Customer Reviews

Out of the Dark & New Goodbyes Old Hellos

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I met Claudia Schmidt in Denver, Colorado in the early 1980's when she was performing in solo concerts for the Music Association of Swallow Hill (Denver's legendary folk music club). In addition to being a genuinely decent human being with a heart as wide as the ocean, Claudia's voice is full-throated, robust, and rich enough to fill the entire galaxy. Her vocal talents range from the the softest whispers of vocal music to heart-stopping, passionate crescendoes. Claudia can bring the listener to tears on her more personal, intimate numbers, or can take the listener on soaring flights of sound into the stratosphere on her more raucous numbers. I've heard huge numbers of folk singers,--both in person and on albums and audio tapes--but I've never found anyone who can compare to Claudia Schmidt. When I knew Clauda in Denver in the early '80's, she was still performing and recording only folky stuff, and I bought everything of hers that was available. I gather that in the ensuing 15 years, she has continued her drift towards jazz and blues. My guess is that anything, and I mean anything, that Claudia sings will be superb. She has a voice that is a real classic of musicianship, a seemingly endless vocal range with spot-on pitch, amazing breath control and sense of phrasing, plus an ability to sing straight to the listener's guts. I would highly recommend every cut on this CD, as well as every other album, audio cassette, and/or CD that Claudia Schmidt has ever, or will ever, release.

I was introduced to Claudia Schmidt around 1980 and have always loved her voice and her creativity with instruments and songs. One of her best songs that can still make me cry is 'Hard Love'. I don't think a better love ballad has ever been composed or sung. This album is great Claudia - no tangents, just all good stuff. Enjoy!

More brilliance by this mostly undiscovered artist

The entire CD is excellent, for those who love folk music.

But I bought it for the song "Hard Love". The rest is good, but Hard Love is one of the best folk songs I've ever heard.

Years ago, I heard it on WGBH (Boston's public radio station). One of the on-air people said that when she heard the song, she had to write down the title - then forgot to give it. Email to the station got the title, and the album, but "New Goodbyes, Old Helloes" was and is still unavailable. Years later, I went looking again, and found that "Out of the Dark" has most of the songs, including "Hard Love". So this was the end of the search, and it was worth it.

The rest of the album is excellent, also.

This is heartwarming music, provided in original style for anyone appreciating imaginative, folk or accoustic music.