Track Listing

1. The Courier
2. Memory Of You
3. Next Best Western
4. Willin
5. The Kenworth Of My Dreams
6. Arrowhead
7. Reunion Hill
8. Nora
9. A Summer Wind, A Cotton Dress
10. On A Sea Of Fleur De Lis
11. The Ballad Of Mary Magdalen
12. Are You Happy Now?
13. Transit
14. Fourth Of July, Asbury Park

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12955 in Music
• Released on: 2002-02-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Amazon.com
These live recordings find the seminarian-turned-new-folkie in his element: playing before an attentive, enthusiastic audience in his native New Jersey and New York, spinning mythic stories of fateful battlefields, haunted truckers, and visionary saints and lovers alike. Fronting an easygoing band of expert pickers, Richard Shindell turns in surprisingly solid covers of Little Feat and Bruce Springsteen tunes. Cry, Cry, Cry partner Lucy Kaplansky wraps Shindell's nasal, sinewy delivery in subtle harmonies, pushing the best of these songs, including "Next Best Western" and his finest, most poignant take on relationships, "Are You Happy Now," past previously recorded versions. As an introduction to Shindell's spiritual lyricism and as a live document for longtime fans, Courier is a cache of reflective, gently glowing gems. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews

One of the better live albums I have heard in recent years
A couple of years ago I went to go hear Dar Williams in concert on a college campus, where she appeared with Richard Shindell, who both "opened" the concert and performed with her as well. This was right before both artists had the good fortune of having Joan Baez cover some of their songs on her album; in fact, Shindell left the concert tour to go open for Baez in Europe, if I remember correctly. Since both artists have live albums available I picked them both up to recreate the fun of that night (which ended with me picking up copies of Shindell's first three albums).

The album title is taken from the opening song, "The Courier," which obviously serves as a metaphor for Shindell as a singer-songwriter. Initially I was somewhat disappointed that this concert recording does not contain any of the memorable introductions Shindell gave to his songs (especially "Are You Happy Now?" and his trucker twins, "Next Best Western" and "The Kenworth of My Dreams"). The liner notes are unusual for a live album in that they include all of the lyrics for these songs, which certainly makes sense give Shindell's talents as a lyricist. But I do wish that some of the stories behind the songs had made their way into the album as well.

This is one of the better live recordings I have heard in a while, after a whole bunch of disappointments in that regard (e.g., the Dar Williams album); I am talking just about the technical aspects of capturing the artist's sound (tip of the cap to Ben Wisch). What I found most interesting about this album is that Shindell makes many of these songs sound differently from how we first heard them on the albums, not through instrumentation, but through how he sings them. The best example of this is "Reunion Hill," which he sings with a new, elegant simplicity. Lucy Kaplansky's voice is used to create some nice new harmonies on a few songs and the album closes with a nice cover of Springsteen's "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)." Another way of thinking about this is that Shindell was in damn fine voice the night(s) he was recorded. This is not what I would call a great live album, just an incredibly solid one that should impress you whether this is your first or just your latest exposure to Richard Shindell.

Shindell's best work to date
I loved Richard Shindell in the "Cry Cry Cry" project with Lucy Kaplansky and Dar Williams, and the cover of his "Reunion Hill" as done by Joan Baez is as magnificent and stirring as anything you'll hear. But I've found his voice slightly nasal for my tastes, and the recordings (even his solo performances) a bit dry compared with his always stellar songwriting.

Until this.

I listen to this album when I want to feel life deeply. It's a live album without chatter between songs, which really works for me, his voice and songwriting meeting in blissful marriage. The Civil War ballad "Arrowhead" thoughtfully explores the "glamour" of war vs. its reality; the relationship song "Are You Happy Now?" is poignant AND fall-down funny; "The Ballad of Mary Magdalen" has special longing from the male voice as compared with the Cry Cry Cry version. Nice to hear Lucy backing him him up on some of the tracks. And special notice to the spiritual, surrealistic revenge fantasy "Transit," which always gives me chills (in an uplifting way).

Tasteful covers of "Willin'" and "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" round out this altogether spectacular offering.

Forget pop - Richard's the real deal
As a teenager, you'd think this sort of music would bore me to death, but it has the precise opposite effect. Shindell is one of my favourite singers, and this is a brilliant CD. My only criticisms are that his otherwise wonderful voice does verge on the nasal sometimes, and a couple of songs seem to lack the texture they possessed on previous albums, but this is a great CD, and it doesn't seem to matter at all that he's done nearly all the songs before - his singing still hits you like a physical blow (and I mean that as a compliment). The best on this album? The fabulous Arrowhead, the sarky and cutting Are You Happy Now? the brilliant folk rendition of Lowell George's Willin', and the vastly underrated On A Sea Of Fleur-de-Lis. Get it!