expressive voices of the late Sixties. He also had a sincerity about the words he sang that moved audiences in their millions.
This superb
USA-Only June 2004 2CD compilation "High Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years" by RICHIE HAVEN on Hip-O Select B-000256902 (Barcode
602498624074) offers us 3 full albums (one a double) and a single from his stay
at the Verve/Forecast label between 1967 and 1969. A tasty 39 Tracks of class
and cool. Here's the breakdown...
Disc 1 (79:54 minutes):
1. High Flyin' Bird
2. I Can't Make It Anymore
3. Morning, Morning
4. Adam
5. Follow
6. Three Day Eternity
7. Sandy
8. Handsome Johnny
9. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. Just Lke A Woman
11. Eleanor Rigby
Tracks 1 to 11 are the entire album
"Mixed Bag" released in February 1967 on Verve Forecast 3006 in the
USA and in March 1968 on Verve SVLP 6008 in the UK (stereo version used)
Track 12 is "I've Gotta
Go", the non-album A-side of a 7" single-only release issued in June
1967 in the USA on Verve 5039
13. No Opportunity Necessary, No
Experience Needed
14. Inside Of Him
15. The Klan
16. Sugarplums
17. Don't Listen To Me
18. From The Prison
19. Maggie's Farm
20. Something Else Again
21. New City
Tracks 13 to 21 are all but the last
song on the album "Something Else Again" released in February 1968 in
the USA on Verve Forecast 3034 and on Verve SVLP 6005 in the UK (stereo version
used)
Disc 2 (77:47 minutes):
Track 1 "Run Shaker Life"
is the last track on the album "Something Else Again"
2. Stop Pulling And Pushing Me
3. For Heaven's Sake
4. Strawberry Fields Forever
5. What More Can I Say John?
6. I Pity The Poor Immigrant
7. Lady Madonna
8. Priests
9. Indian Rope Man
10. Cautiously
11. Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head
12. She's Leaving Home
13. Putting Out The Vibration, And
Hoping It Comes Home
14. The Parable Of Ramon - Live
15. With A Little Help From My
Friends - Live
16. Wear Your Love Like Heaven -
Live
17. Run Shaker Life - Live
18. Do You Feel Good? - Live
Tracks 2 to 18 are the entire 2LP
set "Richard P. Havens, 1983" released January 1969 on Verve Forecast
3034 [2] in the USA and released May 1969 on Verve SVLP 6014/5 in the UK
(stereo version used)
(Tracks 14 to 18 are Side 4 of the
double and were recorded live 12 July 1968 at the Santa Monica Civic Centre in
Santa Monica, California)
The original master tapes have been
96k/24 bit remastered by SUHA GUR at Universal Mastering and the sound quality is
exceptional - beautifully realized - warm and clean - really great stuff. The
gatefold digipak is numbered in gold on the rear - a limited edition of 3000 -
it houses a 24-page booklet with an essay by SCOTT SCHNIDER, pictures live
photos, album sleeves and ends in a footnote from Havens himself. The booklet
is nice, the gatefold digipak is ok - hardly worth writing home about - but
what matters for me is the sound quality - and it's an absolute dream. The
sweetness of the bass and acoustic guitars of the Gerald Merrick cover
"Follow" is just one of many examples (lyrics are the title of this
review) - warm and lovely - and for me justifies the now costly price of
acquiring this set. The Instrumental "Something Else Again" is trippy
Sitar heaven as is "Putting Out The Vibration, And Hoping It Comes
Home". Even when "The Parable Of Ramon" begins - it's so quiet -
you'd swear it was a studio with Tim Buckley goofing off on an acoustic riff.
He sings his "favourite song in the Universe" - The Beatles
"With A Little Help From My Friends" by simply miming the lyrics -
and the intimacy of the gig takes off - the crowd enjoying the song and knowing
the words. His version of Julie Driscoll's "Indian Rope Man" is cool
while his Donovan's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" is intimate and made
new somehow by making it acoustic.
Havens put out an album in 2002
called "Wishing Well" - the opening two tracks "Handouts In The
Rain" and "The Well" are stupendous - and almost exactly the
same style as he used on these Verve recordings - a sort of soulful strumming.
This lovely set of songs - starting in 1967 - is where that most mellow and
moving of sounds began.
Another genuine gem of a release from Hip-O Select - highly recommended...
PS: collectors and lovers of Soul Music will know that Hip-O Select even when it was trading was something of a cult fave - now that the label is defunct - their issues (often of exclusive content like this one unavailable anywhere else, Rare Earth's catalogue is the the same) have become extortionate in cost. As of November 2019, Amazon UK doesn't even have 1 copy for sale. So try obvious auction sites like EBAY and DISCOGS...
No comments:
Post a Comment