Customer Reviews

Beautiful World

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

I've always been a fan of Eliza Gilkyson, but she reached a new level of musicality with this one. The songs are more polished, more heatbreaking, and more sophisticated than we've heard from her before. The song "Beautiful World" is extraordinary.

Eliza Gilkyson is an underappreciated genius of American music, and this is her most wonderful collection of songs. The tunes, the lyrics, the feelings all combine to sweep you away into a wistful and, yes, beautiful world of love and loss and memory. If you love Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, or Iris DeMent, you owe it to yourself to discover and explore Eliza's full catalogue of albums.

Although I suspected that Eliza Gilkyson would be a consummate artist, I was blown away when I purchased her latest CD, "Beautiful World." Every song is brilliant, from the first infectious number "Emerald Street" worth the cost of the CD. I had prior been a fan of her earlier CD "Through the Looking Glass" (1993) which had several memorable songs for me, who had beforeto loved her father's (Terry Gilkyson) work on Disney's "The Moon-Spinners." I've noted her releases since and this investigation, "Beautiful World" was indeed of the highest calibre. She has indeed become a "superstar" -- have you heard?

Ok, I'm not a Gilkyson fan. Last night I saw her with Red Horse and it was a great folk show and I love that album. Since I already had a John Gorka album and a Lucy Kaplansky I thought I'd pick up something by Gilkyson.

So I'm just sitting here doing some writing and listening to Beautiful World. This is really good. A great voice. Good music in every way. Good messages to the songs. I will listen to this again and again.

Heard about Eliza Gilkyson last summer. She's been on a long musical journey, and this album, Beautiful World, is her best. Beautiful, a variety of style, strong storytelling. I gave this CD as gifts to my music-loving friends.

I like Eliza and wish I could like this album more. It sounds okay, songs okay, everything just okay and that's part of the problem. It's pleasant enough but no real stand-outs here like Highway 9 or Jedidiah from her previous outings. Sorta sounds like she's just marking time here. To see what she can really do check on the Austin City Limits DVD of her concert. It's short but it's enjoyable.