Customer Reviews

Before & After

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Carrie Underwood now is in her prime as a creator of new songs that give voice to the spiritual yearnings millions of us grapple with on a daily basis. Some of her songs are playfully funny--like a silly-as-a-summer's-day poem about kooky county fair themes in middle America. That song is like a slice right out of "Prairie Home Companion." But some of her songs also are mature meditations on the strange places Baby Boomers sometimes find themselves these days--like "Coy Dogs," pulled in more than one direction in life. Her songs also piercingly help us name the spiritual experiences to which we can't quite find words--like "I Do Not Know It's Name." And some of these songs are full-scale anthems for new community. I still get chills when I hear "If Not Now (Tell Me When)" and I'm a 30-year veteran of hard-bitten skeptical journalism. I don't "chill" easily.

Beyond the music itself--which is so inviting that it sells itself as a soundtrack to our lives these days--this music is substantial enough that there's much more you can do with it.

Example: There are more than a million small groups meeting across the U.S. related to congregations. Most groups meet to pray, study the Bible or discuss a book they've chosen. Imagine, instead, having everyone listen to a couple of songs from this collection--for a week at a time--then gathering to ask: "How did you live with these songs this week?" As a long-time group leader myself, I can tell you: You won't have any shortage of discussion with these songs.

Enjoy!

With The Geography of Light my favorite CD release of 2008, I was really looking forward to Before and After. I'm certainly not disappointed, but neither am I blown away.

There are excellent songs on this CD. Carrie Newcomer's voice is strong and clear, and her lyrics are relevant to life in the real world with all its joys and sorrows, wonders and miracles. The instrumentation is exceptional, and I enjoy that the arrangements use strings and piano in new (for her) ways. If there are weak songs in the collection, they are probably (in my opinion), "Hush" and "I Wish I May, I Wish I Might." Still, these aren't exactly bad, just a bit bland and canned.) Some of the songs I did not take to immediately - "Ghost Train" and "If Not Now" - grew on me in subsequent listenings. I can't say I dislike any song on the CD.

So why not give it five stars? I'm not sure. I think it is because so many of the songs are similar in tone and tempo. Any single song is wonderfully crafted, but when listened to all together (which I tend to do), they become (dare I say it?) boring somewhere in the middle of the collection until "Do No Harm" once again demands you listen closely. I think if there had been more tempo change-up in the middle five or six selections, I'd give it five stars.

My suggestion to someone buying their first Carrie Newcomer recording is to consider Regulars and Refugees or The Geography of Light.

Carrie continues to outdo herself. This album is a miraculous gift. It made me laugh, cry, and celebrate life. How blessed I feel to know her music, and to know what a spiritual gift she has. Her music continues to teach me, and this album is another strong lesson in the value of spirituality, relationships, and gratitude in life.

Carrie Newcomer is a writers writer to be certain. Yet her work is accessable to every listener. Before and After is her latest effort, and like most of her music, it is as melodically and lyrically as fresh as her first album was a few years back. It is always full of imagery to delight the mind. This time out one of her devices I find particularly delightful is the inclusion of the occasion nursery rhyme line. It takes a certain maturity, a security with ones own writing and abilities to include that type of words and rhymes and have it seem so natural.
I'm a bit biased, I suppose, having taken a couple writing classes from her. I truly love the work of Bob Dylan and Pete Townshend, but when I really need something, help, solace, sympathy or joy from the music I'm listening to, Carrie, Bob Franke and maybe a couple others are the ones I can count on. Ahhhh....

The cover of Carrie Newcomer's most recent album shows the artist sitting in a railway carriage, while birds and a beautiful sky shine outside the window. It's both a solitary image and an inviting one, encouraging us to join her on this trip to somewhere. Like the best of travels, this voyage brings with it a variety of emotions, including:

Humor - "A Crash of Rhinoceros" is built on the group names of many animals, and is clearly inspired by the wonderful book An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition

Mystery - "I Do Not Know Its Name" speaks to the things we know deep in our hearts

Impact - "Stones in the River" demonstrates how small actions can have large consequences

Love - "Hush" is a beautiful love song ("Let the silence be the place we meet / In the space between heart beats")

and the tragic and beautiful "Do No Harm", which teaches us that even in the face of the most horrible events, we can still speak to the peace that is possible.

Carrie's voice, music, and lyrics together make a powerful combination, and should be enjoyed by everyone. So I would recommend checking out her web site to find where she'll be performing, and also to take the time to read the lyrics. It will make the trip even more fulfilling!

What a gift that Carrie continues to give us. Her latest, "Before and After" is Carrie at the top of her game. I love the spiritual messages that she gives us in her songs. Her love of life and of living in the moment are completely infused throughout this beautiful CD. I highly recommend it!

Carrie Newcomer is a recent new discovery for me, and what a discovery it is. I was needing to expand my musical horizons, and being a fairly recently convinced Friend, I wanted to see how her music sounded, although I did have some skepticism on my initial listening. Over a week I began to warm up to it when suddenly the song Do No Harm caught fire in my heart and mind, and brought me to a profound spiritual place. As this song was beginning to lose that effect, then the song I Do Not Know Its Name began to bring me to a different but still wonderful spiritual place.

Any CD that can have this effect one time already deserves 5 stars, so I'd give Before and After 10 stars if I could. Carrie has a wonderful and distinct voice, with varied topics and sounds that keep the music fresh and interesting, while also maintaining cohesiveness throughout the album. Most of the other songs on here are quite good. The only songs that I sometimes skip are If Not Now, A Small Flashlight, and I Wish I May I Wish I Might, although I would not say that they are poor songs either.

So obviously, I highly recommend this CD.

I don't like this album nearly as much as Geography of Light. I DO love "Hush," which I set on repeat for weeks on my car stereo. However, there are only a few songs that I'd put on a new "Best Of" compilation. But hey, what do I know? Even her "off" work is still fabulous. If you already have Betty's Diner and the Geography of Light, BUY IT!! :)

This is a beautiful CD, with original songs by Carrie. She's amazing! So creative and with a wonderful voice for the type of music she does. Enjoy!

I am a Carrie Newcomer fan. That's the way most of us put it, just matter-of-factly. I have been to her album release concerts, end of tour shows, free summer concerts in the park, and all manner of in-betweens, and never have I been disappointed with Carrie's music or performances. Being a Midwesterner, though, I can't quite put 5 stars on this album, much the same as a perfectly ripe tomato straight from the vine or a grilled cheese sandwich on a Saturday while watching the first snow of the season will never be more than "not bad."

This album first landed in my CD player while I was driving in central Texas. The first track set the tone with a powerful, deep anthem of living benchmarking what could be expected. Subsequent tracks lightened up a bit and merged into the passing miles, some to my liking, some stylistically not quite what I usually look for, and then "Do No Harm" jerked me back to the lyrics as effectively as the rumble strip on the edge of the road could have done, immediately bringing to mind and deepening the images developed from "Fruit" on Wilderness Plots. This was followed by "I Wish I May I Wish I Might" which, while perhaps mysterious to those who have not spent a fair amount of time in Indiana, nearly saw me turning the car homeward.

In summary, I have never come across a bad Carrie Newcomer recording, and this adds to that experience. To someone new to her music, this provides a good starting point for further exploration; there are light and humorous tracks mixed with deep and powerful ones and a few midweights in between. Other albums tend to lean more in one direction or another, this is a classic and balanced Carrie collection highlighting the best of what she brings to recorded music.