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Wildflowers by Judy Collins (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Wildflowers
  • Artist name: Judy Collins
  • Year: 1967
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Elektra Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “Annie” written on the label, indicating that my mother’s sister owned it (like Sweet Baby James)
  • Buy it on Amazon: $13.40

Wildflowers by Judy Collins

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t think I’ve ever heard this record before, but it’s the third by Judy Collins that I’ll have reviewed. The previous two were:

And she was also on:

What I expected

Folk rock.

What it was actually like

Almost all of these songs were extremely similar to one another, and all were obviously selected or composed to showcase Collins’ voice, which I again thought was wonderful, but after a few tracks of “Here’s my great voice! And did I mention that I have a great voice?” my mind does start to wander.

Michael from Mountains, a Joni Mitchell song that I thought was all right, stood out for its prominent use of the flute, and Sisters of Mercy, a Leonard Cohen song, sounded like it had a tuba, or perhaps a trombone. A Ballata of Francesco Landini – Lasso! di donna had a very Renaissance[1] sound to it, with what I thought was a harpsichord.

That harpsichord made its return on Both Sides Now, another Joni Mitchell song that I mentioned having recognized on Colors of the Day, and which I thought was the best song on this record. It had much more instrumentation than most of the record’s other songs, increasing as the song progressed. I did not think that it worked very well for Albatross, however.

Priests, another Leonard Cohen song, and La Chanson des vieux amants (The Song of Old Lovers), originally by Jacques Brel, were the most boring songs.

When Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye came on, my brain told me that it was Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, but then when it continued, it was not Suzanne. And then I checked what I wrote when reviewing Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967). This is what I wrote:

All of the songs sounded more or less the same, and it was sometimes hard to know when one ended and the next began – for example, Suzanne and Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye are clearly the same song, and I’m not sure why he felt the need to include one on each side of the record, but they were both good enough, so it didn’t bother me.

Collins’ version was good.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 Actually composed in the XIV century, so late medieval.

True Stories and Other Dreams by Judy Collins (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: True Stories and Other Dreams
  • Artist name: Judy Collins
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Elektra Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my mother
  • Buy it on Amazon: $9.99

True Stories and Other Dreams by Judy Collins

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I listened to Colors of the Day (1972) by Judy Collins half a year ago, and thought it was ok.

What I expected

Folk rock.

What it was actually like

Judy Collins had a very nice voice.

The majority of this record was extremely boring, with most songs distinguishable only by some changes in instrumentation. For example, So Begins the Task and The Dealer (Down and Losin’) both used country guitar, Secret Gardens and Cook With Honey both used flute (in the case of the latter, far too much), Holly Ann and Song for Martin both used piano, and Fisherman Song used banjo and violin.

The Hostage was totally different from all the others, much faster and with more rhythm, bongo drums, some electric guitar, and a darker tone.

Ché was a hero’s tribute to a bigoted, sadistic and psychopathic mass murderer, who was also an incompetent fool, a coward in battle, and a meddler in the affairs of countries where he did not live and of peoples who did not want his “help.” To be entirely clear, nothing about the song Ché qualifies it as a “true story,” so my assumption is that Collins meant this song to be one of the “other dreams.” Either way, it’s a disgrace for her to have written it or to have sung it, and for Elektra to have distributed the recording of it.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

The Bitter End Years by Various Artists (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Bitter End Years
  • Group name: Various Artists
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: three
  • Label: Roxbury Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $9.99

The Bitter End Years

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m familiar with the Bitter End and have even been there, but didn’t know that this compilation existed.

What I expected

It looks like The Bitter End Years, a three LP set, is divided into three sub-compilations, one on each LP: “early years” of folk music, such as Judy Collins, the Everly Brothers, Phil Ochs and Pete Seeger; “comedy years” including Woody Allen, George Carlin and Joan Rivers; and “rock years” including John Denver, Arlo Guthrie, Curtis Mayfield, Melanie, Bette Midler, Van Morrison and James Taylor. So folk, standup comedy and late 1960s / early 1970s pop music.

What it was actually like

Early years

I really liked the Limelighters’ version of If I Had A Hammer. Tom Rush’s Who Do You Love was also pretty good, though definitely more electric and more of a rock song than folk. Hearing Dodi Li was pretty surprising and it was faithful to the original[1], though with the addition of some Spanish-style guitar.

I think the worst song from the “early years” has to have been Pete Seeger’s version of Where Have All The Flowers Gone, which has always been one of my least favorites.

Comedy years

There was nothing particularly funny about any of this “comedy.” Low points included the joke that Richard Nixon’s face looked like a foot, as well as the extended Godfather parody that would be right at home on “Saturday Night Live” of the early 2000s. I guess the William F. Buckley, Jr. impression was the funniest part.

Rock years

This collection of songs was so weird. There were twelve songs on this LP and, with one glaring exception, I was unfamiliar with all of them. Why would they have chosen second-rate and somewhat unknown songs for this compilation? Some kind of licensing issue?

The exception, of course, was Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl, a childhood favorite of mine and the best song on the record by far.

Curtis Mayfield’s Gypsy Woman and the Isley Brothers’ Pop That Thang were the worst and didn’t qualify as rock at all… though I guess it only says “rock years” and doesn’t explicitly say anywhere that there wouldn’t have been funk songs from the rock years. But yeah, that was strange.

Another thing that was odd, and this is true of both the “early years” and the “rock years” LPs, is that none of the songs were live recordings, let alone live recordings from the Bitter End. Instead, they were all studio versions. I kind of assumed that, this being a celebration of a specific club, the songs on it would have had something specific to do with that club.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

References

References
↑1 Well, maybe not to the original original, but to the XX century original.

Colors of the Day by Judy Collins (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Colors of the Day
  • Artist name: Judy Collins
  • Year: 1972
  • Number of discs: one discs / two sides
  • Collection: Selman

Colors of the Day by Judy Collins

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not really familiar with Judy Collins’ music and I might only have heard of her as Stephen Stills’ ex and the subject of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.

I recognize a few songs on this record that are covers of other artists’ work: Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, the Beatles’ In My Life, and Amazing Grace.

What I expected

Singer-songwriter folk rock.

What it was actually like

Besides the above, I also recognized Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. I thought that Collins’ version of Suzanne was nice enough, but was really lacking in that essential Leonard Cohen quality.

On the other hand, while I appreciated her interpretation of In My Life, I thought it was not good, and not suitable for a greatest hits record.

Grade

3/5

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