3.0 out of 5 stars
THE MANY SHADES OF 'FOLK', August 24, 2001
This review is from: Greenwich Village Folk Festival 1989-1990 (Audio CD)
A good, eclectic compilation of performances here, with talking blues numbers, funny songs and the more traditional hand-picked singer/songwriter-y stuff. A few songs really stand out: the opener, "Don't Get Killed", by Andy Breckman, is a hysterical look at how dangerous life in New York can be when you have to go out in the middle of the night("run real fast down the middle of the street/I love you Mary, don't get killed"); "Please Be My Umbrella", by Ilene Weiss, is a gorgeous, instantly memorable song that Joni Mitchell would kill to have written; and "The Hold Of Your Arms", by Mark Johnson, is a breathtaking, pulsing number that has the power of a great Who song. Finally, the closer, "Yuppies In The Sky", by Tom Paxton, is a very funny "Rawhide"-sounding number about the perils of living among New York society types("the men were wearing Polo, the women wore Espirit"). The rest of the album has some nice blues numbers and a couple of cute/annoying tracks, but overall it's a good compilation, definitely worth it for the songs that I mentioned, especially the Mark Johnson & Ilene Weiss songs, which are terrifically passionate, melodic songs. Plus, "Don't Get Killed" alone is worth the price of admission, especially for New Yorkers, I think.
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