Customer Reviews

Old Paint

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

 

 

Old Paint is a throwback, music so roughhewn that you might expect to hear it on a scratchy 78 in some Appalachia cabin. This is mostly a matter of Freakwater's commanding vocals, intricate harmonies woven in almost hoarse, edgy voices of sleepless nights and smoke. It's a sound that works best for darkness, death, and dirges that make up the bulk of the songs here, but can also be surprisingly effective on upbeat numbers like Kentucky Home. When Freakwater sings, on Gone to Stay, "shovel, dirt and gravel/all his mother hears is the sound/of a little baby crying/somewhere in the ground," the words stay with you for a good long while. Not a CD you'll want to play when you need cheering up, and the singing goes shrill (Hero/Heroine) at times. But if deep, old-style country is one of your musical tastes, talented Freakwater should be heard.

I can't believe there are no other reviews of this CD. I heard "Gravity" on the radio 3 years ago (public radio, of course; commercial country radio wins the unimaginative programming award hands down) and was bowled over by the lyrics and vocals. For me, it's the contrast of world-weary and angelic voices singing amazing poetry to a wonderful melody that makes life worthwhile. My husband describes Freakwater as the Carter Family meets the 90's, but even that doesn't do them justice. It's old-timey country put together with amazingly prescient lyris and lilting melodies, but with an almost jagged, modern edge. Many of the songs deal with sad subjects (OK, death is present and there's "nothing so pure as the kindness of an atheist") but I never feel depressed when I listen to this CD. "Burying Geraldine" is the one song that does make me cry, but the words paint a picture so bittersweet that it's worthwhile. "Kentucky House", "Waitress Song" and "Ugly Man", all make me dance, despite their often ironic, melancholy words. If you love SONGS (as opposed to poetry put to a strumming guitar, or a beat with no lyrics to mean anthing) then you NEED this CD. It's on my desert island disc list, second only to Dave Alvin's "King of California". Order it immediately.

I try to be open to all music but I do lean to what folks call alt-country and not regular country. Now to me the later seems well like some kind of a mass produced dumb down southern rock/top forty hybrid and the former like the real deal... lyrically heartfelt, honest, and a bit depressing with a sound that well sounds like country of old, or maybe it'd be better to just say a stripped down sound. This CD was my first exploration with the critter known as Freakwater and I was hooked from the get go. The album is so rooted in reality that it was often played by me to get through tough emotional, financial, drunken, fill in the blank times (John Prine was the other country artist that was leaned on as well). Buy this album if you are just baffled by the lack of solid song writing in any genre.

I have never been interested in country, so when a friend recommended Freakwater, I did not want to give them a chance. I am so glad I did!!! Freakwater is one of the best groups I have ever heard!! End Time is flawless-- my favorite. The girls harmonize in a way that has not been seen since Crosby, Stills, and Nash. I recommend this and all other Freakwater albums to EVERYONE!! I love them!!

"Here, listen to this," my buddy said to me, slyly, as he handed me a copy of OLD PAINT. Wow. I was blown away. This is amazing stuff, kind of what Hazel Dickens would write for a crowd of Gen-X'ers. At first you wouldn't think Janet and Catherine leave anything to the imagination, yet while their songs are explicit in describing some pretty harsh realities, they are multi-layered, and can withstand hundreds of listenings while still seeming fresh. "The Waitress Song" is a masterpiece, "Gone To Stay" grabs your attention and doesn't let go, and "Kentucky House" is so darn much fun, I grin whenever I hear it. From that tentative "Here, listen to this" has grown an enthusiasm that knows no bounds. If you're tired of boring pop and think that Garth is just a rocker with an oversized belt buckle, grab a copy of OLD PAINT...this stuff is good for you!

You can smell the smoke long after the fine is gone

Every star in the sky's not the one that you can put your wish on

Every darkest hour can't be the one that's just before the dawn

Sometimes I'm amazed how the night just drags on and on

--Catherine Irwin in "Ugly Man"

Who else writes lyrics like this? These lines, plus several in "Waitress Song" and "Hero/Heroine" knocked me flat on my ass when I first heard them. It's astounding: she takes each cliche and doesn't quite turn it on its head......more accurately, she plumbs the depths of the cliche to see where it does and (more often) doesn't meet up with reality.

In so doing, her words truly come close to describing the actual experience of wading through a loss which feels as though it will never end. What more can you ask from great songwriting, to describe what that really feels like?

I do love the perverted hopefulness of these lyrics, though, too. She's tacitly allowing that there *will* someday be a metaphorical sunrise, but just not on anybody's timetable. The sun will come whenever it comes......could take years. Basically, in my opinion, the song seems to be advising you to create your *own* ways of dealing with loss and grief, because relying on the hollow Hallmark card sentiments society supplies will only leave you more alienated and sad in the long run.

This is a song about faith, a secular faith that even if a miserable ending can't be made sense of, it can at least somehow be survived (and maybe even learned from). This song has come to mean so much to me, because it speaks to belief and doubt in a language I can actually understand and identify with. It helps me see a path toward real faith, faith in myself and in humanity.

Freakwater seem to have put together a collection of great songs, but the arrangements never seem to lift off, instead they start and finish in the same place. Some of the harmonies between the singers works very well against the subdued instrumentation, and the tempo moves along without any shame or explanation. Yet, if I need to hear this type of music, I can find collections that are much more authentic. It seems these girls could be playing straight 70's rock if they wanted to, probably with similar conviction... -Daniel