All the Leaves Are Gone

Josephine Foster | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 5, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Locust
• ASIN: B0002QO4D6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,327 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Placing All the Leaves Are Gone in the CD player is a little like a time warp. Is the album a reissue of an obscure '60s group from San Francisco? Or is it, perhaps, a contemporary recording (2004) that evokes yesteryear? In the case of Josephine Foster & the Supposed, it's the latter. The easiest comparison would be to Jefferson Airplane, circa 1967, with out of kilter melodies in minor keys and the guitars barely in tune. Foster plays the part of Grace Slick here, but she sounds more like Maddy Prior on acid. Her hippie, drug-induced vocal delivery is supported by the Supposed, who are guitarist/bassist Brian Goodman and drummer Rusty Peterson. While instrumental parts seem to have been dubbed here and there on All the Leaves Are Gone, the arrangements are mostly spare, which works well for creating a spacious sound, even when things get kind of loud. How listeners react to the material will probably depend on how familiar they are with groups like Jefferson Airplane, early Grateful Dead, and even the Velvet Underground. The opening song, "Well-Heeled Man," certainly captures one's attention, and Foster's fragile vocal is evocative. While the effect here and elsewhere is often winning, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the experimental mood of the material. The music ranges from gentle to dissonant, from a hush to a crash, alternately pulling the listener in and pushing the listener away. The listener may be intrigued or overwhelmed by All the Leaves Are Gone, but he or she will never be bored. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr., Rovi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars off kilter, discordant, contemporary...and utterly original., January 24, 2005

By 

Brit Bunkley "Brit" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All the Leaves Are Gone (Audio CD)

This album is a wonderfully addition to the current underground weird folk movement. (This neo-psychedelic phenomenon includes the acoustic T. Rex stylisms of Devendra Banhart, the Incredible String Band meets Jean Ritchie approach of Joanna Newsom, and the post modern Beach Boys-on-far-too-many-acid-trips technique of the Animal Collective.) In this case, the folk is... mostly folk-rock.

The front cover of "All the Leaves Are Gone" is a reasonable pastiche of late 60's psychedelia; it could easily pass for a Fillmore West poster from 1969. However the style of the lead singer Josephine Foster's operatic voice not only seems to emerge from the West Coast late sixties; it is far more eclectic. At times the vocals and song arrangements resemble the 1979 folkish post punk of the Raincoats. Other times Foster's voice could pass for Joan Baez. References to the 1969 period Renaissance, It's a Beautiful Day and the "Unhalbricking" era Fairport Convention would also be accurate, but in all, the music is also off kilter, discordant, contemporary...and utterly original.

5.0 out of 5 stars I just bought this music., January 8, 2006

By 

William C. Golembeskidara - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All the Leaves Are Gone (Audio CD)

I am listening to this CD as I write this review. It's weird; it's beautiful; it has made me believe in music oncae again. I suppose Shirley Collins might be a reference point. But the music is much more adventurous. Buy this CD.