Customer Reviews

The Doorway

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

 

 

Betty Buckley has a unique ability to really draw an audience in. Whether it be on film, on stage, or in person she's such a warm presence. This may sound all New Age-y and ethereal but it's really how I feel.

The majority of these songs were from show she toured with last year and into this current one. Songs from both her last CD (Stars and The Moon - Live at the Donmar) and this were the selection along with her encore of her signature song - Memory.

Ms. Buckley came to The Guthrie Theater for a one-night only concert and I got tickets almost as a lark. Just to hear her sing Memory live would be worth the ticket for me, I thought.

Then September 11th came and things changed. Suddenly the concert was here, only weeks after 9/11 when everyone was still in a daze. I never expected this concert to resonate the way it did.

First off, Ms. Buckley sang the title song on this CD and proceeded through her program. In the middle of her 2nd or 3rd song, she forgot the words! It was a fairly new song to her and she just made up stuff until it was clear to us as well that she was lost. Apologizing, she got out her music and followed along. It was refreshing to see a star of her caliber still needing something to fall back on. We were excited to see her before, but that little moment brought us all in closer.

From that moment on the concert took on such a personal tone. She explained that her concert was altered dramatically due to September 11th. Patriotic songs like God Bless America and America the Beautiful were last minute additions.

Up until the end, Ms. Buckley was such a fluid presence. She seemed to make eye contact with everyone in the large house and you felt bonded. This sounds weird, yes, but it's the only way to describe it.

By the end of the show, she was in tears...thanking us for overlooking her misstep early on and for going through this journey with her. She had words of encouragement and prayer for the 9/11 tragedy and then the big moment came.

There was no song list provided and when she broke into America The Beautiful it absolutely brought down the house. Not with thunderous applause, but with tears. You'll know what I mean when you hear her begin the same song on the CD with no accompaniment. A clear voice in the darkness. I still remember the goose bumps I got when she sang that song...and segueing into Bridge Over Trouble Water sealed the deal. Not a dry eye in the house...including hers. It was such a singular moment...I'll remember her singing that song until the day I die.

While nothing compares to her live...the CD alone is worth having for her rendition of America The Beautiful/Bridge Over Troubled Water. Also of note are Sycamore Trees and A Loss of Heroes.

Wonderful...through and through.

This CD in many ways follows a pattern that was started with Ms. Buckley's CD "Heart to Heart" and follows with "Stars and the Moon" - a more reflective quality to the material, enhanced by the singing approach used. None of the "bombastic broadway" style that if often associated with her (which I also love by the way, her version of "Rose's Turn" is excellent) I must admit I was apprehensive about buying the CD when I saw the song list... some of the material had been on other CD's. The versions here are different, yet I always want to hear that voice with new material. When reading the liner notes, you learned that this is material she used in concerts following September 11th, and this is a chance to record that experience. (By the way, it also said that a portion of procedes will go to charity) I enjoy this CD as much as her two previous releases, all three are CD's that I put on to listen when I am experiencing a stressful day. This is another lovely gift from Ms. Buckley to her fans.

My lack of enthusiasm for Betty Buckley's last release Stars And The Moon, led me to approach Betty's new release with a bit of trepidation. My fears were unfounded as The Doorway is definitely one of Bety's best albums. It has a post 9/11 feel, but in a hopeful and most of all peaceful way. The title cut is lovely, haunting and will stay with you...and Betty wrote it! Other highlights are St. Francis Prayer(truly beautiful)and For The Beauty Of The Earth/Imagine. No New York based diva albim would be complete without a song or two from those "new theatre composers with three names" guys. This album gives us Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon. There are two instrumentals, A Loss of Heroes and a beautiful interpretation of God Bless America performed by Betty's long time accompanist Kenny Werner. In the past, Kenny's extravagant playing has gotten in the way, but on this release he is truly supportive of Betty's lovely vocals. Of couse, I do have a few minor quibbles. There are a few medleys on the album. I feel medleys should flow from one song into another, but on Meditation/I Concentrate On you, the first song comes to a jarring stop before the second kicks in. This is also true on the America The Beautiful/Bridge Over Troubled Water medley. Speaking of which...Bridge has been recorded by Betty before. Will Betty ever do an album of entirely new material. She loves to reuse! The artwork and photography are very good, and as I mentioned earlier, Betty is in fine voice. Quibbles aside, The Doorway is a welcome addition to Divaland.

Remember that one professor that a lot of students thought was too hard, while some students utterly worshiped her? When you listen to The Doorway, you'll realize that Betty Buckley is that professor, and this recording is that upper level seminar class that scares off most students. But it beckons to the True Believers.

The Doorway is Betty Buckley's toughest class. It's her smartest, most challenging work. As with studying under a very, very good teacher, you find yourself enjoying the act of reflecting on the meaning of how one song is linked with another. You notice something done very differently on the phrasing of a familiar song, and you construct theories about the development of thematic structure. It becomes reflexive to explicate her work like poetry, uncovering the layers meaning. And before ya know it, you're on track eleven, translating Seneca without hardly noticing that you're speaking Latin. Or something like that.

Betty Buckley wrote the haunting title track. To my recollection, she hasn't recorded her own songs since that first concert album back in the Eighties. And she ought to do more of it. When she writes lyrics, she's clearly more poet than song-writer in the traditional sense. You'll find no obvious conventions and defaults so common in pop music-- the kind that ensures you can probably guess the next line before you've ever heard it. Really a very gifted writer, she'll give you no clichés as familiar road-signs in her lyrics. And the way through can be damn near un-navigable, but such are the challenges of the Tough Professor, right? Rest assured, any work she makes you do is worth it.

Other highlights include her lovely rendition of "With a Song in my Heart" (Rogers and Hart). As much as I'd like to see Buckley record more of the songs she's written, I wish she'd record more Rogers and Hart. The straightforwardness of their combined lyrics and melodies--their pattern of writing in concrete terms and leaving it to the listener supply the more abstract meanings--these features are well-matched to Buckley's sensibilities as a singer. A Rogers and Hart songbook recording would be swell.

Fans of the "Bridge Over Troubled Water" part of her medley in the London Concert will be relieved to find the song included here with nary a hint of that deeply unsettling pairing with "The Greatest Love of All". Here it's matched with "America the Beautiful"--making perfect sense in its immediately-post-9/11 context.

Perhaps best of all on this recording is her "Autumn Leaves". I've heard many, many fine recordings of this near perfect song. This is among the best, and it alone is worth the price of the CD.

I'll admit, I often stop listening after Track 6 ("Autumn Leaves") of this 11 track recording. Not because the other tracks aren't good, but on a Sunday afternoon, I'm reluctant to subject my neighbors to the so-refective-it's-kinda-weird quality of tracks 7 through 11.

A little bit of weirdness not withstanding, the recording deserves all the stars available to it. Werner's arrangements are at their most ambitious, and they are precisely right for echoing and developing the tone of the music. Though the first half is more accessible--and truly more entertaining--than the second half, it's all pretty heady stuff. But I'm sure you're up to it. And come on--you know you always wanted to feel like someone who can speak Latin.

This is one of those Cd's that you listen over and over again. The title track is the cornerstone of this collection.

I never worry about hearing some of these previously recorded material because I believe Betty Buckley has something else to say with the material so I trust her aand I am not disappointed.

I was very disappointed with this CD and find the choice of songs and orchestration very self indulgent. The musical arrangements are over the top attempting to be some sort of jazzy cool while only being boring. Please stick to show tunes Betty as this is not entertaining at all