Time to Hit the "Streets"
rf...@home.com
Ooops! Typo! I meant "live" not "liver," but, either way, Ira the
Robot stank!
I did enjoy the "City Streets" tour much more than the "Colour of Your
Dreams" tour. Of course, "Thoroughbred" tour remains my favorite.
In article <8po43l$msb$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
king...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
>
> Hey Bob!
>
> The "liver" performance of Ira the Robot? Does that mean it stank?
>
> My review of "Streets" will come later, but I do want to say that I
> found her live performances in support of this album both thrilling
and
> frustrating.
>
> It was apparent that Carole had found a new passion in her music and
had
> put a lot of herself into the album, the tour, her band and the
> promotion. It's too bad that the record didn't sell, but I agree that
> it was too "un-Carole" for most long-time Carole fans and not edgy or
> fresh or interesting enough to attract new ones.
>
> But it did mark a dramatic change in her performing style. No longer
> the shy flower hiding behind her piano nor the herky jerky country gal
> bobbin' her head in the One to One video, I believe Carole emerged
here
> as a much more confident and sophisticated entertainer. She felt
really
> comfortable moving around the stage, looked great, and--although her
> moves seemed a bit calculated at times, Carole trying a bit too hard
to
> be hip--I thought this was one of her better tours (Ira the Robot
> aside).
>
> It didn't really live up to its' promise, though, did it?
>
> Laurence of SF
> Goodbye don't mean i'm gone so far away
>
> In article <8pmaoo$ls7$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
> rf...@home.com wrote:
> > After having seen Carole "rock out" with Paul Hipp after a late
night
> > performance of their Off Broadway show, "A Minor Incident" at NY's
> > WestBeth Cafe in November 1987, I was delighted when I read the
> > following summer that Carole had signed with Capitol to record "City
> > Streets." I was hoping Carole would follow the harder edge,
> > Springsteen-like music that Hipp (with CK on piano) had performed
that
> > evening (I think it was his composition called "Midnight for You.")
> >
> > Sure enough, "City Streets" contained songs (lyrics and melodies)
that
> > were cut from the same cloth of Springsteen's songs of loss love and
> > innocence (especially "Down to the Darkness"). This was fine by me,
> > since Springsteen is one of my all-time faves. Still, I guess, the
> > reason that this album hasn't lasted as well as some of Carole's
other
> > albums, is that perhaps, she was working too hard at following
other's
> > styles and not creating her own.
> >
> > Listenable as it is, the album wasn't true to the pop spirit and
genius
> > of Carole King. Too generic.
> >
> > To this day, when I listen to "Thoroughbred," there is NO mistaking
> > that this is a CAROLE KING album. Ditto "Rhymes & Reasons"
and "Music."
> >
> > My favorites: "Homeless Heart," "Someone Who Believes in You," Title
> > Song.
> >
> > Approaching "Disco Tech-ness": "LoveLight" (especially the liver
> > performance with Ira the Robot.
> >
> > In article <8plj4d$ncs$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
> > rf...@home.com wrote:
> > > Hey Gang-- Now that we've exhausted "Speeding Time," how 'bout we
post
> > > our evaluations of Carole's 1989 "City Streets" release?
> > >
> > > Who wants to be first?
> > >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > > Before you buy.
> > >
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> > Before you buy.
> >
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
slapp...@my-deja.com
on and enjoy every song. In fact, it almost isn't Carole to me. So
many of the songs were these "Let's see how many words and descriptions
we can throw into a phrase and put some music around" type songs. They
weren't the typical meaningful melodic songs of (as Bob
said) "Music", "Rhymes and Reasons" or "Thoroughbread.". Those albums
I still just play over and over and relate all these memories of life
to. They are so "real life" or something...I don't know...can't put my
finger on it.
Also, she kept doing this little flippy thing with her voice that was a
bit "too mod" or "too hip" or too something...just not vintage Carole.
It kind of grated on me because I kept thinking, "You're beyond having
to mimic these vocal tosses that others find so captivating now.
You're Carole King, for heaven's sake!"
Anyway, I did like "City Streets." It had a melody I would go away
humming. And I liked the message...I pretty much hate the city, so I
felt the cold ice and the heat of hell, and never could find
the "magic" in it that so many find so captivating...whether in or out
of love. Please don't hate me because I don't like the city. I just
don't care for the busy, hustle bustle of life there. I love my small
town, out in the country house, living in the woods lifestyle, only
make it to town when I have to kind of life.
I loved "Ain't That The Way." Good melody...good message. It was one
of those "This is life and there ain't much we can do about it but it's
all pretty good anyway" Carole songs. Sort of reminiscent of "Bitter
With The Sweet" "That's How Things Go Down" "The Best is Yet to
Come" "Sweet Seasons" (etc) ...I love those songs. Somehow, they all
rise way above the "happily ever after" stuff that we can only enjoy
during manic times.
"Homeless Heart"...good song. I liked it. Very visual, yet not vague
at all. I'm not wondering "what the heck is this one about?".
I absolutely loved "Someone Who Believes In You." It was like this
great idea of giving instead of receiving. It could be applied to
anybody and any relationship. As a wife and a mom, my whole life at
this point in time (stopped teaching school after birth of baby#1), it
encourages me to encourage others...especially those I love and live
for. It also makes me thankful for those who have been that for me all
through the years. I'm not very emotional, but this song moves me
every time I hear it. Occassionally I'll find myself sitting down at
the piano and playing it out and singing along...almost in tears.
Yuck! Too sappy, huh? Sorry. Man, but what a melody and chord
progression...not just the I IV and V that she was doling out in most
of the other songs...very nice. Ok, not her best, but rather good,
especially for this album...maybe a little magic fingers again with Mr.
Goffin?
Overall, I didn't care for the album. I am a classic Carole
lover...and I mean that in the truest sense. But most of her later
stuff I listen to out of respect for her...and following her all these
years.
Been to Canaan Way Over Yonder,
slappydaph
PS - Is it just me, or does the intro to "Midnight Flyer" sound like we
are fixing to hear "Sweet Seasons" again?
CKHeadMary
sure 'nuff had been a good long time since CK had thrown us a disc of
vinyl.
Loved the tour, stomached the album. It bored me then and it bores me
now. The one song that comes to mind from this record without me
having to get up and go look for it, is Midnight Flyer. Oh! That is a
great Carole song, just great! I love Branford Marsalis and what he
does here. I also quite adore the melody. That one clearly, then,
would be my favorite.
Least favorite? The sappy one that ends this effort. Someone Who
Believes in You? In Me? Whichever. It's CK writes Hallmark. Engh!
I'm just not into those sappyCaroletunes, I'm just not.
Between all ya'll and me? I am not really much of a fan of You've Got
A Friend . . . Shreik, right? Sorry, but if I never hear it again, it
will be fine with me. I like Carole love songs, 'deed I do. Love
those edgy Carole love songs especially; ones like Uncommon Love, I
Don't Want to Be the One, So Far Away, Wishful Thinking. I like em cuz
they nod to the complications of love. Someone Who Whatevers Me or
You, that's a real nice senitiment, I can not deny it. Gosh knows,
every boy and girl needs to be believed in, by golly, and I'm all for
telling them. Unfortunately, when we tell em such things in songs, it
most always sounds like: I beleive the children are our future, and
what ya get there, ya see, is a classic case of begging the question.
So, give me that edgy Carole, give me that girl who scraps on the
street and rises up above it on a dirty sticky over-tarred roof each
night.
City Streets ended a bad run in a bad decade. Shew! Glad that's over!
Mary
Screaming and Yelling the Awful Truth