Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 84
 It's A New Emmylou Harris Album ! Any Questions? August 15, 2008
Veritas
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I loved this CD.
As if there was any chance that I would not.
The reason that I gave it 4 stars
is because I am comparing it to her
other collections of songs released
over the decades, on the EH scale
if you will. Very few, if any, other
folk musicians can even qualify to
be rated on the EH scale.
I wasn't expecting a sort of return
to somewhat traditional Americanish
folk music,
but I'm not disappointed because
she is particularly good at that
whatever-you-call-it type music.
What am I saying ?!!! She's the best.
The truth is, after all this time,
one might as well call it
Emmylou Harris music. She owns it.
You will hear and like a number of songs
written by herself
and other great song writers.
And, as usual, she is accompanied
by the best of the best of musicians.
The cardboard packaging is pretty lame.
It's a new Emmylou Harris album!!!
Get it and listen to it alot!!!
 I love the voice of Emmy Lou Harris June 10, 2008
Robert G Yokoyama (Mililani, Hawaii)
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is an excellent new album by EmmyLou Harris. My favorite track is "Kern River". This is a beautiful but sad song about the loss of a close friend in Kern River which is located in Bakersfield California. I also like the duet "Gold" with Dolly Parton. Those two voices sound so good together. "Old Five and Dimers Like Me" is another good duet. It features veteran country singer John Starling. This song is about standing by a loved one. The banjo playing by Kate McGarrigle is lovely here. "Hold On" is about the ups and downs in the course of a person's life. Vince Gill lends his talents singing back up vocals on this track. Emmylou's voice sounds so serene on the "Shores of White Sand". This is another one of my favorite tracks on this disc. "Sailing Around The Room" is a pretty song about the cycle of life and death. The acoustic guitar playing sounds so good on this track.
 Middle of the Road August 25, 2008
R. M. Ettinger (Cleveland Heights, OH USA)
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
At least I can say it's not a bad album, but I'm not going so far to say it is a great disk either. It's no 'Wrecking Ball' or 'Red Dirt Girl'. Heck, it's not even a 'Cowgirl's Prayer'.
It seems when it was released a few months back, every reviewer heaped nothing but praise on it. That's hard to live up to. And in my opinion, it doesn't.
As expected, there is nothing wrong with Harris' voice - it is still crystalline and unique as always. And though it was recorded over a three year stretch with her ex-husband as producer, it still has decent flow and consistency. A little too much consistency, where to a point there seems to be little deviation in the song style.
Maybe it's the material. But whatever it is, it is just not firing on all cylinders for me.
That's not to say it is bad - as I said earlier. It's fine, but it doesn't have too many stand-outs and that is usually what I love about Emmylou - she has plenty of them. But compared to anything else out there, it's a very good disk, but compared to some of her other works, it is just very middle of the road.
As usual, I just purchased her without listening to it, as you usually get a quality disk. Technically it is - I was just expecting so much more.
hunger only for a world of truth August 27, 2008
Oz Wizard (Palo Alto, CA, USA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Once again I feel compelled to comment on Emmylou's music. When I first saw this disk I read various reviews here whining that this album is a "downer" and the like. I smiled to myself and bought it without a second thought. I would have bought it no matter what the reviews said. Yes, Emmylou sings about pain, but she also sings about redemption and perseverance, the dawn that follows the darkness. Anyway, what price do you put on music that brings tears to your eyes?
But I am writing just to comment on one track from this disk. "All That You Have Is Your Soul", a song that did not grab me when I heard the author's version two decades ago, is rescued here and made Emmylou's own. The song includes the lines: "hunger only for a taste of justice, hunger only for a world of truth." The depth of longing in the "hunger only", the slight hush of reverence in "justice" and "truth". Those lines, at this time, in that voice... Whatever I might think of the tracks on this album, and my opinion varies, those few seconds are worth the price of the album to me, and I would not be without it.
Lovely, but a bit uninspired June 22, 2008
Doug (Pennsylvania)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
I don't like country music, but I've been a big fan of Emmylou's albums since "Wrecking Ball". This is my least favorite release since that album, and it's only partially because she's returned a bit to her country roots. I also think that it's easily her least interesting album of the past decade. Her voice is lovely as ever, and most of the songs are nice (though I do dislike a couple of them), but it's all a bit traditional and uninspired. I don't expect another "Wrecking Ball", but I do miss the edgier, more adventurous Emmylou who covered Jimi Hendrix and made great unexpected songs like "Little Bird" and "Jupiter Rising". A couple songs are exceptional ("Not Enough" is one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking Emmylou songs I've heard); most are pleasant but just average. It's perfectly good background music, but certainly not one of her great albums that demand your attention while you listen. But if you prefer traditional country/folk music to modern music, you may love this release more than I do.
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