Customer Reviews

Hell Among The Yearlings

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I saw Gillian Welch & David Rawlings a month ago at the Fillmore in San Francisco. At the time, I'd purchased the "O'Brother" soundtrack, and "Revelator" cause I liked her voice so darn much from that Cohen Bro's film sndtrk. So I go over to the merch booth, look for a tee, dissapointingly don't see any, but there, lying on the table in front of me is the "holy trilogy", if you will.

I only had enough to buy one cd. Out of complete random choosing, I picked up "Hell Among the Yearlings".

And here I am, having this cd for the little while that was, and it is absolutely one of my favorite albums of all time. Whereas, I can honestly say, "Revival" and "Revelator" both have a few much stronger individual songs, this album can be heard front to back without missing a beat. It is a complete sonic experience within itself.

Unlike her other two albums, Welch opens this masterpiece with the heavy hitting "Caleb Meyer", a tale of rape and revenge that immediately lays the foundation for the rest of the raw, dark Appalachian-inspired world Welch creates with every new track. Understated and appropriate storytelling flow evenly, emotionally and musically, through tracks like "The Devil Had a Hold of Me" - evoking the spirit of Robert Johnson, "Rock of Ages", and "Honey Now" - the entirely too short "electric" showcase of the album. And possibly the only song where the focus is not as strongly aimed towards Welch's lyrics as much as it is the music.

I keep finding myself unable to concentrate on other things whilst listening, which, to me, means this is NOT backround music, nor a happy cd to tap your feet to. Almost grabs you by the gullet, and doesn't take the grip off 'till its good and ready to let you go.

So what else is there... yes, Dave Rawlings, what a graceful lead guitar/harmony vocals compliment to Welch's grit. Gillian also rocks out with her banjo most on this album (so if you're a big fan of "My First Lover" you'll get a huge kick out of this cd!). Again, if you enjoy Robert Johnson-esque material, this is one is a keeper. If you're lookin' for the happy Christian music found in "Revival", you're looking in the wrong place.

So if you're ready to take upon you the middle child of Welch's albums, allocating the nice with the not-so-nice, then this is what you're looking for. Either way, go check her out now. She's on tour for "Revelator", and what a lovely experience that show was.

Being somewhat snobby when it comes to music, it is a rare treat to find a real artist out there that can really speak to me. Gillian Welch is one of few that have struck me so deeply.

As great as "Revival" is, I think this album is even better. The thing I like the most about it is its consistent theme of melancholy and woe; yet it is completely unpretentious and genuinely moving. The first album "Revival" (aptly named) embraces different moods (which is a great thing in itself), but this album absolutely grabs me and doesn't let go.

For me, the absolute standouts are (although EVERY track is very strong--no throwaways here!) are "My Morphine", "Miner's Refrain", "I'm Not Afraid To Die", "Caleb Meyer", "Rock Of Ages", and "Whiskey Girl" (I know, that's most of them). The purity of her vocals, and the absolute perfection of the precise harmony vocals, coupled with the crisp playing (pretty much just acoustic guitar and banjo, except for "Honey Now") and clear, bare bones production (proving that less is more when it comes to production), make for one of the best albums I've heard in years (believe me, that's really saying something!).

Thank you, Gillian, for this gift. We need artists like you. BADLY!! You give me hope!

Get this and/or "Revival". She is amazing. "The real thing".

As every review you're likely to read will tell you, the subject matter of these songs is as dark as the sepia tones on the album's cover photo. But there is a danger of making too much of that and of not really getting it in right perspective.

We can compare Welch and her partner David Rawlings with The Handsome Family, whose _Through the Trees_ also deals with dark material. The Handsome Family uses melodies and instrumentation that sound traditional, but combines these with surreal prose poetry whose images are far from the ones the melodies lead you to expect. The result is music that subverts the form it uses and leaves the listener profoundly disoriented. This is neither better nor worse than what Welch does, but the emotional effect is very different. Listening to The Handsome Family can be viscerally disturbing; I can only do it in small doses. Welch's subject matter is depressing, but that doesn't describe the result. The musical form and the poetry are matc! hed. A song like "One Morning" doesn't just sound like an Appalachian ballad; it could very well be one. That means that even though the images are chilling, we are permitted to keep some distance.

Even though Welch's more traditional approach won't give you vertigo, it would be a mistake to think that there's nothing original here, or that the images won't stick with you. "Morphine" is a case in point. The singer addresses the drug as a lover turned cruel and the music conjures up a sense of watching longings fade in a haze. After a few listenings, you feel as though the ghost of this lost junkie has brushed you by. That sort of musical onomatopoeia is part of what makes a song like "Whiskey Girl" work. The imagery here is more elusive: Nowhere Man and the Whiskey Girl head off for the underworld. This is one of the few songs with more than acoustic guitar or banjo as accompaniment; Rawlings uses an electric guitar and producer T-Bone Burnett p! lays piano and organ. The remarkably restrained result is a! sense of discovering that hell is a place of lethargy and low moans.

