Customer Reviews

Lifeline Extended

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you think you might have the REMOTEST interest in Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, The Weavers, or this kind of folk music, you will love this recording.

My cherished copy of this on LP hasn't been available for years. This 2-CD set improves on the LP in every way.

What I can't get over, listening to this music again, is what a really, REALLY exceptional performance it is. When Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie sing "together" (to take another intergenerational pair) I always have the felt that the collaboration is casual and perhaps not very intensively rehearsed.

But when Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert sing, I hear two very accomplished singers with two strong voices, completely different in sound, yet blending perfectly... just singing their hearts out, holding nothing back, and perfectly _in tune_ both musically and emotionally.

The live recording captures the excitement and involvement of the moment, and the intense, sincere cheering and applauding of the mostly-female audience.

Wow.

The original LP, which hasn't been available for years, contained a total of 15 tracks running 53 minutes. This 2 CD-set contains of 23 tracks and 88 minutes of music. The CD includes nine tracks which did not appear on the LP, every one a worthy addition: "Starting Out Fine," "The Right Time," "Kid's Song," "Women's Medley," "I Cried," "Lucky To Be Me," "Army Song/Chairman of the Board," "Family Promise," and "Singing With You." One song on the LP, "Gracias A La Vida", is omitted from the CD.

It is especially good to have Ronnie Gilbert's "Army Song." The song is from Brecht and Weill's _The Threepenny Opera_ but the track is actually a short theatrical monologue which, as I write this, seems regrettably apropos.

I played this for the first time on my car player, and track 5, "Two Good Arms," happened to be playing just as I passed the dome of the courthouse in Dedham where Sacco and Vanzetti received their unfair trail. Perhaps I unconsciously knew this when I put the CD in, but I'll take my synchronicity where I can find it: it was very moving.

"Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida" sent shivers down my spine. "Harriet Tubman" made me want to stand up and cheer. "The Activity Room" is just plain _nice_.

I am glad the lifeline of this recording has been extended, and I wish a happy and "extended lifeline" to Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, and everyone who captured this wonderful moment, first in vinyl and now in polycarbonate.

When Holly Near came together with Ronnie Gilbert for the concert that became "Lifeline", the two of them produced an album of nearly unparalleled strength and power. It may be an album of anthems for the left, as the Amazon review says, but I think it's more of an album of anthems for the heart. "Singing for Our Lives" is in particular a song about HIV/AIDS, which at the time of the recording was ignored by the Alzheimer's-riddled mind of Ronald Reagan, and there has never been a more powerful song: "We are a gentle, angry people, and we are singing, singing for our lives." I am so glad to see that the album has been re-released on CD, 'cause I've worn my tape out. Holly Near is the high priestess of lesbian music, and Ronnie Gilbert is a legend. What more could anyone ask for?

Like one of the other reviewers who commented on this album, I had nearly worn out my cassette tapes of these songs. I was thrilled to see they had been re-released on CD and especially happy that additional material was included in the new release. I purchased a video documentary several years ago called "Wasn't That a Time". It was about the Weavers (a folk group with which Ronnie Gilbert sang in the fifties) and their journey through the McCarthy era and beyond blacklisting. That documentary chronicled, I believe, the first duet that Ronnie Gilbert and Holly Near sang - and the chemistry they demonstrated as they sang on camera is guaranteed to raise goosebumps in even the most jaded viewer. Since then, Gilbert and Near have proven to be mesmerizing, funny, and absolutely in synch in their performances. Don't pass this album by - you won't be sorry you purchased it!

OK, I'll admit I, I am a folkie. Stopped living when the Weavers stopped singing. So hearing Ronnie and Holly again is delightful. The strength of their voices, the love they felt for one another, their presence together, the power and glory of their songs. Reminds one of what's good about us as people. Thoroughly enjoyable hearing it again, like the first time.

This is an incredible cd (2). Their voices together are wonderful and the messages in the songs are even better. If you love either one of these womyn, you won't be disappointed.

Holly and Ronnie sing truth to power, vibrantly and radiantly. They invite the powerless and the oppressed to co-create courage and hope by hearing and singing with this music. How many times, driving to my patriarchal workplace, have I found my center and my strength as I listen to Holly sing, "I ain't afraid or your money, I ain't afraid of your culture . . . ." Hundreds of times. That's how often I have heard Ronnie sing the truth about two good men, our beloved comrades. This recording intrigues me so much that I had to do a little research to figure out that what Ronnie means when, as the audience sings a chorus of Irene Good Night, she calls out, "Listen to that, Lee Hayes." I still must solve the mystery from "Harriet Tubman." I know what the "drinking gourd" is, but who ARE "these children dressed in red"?

These two are the voice of so many voiceless: the eight disappeared women and hundreds of others they represent, the victims of state-sponsored murder in our own country, lesbians thrilled that our relationships are finally celebrated with such delight in "Perfect Night," which has one of the perfect lines in women's music.

I cannot listen to Ronnie sing "Would you like to play bridge and have a nice cup of tea . . ." without smiling and hoping that we really can make a world like that for each other.

If these two women perform again in my lifetime, I'll be there.

I loved this new CD as much as I loved their original. The only minor problem was the booklet included had been printed in the wrong order and even destapling and rearranging was useless .

Oh, the joy! To hear these two incredible women again, on this absolutely exquisite tour -! To give you an idea of how treasured this recording is, I still have not only the LP but the cassette tape I'd made of it, and literally danced with joy when I was gifted with the CD. I had the privilege of not only seeing them live, but attending a workshop with Ronnie Gilbert during this tour, and words fail me when I try to describe how inspirational it was. If you have even the slightest interest in folk or political music or social justice or just really beautiful, powerful women's voices, you cannot go wrong with this recording.