Track Listing

1. Moon
2. Morpheus
3. Pygmalion
4. Hunger
5. Icarus
6. Orpheus/Sonnet
7. Persephone
8. Narcissus
9. Whiteworld/Oedipus
10. Phaeton
11. Hours

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88734 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
Considerable time, thought and Guggenheim grant money went into the making of Patricia Barber's Mythologies, an ambitious modern take on Ovid's Metamorphoses. As she is wont to do, the Chicagoan continually reminds us of her aspirations to art with her joyless, half-whispered vocals and show-offy intellectualism. The song sequence, which seems destined for a staged reading, never escapes its literary trappings. But in reflecting on the age-old dance of dreams and destiny, the poetry is mostly good, and sometimes better than that ("unrequited love/is what i know of love/spellbound/I will stay"). And though Barber mostly keeps her considerable skills as a pianist under wraps after getting in some seductive and darkly rumbling licks early on, the varied musical settings prop the songs up. Mythologies ranges from jazz balladry to Hendrixian reveries (via guitarist Neal Alger), lifts openly from Joni Mitchell's Hejira, and tells another tale with hip-hop and a children's choir. This isn't an album for the Diana Krall set, and even some of Barber's early followers may take a pass, but for listeners on her wavelength, it will cast a spell. --Lloyd Sachs

Customer Reviews

A Slight Lean Towards Brilliance
Although I'm the first to review this c.d. on Ammy, and although it's been on the market only for a short while, it has already received radically mixed reviews in the trade mags. I've seen everything from "Brilliant: The Most Original Jazz Album (especially from a jazz singer) in Years" to "A Bunch of Self-Indulgent Garbage."

After a few listens, I'm leaning slightly towards the position of Brilliant.

Frankly, I bristle at the label of "self-indulgent garbage." Obviously, Ms. Barber has put far too much thought and study into this project for it to be dismissed so cruelly. But besides that, there are some thought-provoking ideas in these lyrics. I confess I haven't studied Joseph Campbell and the like carefully, so I can't vouch for her originality. But parallels between Narcissus and Eve (as in "Adam and Eve"), and Oedipus and Jesus Christ, or Pygmalion and a lothario (possibly a pedophile?), are thought-provoking.

But I'm an amateur music critic, not an amateur literature critic. And what I have to say about the music is this: It's brilliant.

"Morpheus" and "Pygmalion" are gorgeous ballads. The voicings and musical colorations in "Hunger", "Persephone" and "The Moon" are stunning. And as much as I liked "Whiteworld" on Ms. Barber's "A Fortnight in France", it like it even more as an intro to the world of Oedipus.

This is difficult music. I don't recommend putting this in your c.d. changer while doing the dishes. But a few trips through Ms. Barber's mythological world are worth the effort. Recommended. RC

Spellbound
With a music library of over 1400 CDs, I listen to a lot of musical variety, but I have to have my daily fix of Mythologies, and have now for a whole year. Maybe I'm "in it too deep" to give a reasonable review, but I think Patricia Barber`s compositions about several Greek mythical figures are extraordinary beyond words because they strike at so many levels. It is very listenable as background music, although the first piece, The Moon, as a bookend, has a somewhat unapproachable (to some) intro. But then the rhythm kicks in and everyone takes off. On a musical level, the songs fascinate me at every listen, with her melodies, voice, unusual timings and long time-close knit innovative quartet creating exciting phrases, verses, solos and refrains, giving us little breaks long enough to catch our breath. Her totally current interpretation of the stories is intelligently descriptive and poetic, at times conversational, and expresses the essence of their timeless relationship to us all. How many of us need Morpheus, the god of dreams, to help us sleep? And Pygmalion, who creates a love that cannot love in return, is certainly universal. Then there's Hunger, too often insatiable. Icarus is driven to soar and fly above the masses, while Orpheus wallows in the despair of loss. Provocative Persephone mesmerizes and evokes the need to reveal both our admirable and our dark sides. Narcissus - we must love our own self to enable the deepest connection to another. The dual destruction of native cultures and our Earth is contrasted in Whiteworld and Phaeton, while musically integrating some rap and a large vocal chorus. The Hours is the other bookend and the time of our lives. I've given many copies of Mythologies to loved ones, desiring to share this incredible gift that I enjoy every day.

Intriguing.
Patricia Barber, one of the most accomplished female jazz singer-pianists on the planet, has made yet another album of subtle, original songs. This time it's a suite based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, composed with the support of a Guggenheim fellowship (Barber is the only songwriter ever to get a Guggenheim).
So in some respects Mythologies is closer to a contemporary classical project, detached and carefully scored, with clever, uncliched meshing of lyrics and melodies. It doesn't completely hang together, but Barber's vocal artistry is superb, expressing intelligent, elliptical words in a voice as seductive as ever: listen to Morpheus, Icarus (for Nina Simone) or Narcissus, which she suggests could become a "gay wedding song". Using her close-knit band - fearless guitarist Neal Alger, bassist Michael Arnapol and drummer Eric Montzka - she generates a wide range of timbres and feels.