For whatever reason, Gillian Welch has chosen to work in a world of shadows. But these shadows imply the presence of a light that reflects in surprising ways off of the subjects of these 11 beautifully-wrought songs. This album is a worthy follow-up to _Revival_, and confirms the sense that many of us had that Gillian Welch is an artist of rare and remarkable talent.

Gillian Welch is, among other things, a living embodiment of a tradition that stretches far back in time and space. She sings in a style that grew out of the mountain highlands of Appalachia, which came in turn from age-old ballads brought over on ships by paupers from Scotland and Ireland. She plays the banjo, an instrument first crafted by black American slaves from the memory of their stolen lives of freedom in western Africa. So, the fact that she hails from middle-class Los Angeles and not the hills of Kentucky means very little, and she is no less "authentic" than Doc Watson, the Carter family, or the countless, nameless mountain balladeers who preceded them and from whom they borrowed.

The tradition lives on through Ms. Welch and David Rawlings in this breathtaking album, interspersed with equally inspired tunes from other genres. It would seem impossible to top the effect of hearing "Orphan Girl" as the first song on her previous album, but "Caleb Meyer" is up to the job, adding to the usual "death ballad" the feminist twist of a woman who kills the man who is trying to rape her.

In short, this is the real thing. Judging by the breadth and depth of their talent, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings can be expected to make great music for many years to come.

Hell Among the Yearlings is among the finest and most profound artistic statements made in popular music. The Welch/Rawlings songwriting team is miles away in acheivement from their peers and many of their predecessors. On this album they adumbrate the mystery of humanity:from addiction cum romance (My Morphine) to religious piety/primitivism (Rock of Ages) to the darkest broken-down weariness (Whiskey Girl, Good Till Now). These songs have a quality unlike most songs written today: they share their affinities with songs written 70 years ago (and even much further back--witness Caleb Meyer). Welch and Rawlings know the value of the American folk form in bringing to light the sorrow of the world. These songs are from an older, stranger world before songs were written for their potential to sell units and the people writing them were not primarily trying to be artistic. While it's true that in reaching for this time, Hell Among the Yearlings runs the risk of being "a good study", it beats the odds by erecting an edifice that allows no gaps or weak spots.
If you want music to serve some utilitarian emotional purpose (like cheering you up) this album is not for you. But if you've seen the heart of darkness and appreciate commiseration, Hell Among the Yearlings is a welcome start.

There is a great profile of Welch and Rawlings in the New Yorker titled "The Ghostly Ones". Google "Gillian Welch" "New Yorker".

Welch's voice and Rawlings' guitar sound as intense, beneficent and honest as music can get. I enjoy an extremely addictive mixture here of haunting poetry and music that comes straight from the heart, in an American country/folklike-style that reverberates and finds refuge in my soul immediately. A music of 'instant melancholia', or, if I may borrow some of Welch's own beautiful lyrics here- a music that's like '(...) morphine' that 'will be the death of me'. Very impressive and highly recommended!

What do you get listening to a Gillian Welch recording? You get a collection of heartfelt, melodic, simple, and beautiful songs that range from melancholy to inspiring. Gillian Welch's sophomore album, Hell Among The Yearlings, has to be her best in my best opinion.

Welch teams up on most songs with her partner in crime, David Rawlings.. whom (if you've seen this guy, i'm sure you'll agree) is an absolute magician on the guitar. It is such a treat to see these two perform live (or on tv, like I've seen them). The two work so well together. As much as I love Gillian Welch's music, I have to credit David Rawlings for giving it that extra special touch.

Best tracks here include, in no special order, My Morphine, Good Til Now, Miner's Refrain, Winter's Come and Gone, and I'm Not Afraid to Die. Buy this cd, it is her best. Her last cd, Soul Journey, was a departure from her previous works, and is alright. But I definitely hope for something like "Yearlings" on her next effort.

One of the finest albums I've owned in a long time. The sheer, raw, haunting, ambiance of the recording sent chills down my spine from the first track. I first became interested in Gillian Welch's recordings after I practically wore out my CD of, "O Brother Where Art Thou?". From there, I was captivated by her and David Rawling's performance of "Katie Dear" from the Chieftains "Down the Old Plank Road". I received "Soul Journey" as a Christmas gift, and was impressed. This recording, however, is so beautiful in it's utter simplicity and desparation, that it is already in my top 20 album's I've EVER heard. Simply a masterpiece.

The first Gillian Welch record was fine, this one blew my socks right off. Right from the first track, Caleb Meyer, the album blows you away with perfectly constructed instrumentation with the ripping lyrics that feel like lemon juice in your sores. Gillian sings of many of these sores like an Appalachian murder ballad. This album is so intense, like a Flannery O'Connor novel. There can be no better album released in 1998.