Customer Reviews

Blue River

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This classic album was the early culmination of Andersen's rise to prominence in the sixties with its thoughtful, poignant, and philosophic look both within Andersen himself and in the world as he saw it during a period of personal difficulty and inner turmoil.Eric Andersen is nothing if not a consummate writer, performer, and interpreter of classic folk melodies and subjects, and he delivers on his considerable promise. Certainly both earlier and later professional efforts by Andersen indicate just how talented and durable his abilities as a writer and performer he is. Here he is in superb form, with original songs ranging from the opening stunner "Is It Really Love At All" to "Wind And Sand" to other wistful interpretations like "Florentine" and the very wry "Faithful", which Linda Ronstadt did a terrific cover version of years later. My personal favorites here are ""Blue River", a haunting and evocative song about life simply led, and "More Often Than Not", an unusual (to say the least) take on life as a road-traveling performer. One often hears albums described as a collection of songs, but this is truly a song cycle that has a special mood, atmosphere, and timbre of its own. This is a special album by a monumental talent who has never gotten the wide acclaim and popular recognition his unusually gifted abilities seem to deserve. Buy this CD and I guarantee you will soon find yourself referring to it reverently, as most "folkies" do.

If you at all like the singer/songwriter folk genre, you'll love this album. I have three copies--one on vinyl, one CD at home and one CD at work. This is Eric Andersen at his best-- beautifully orchestrated, lovely melodies, touching lyrics. The poetic artistry shadowed in earlier works like "Close the Door Lightly" matured here. If you've ever broken up with a loved one, you'll see yourself in "Faithful". If you've ever had a fleeting romantic encounter, you'll recognize "Is It Really Love At All". "Florentine" will remind you of all your idealized loves, and the "Blue River" duet (as Eric Andersen calls it) with Joni Mitchell will haunt you and touch your soul.

I bought this in vinyl when it first came out and played it until the tracks were gone. Still, I refused to give it up and have been listening to a tape I made from the original vinyl.....like a pair of jeans you simply refuse to give up :)

Eric did his best work on this album and the back up musicians did superb work as well, including a haunting vocal by Joni Mitchell on Blue River.

I have never written a review, but this release is a cause for great joy in my house! If you love folk music, buy this CD...you won't be sorry.

I first attended an Eric Anderson concert at the urging of my then girl friend in 1966. Over those early years I probably saw him perform a half dozen times, once an a Cambridge coffee house sitting next to Janis Ian, and the last time in San Francisco about 20 years ago, when he was unexpectedly (at least for me) joined by his ex-wife Debbie Green on the piano. There are individual song favorites scattered across all of his albums, but this is the one I played for my children as something from my past and my present. It is one of the most hauntingly beautiful albums I own. Share it with someone you love.

In its original LP form and initial CD release, "Blue River" is a wonderful album that belongs in every collection of folk music, and fans of '70's singer/songwriters will appreciate it as well. Sadly, in this most recent version, Sony Music badly botched the remastering.

Rather than take full advantage of the increased dynamic range to make the recording sound warmer and lifelike, those responsible for this release merely boosted the levels of all the instruments and vocals. As a result, the balance between them is completely changed, and much of the subtlty of Andersen's music is lost. It sounds like a '90's pop album, and I don't mean that as a compliment. This is not the recording that Eric Andersen made; it's a clumsy and unnecessary attempt to update "Blue River" for a modern audience.

A contemporary of Bob Dylan, Tom Rush and other legends of the Folk movement, Anderson's songwriting was focused on more personal, romantic subjects than most of his fellow folkies and, as a result, they have stood the test of time. After a successful early career at Vanguard and a lesser stint at Warner Brothers, Andersen moved to Columbia Records for "Blue River."

But few major artists have been as poorly served by their record company as Andersen was at Columbia. When "Blue River" was released in 1972 it received very positive reviews, and became the best selling album of Andersen's career, a potentially career-making work. Rather than capitalize on this succss, though, Columbia managed to lose the only copy of the master tapes of his follow up release in their own facility, and did not find them for more than 15 years. Whatever career momentum that was created by "Blue River" was lost. (The missing tapes were located in the late '80's and were issued as "Stages;" it's one of Andersen's best) It was three years before his next album was released (for Arista), and by then the music scene had changed significantly. Eric Andersen never became the major star he should have been. Now, with this poorly-executed reissue, Columbia has failed Andersen yet again.

