Beautiful World

Eliza Gilkyson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 27, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Red House
• ASIN: B0016GLX26
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,600 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

New York Times

"lush and passionate...edgy lyrics with piercing imagery"

"cathartic to the point of jubilation, brimming with radio-polished tunes"

Product Description

Beautiful World is Eliza Gilksyon's first new studio release since her award-winning Paradise Hotel of 2005. An evocative blend of the upbeat and topical, the new album celebrates the beauty that shines amidst the dark days of war and corruption, and builds on the Grammy-nominated songwriter's rising importance as one of America's greatest roots artists.

Songs about the exuberant nature of love and life artfully combine with meditative tunes about the world's rich mysteries to create an evocative blend of Eliza's most poetic and accessible music to date. Beautiful World has an optimistic tone that is present even in the most political songs. "This may be my most joyful recording yet," says Eliza. "Maybe it is because dark times can illuminate all that is good and decent and worth living for."

The seeds for this CD sprang from a monthly gathering Eliza hosted in 2007 with University of Texas professor/activist Robert Jensen and Presbyterian minister Jim Rigby called "Last Sunday." Held at various venues around Austin, these community forums covered a broad range of topics, including politics, art, spirituality and the environment. "We wanted to provide a place to discuss, grieve and mull over our future without having a need for an immediate solution other than the comfort of each other's presence," Eliza says. "The first song I wrote was `Great Correction,' which I penned as a way to console myself as I grieve the devastation of the human and natural world." This anthemic song spurred a whole cycle of tunes about perseverance and hope for a more beautiful world.

Mixing Americana, rock, jazz and folk styles, Beautiful World has a decidedly different feel from her last few releases, and certainly can be called Eliza Gilkyson's most beautiful album to date.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I am just a troubador, a tried and true believer...Clever Disguise/Eliza Gilkyson", May 28, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beautiful World (Audio CD)

11 songs all fresh from Eliza's pen prove her mettle as a singer-songwriter extraordinaire. She's one of the great Texas troubadours, the daughter of Terry Gilkyson (who penned "The Bare Necessities" for "The Jungle Book") and an award winner in her own right.

This CD isn't as folky as most of her collections are. There are still many political reflections here, but the beat's a little more uptempo than we'd expect. "The Party's Over" talks about the environment being trash:

Left it for our children to cover the mess

The party's over, it was a great success

One of the folky numbers, "Wildewood Spring" covers the equalizer of the swimming hole with Texas hippies floating next to conservatives. Another is "Clever Disguise". There's got to be a self-disclosing song on every Eliza CD and this is the strongest one, talking subtly about show business.

Who'd have thunk the closer, "Unsustainable" would be a torch song? The mix of strong bass and steel guitar on this number is gorgeous, but the message isn't quite what it seems, which is the joy of Eliza.

Rebecca Kyle, May 2008

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And I wept, June 24, 2008

By 

Mountain Lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beautiful World (Audio CD)

Having listened to EG for years and years and also seen her live more than once, I found this album to be her most poignant and conscious to date. With intelligence and passion, she is writing songs here which combine to decry the state of the world, not simplistically but with complex and thoughtful lyrics, yet also to endorse some small hope. The lyrics coupled with the very somber and gorgeous accompaniments really brought me to tears at times. She also really gets the difficulties of women in the world today, yet does not press. I was intrigued also by her echoes of old fifties tunes and lyrics which she has revised ironically for our times with very different and much more sobering takes. I was moved to tears at times and have never written a review before, but I wanted to commend her work here.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very accessible and inspiring CD, May 31, 2008

By 

Timothy J. Bartik (Kalamazoo, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beautiful World (Audio CD)

This is a high-quality album in all respects: lyrics, melodies, arrangements, singing. Some highlights:

Some excellent political songs, such as "The Great Correction", "The Party's Over", and "Runaway Train". However, the political songs are written from the perspective of Gilkyson's emotional reaction to the state of the world rather than stating ideological solutions, which I think makes the politics accessible to a broad audience.

Some lovely tunes about life and love, including "Emerald Street", "Beautful World".

The feel of the album is more Americana and alt-country (with one jazz number, "Unsustainable") than straight folk music. There is a lot of welcome variation across songs in pace and energy levels. The backup musicians are wonderful. There is very much of a full band feel to most of the songs.

I think this CD would appeal to fans of Lucinda Williams and John Hiatt, to take two examples of musicians that this CD "feels like" to me.

Some of the lyrics remind me of lyrics by Minnesota folk musician Peter Mayer in their concern with religious/ethical and global issues.

The lyrics and musician credits can be found at Eliza Gilkyson's webpage if you search around a bit.