Customer Reviews

Night Dawn: Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt

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i'm a big TVZ fan and this was a great way to be introduced to David Broza. this project was in the works for some time and it's great that it finally found the finish. And Broza did Townes words justice.

I have been a fan of David Broza for quite some time, including seeing him perform. He's an Israeli folk singer with a husky, sensual voice who's a major star over sees and a cult following stateside. He's done albums in English, Spanish and Hebrew, and "Night Dawn" is his first English Language album in many years. It comes with its own peculiar back story. As it turns out, Broza was a close friend of the late Townes Van Zandt, whose best known songs include the classic "Pancho and Lefty." Prior to his death, Van Zandt had approached Broza about working on an album with Townes' lyrics and David's music, but Van Zandt passed before the project came to fruition. These were the last lyrics/poems Van Zandt had written.

Broza held on to the lyrics, which at one time were being considered for an all-star tribute to Townes where other luminaries would each take a poem and complete a song. That project sputtered and stalled and never came to be, and finally, in 2010, Broza approached Van Zandt's family/estate about completing the album he and Townes had started in 1994. "Night Dawn" is the result, and it's a pretty good effort. There are some nice fits, like "Soul to Soul" and "Night Dawn/Silver Dollar." Broza's guitar style as a flamenco man doesn't always match the sadness in Van Zandt's words, like the divorce of "Southern Cross" and or a downer like "The Deer" (with this couplet "hard times lead, worse times follow...").

For the most part, "Night Dawn" is a good match between kindred spirits. Broza's rich voice infuses the words with the kind of emotional weight of Townes' intent. Like Steve Earle's tribute of Van Zandt covers ("Townes"), Broza shows and obvious deep love for his friend and the music he was entrusted with. While the quality of the songs is a little uneven, the heart is in the right place.

I had such high hopes for this but as I was listening to it I could literally feel my stomach dropping track by track. This is a collaboration between David Broza, a brilliant Israeli folk musician, and the late Townes Van Zandt (my favourite country singer). Van Zandt left Broza his last lyrics and 13 years after his death Broza has turned them into this album.

Broza fails to capture the spirit of Van Zandt entirely. Playing Spanish flamenco music to sorrowful, deep lyrics detailing the last few years of the life of Van Zandt is just horrible. Stay away.

This is a very unique collection amongsts Broza's work. It's folkish, it's blues and it's "Broza". There's a new flavour in David Broza's singing on this album and the background vocals are sweet and addictive. On the first listen I thought that there were some elements that were overly salient and aggresive however a few more listens after that and the harmony was much more apparent. This is simply great music and it gets better with every listen.

David Broza collaborates on Townes Van Sandt's final set of lyrics, what could possibly go wrong, right? Well, 'Night Dawn - the Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Sandt' pretty much answers that question.

Broza is an incredible Israeli guitarist/singer and I've been a fan for two decades.

Van Sandt was an outstanding songwriter - some of his stuff you might know, mostly through other artists, though he did do recordings himself.

Van Sandt left behind a number of unfinished songs when he died. Lyrics, actually. Poems. Through the grace of Van Sandt's widow, Broza was allowed to compose the music for these and perform them. And it's been forever since Broza has put out an English sung album. Mostly they are in Hebrew or Spanish (both of which I love, but......).

The unfortunate thing is, I don't think it is Towne's lyrics that are the problem. I think it is Broza's music, or at least his arrangements.

I have to use "Holes in my Sole" as the example. It being the longest piece on the disk, it is arguably the centerpiece. Broza's guitar work is exemplary. The first minute of music is incredible and then for the next three and a half the music and lyrics go in a blues mode, which I like very much. Then it all falls apart. For the next two plus minutes, it goes into a Johnny Cash like railroad song. WTF? I still play the song, but I hit the skip button at the 4:18 mark or so.

Badly arranged backing vocals ("Night Dawn" - which makes it sound like bad Pips now and again) don't help matters.

There are no denying Broza's guitar skills ("Carolina", "The Deer", "Holes in my Sole", "Too Old to Die Young"), he is incredible, but he has got to do better in the arrangement category.

'Night Dawn' isn't without some rays of hope. I do like "Harms Swift Way" and "Soul to Soul" as they are the stand-out cuts here.

It pains to me say that this isn't better, but it isn't.