Blue River contains two of Andersen's best songs, the gentle opener "Is It Really Love At All?," and the wistful "Faithful." Joni Mitchell adds background vocals on the lovely title song, but there are no weak tracks here. Andersen's intelligent and expressive vocals still sound great, and they are framed by arrangements that are both sympathetic and beautiful. It's a shame, though, that most listeners will never hear this music as it was intended to be heard, but even in this inferior edition, it's worth a listen. If you ever see a copy of the earlier CD edition of Blue River that preceded this mistake, by all means grab it.

I'm not a huge Eric Andersen fan (I was only nine when the album came out and so have none of the period-nostalgia I see in the other reviews.) And I think that there are a fair number of Eric Andersen songs that are pretty mediocre--lyrics and melodies that aren't very memorable. That said, at his best, Andersen is terrific. And this album has more great songs than any of his others. "Blue River," and "Wind and Sand" are my favorites--wistful and poignant. "Perl's Goodtime Blues" is also a good one. The only great Andersen song that's not on this album is "Time Run Like A Freight Train."

This album first came out in '71. I was ten, and I remembered it when I finally found Eric Andersen on Amazon again. This is his best CD. The music stays true in mood, with one slightly jarring transition, but overall it's one of those CDs you can listen to straight through without skipping the junk tracks. Some of these songs will stick with you, such as "Blue River." The genre is one I think of as "60s blues," and sounds folksy without the preaching about peace and love and all that 60s stuff. The tracks are all of the "unplugged" type. The only artists I compare him to is perhaps Dan Fogelberg or Michael Parks from the "Then Came Bronson" show. This Anderson CD is a lot like Fogelberg's "Nether Lands," or Michael Parks' :Long Lonesome Highway," if that's helpful.

I bought "Blue River" on vinyl in my early 20s, and I have to confess, I didn't care for it much back then. I knew that something important--maybe even vital--was going on in those grooves, but I just didn't "get it." A couple of decades later, I went back to that old vinyl and listened again with different ears and 20 more years in the rear-view mirror. It blew me away; I was moved to tears by the joy I felt on finally "getting it" as well as the sadness I felt for the years I had lost without this music in my life.
Folks...uh, folkies...learn from my mistake! Don't waste another day without this music. It will change the way you look at your world.

One of the rare albums that achieves perfection right down to each note, a quiet, peaceful album that carries you gently like floating down a river under starlight. I saw Eric Andersen in concert one night in 1974 in a small theater, maybe 400 in the audience, at Michigan State U where I was a freshman. His performance was as quiet and simple as his albums. I remember particularly the song "Liza Light The Candle" (from a later album), where he enjoined the audience to sing along with the chorus. The song enveloped the audience and carried us away in the darkness, and when it quietly concluded no one made a sound; no clapping or applause, no one wanted to disturb the silence. You could have heard a pin drop. Eric eventually said something like "well...", and only then did everyone finally start applauding. I've never seen an artist hold his audience like that. That was 35 years ago and I still remember it as one of the most amazing concert experiences of my life.

Eric Andersen emerged from the same folk scene as Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, but was much more of a romantic troubador than his contemporaries and seemed like an innocent in a cynical world.

"Blue River" is probably his best album and it should have brought him the recognition he always deserved. He had been recording for years when this album came out and the depth and maturity of the songs showcase an artist at the top of his game. While James Taylor and Cat Stevens were getting worldwide acclaim Andersen released his masterpiece, and though it recieved some critical laudits it barely registered with the public.

Andersen is mainly remembered today for some of his early songs like "Close the Door Lightly" and "Thirsty Boots", but he is best represented by albums like this or his later "Ghosts Upon the Road" and his most recent C.D.s. where his world weariness tempers his romanticism and paints a more realistic picture of our modern world.