Customer Reviews

Public Domain

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Over the years, this kind of record has been done by various artists, either as a stop-gap measure, or as a sincere way to get music which is important to the artist out. Coming on the heels of Blackjack David - clearly, Alvin's highpoint as a songwriter (in my mind, a true, top 100 all-time classic), one hopes he is gathering up his next slew of killers as we speak. But, darn it, this record is astounding! Alvin's voice grows richer with each release, the productions cleaner, the band sharper. There are songs which are nothing short of beautiful. Dylan (a personal god), released two folk covers records in the relatively recent past which simply do not hold a candle to this work. Can't think of higher praise than that. The recent John Prine covers collection is terrific, with a great theme, and execution, but still, this is the snazz. If Alvin's next three or four releases are up to the standard of his last three or four, Alvin can step right up there with the Dylans, Youngs, and Woody Guthries of the world and stake his claim!

Prolific American Music maker DAve Alvin follows up 1998's gem BLACKJACK DAVID with a 15 track album (actually, 16-- there's a bonus hidden track) of traditional songs, some of which probably go back 150 years. But Alvin and his band The Guilty Men (along with guests Brantley Kearns, DAvid Jackson, Juke Logan, and Greg Liesz) show their reverence with gusto and put these songs-- some whose authors are unknown-- right in the listener's heart. "Shenandoah" opens almost as a prayer and makes one think of Alvin's own "Kern River" or "Andersonville" in its longing and tone. Mixing in ballads and rockers with wonderfully energetic arrangements and interplay among the musicians, Alvin reveals the wanderlust of the USA is what distinguishes its culture from all others. "What Did the Deep Blue Sea Say?", "Delia," and Blind Willie McTell's "Ain't Long for the Day", poignant "Sign of Judgement" are among the standout cuts. Dave Alvin fans, and fans of roots music and the American story itself, make yourselves welcome to PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Since his days with the Blasters, Dave Alvin has developed into a powerful songwriter. With that said, it struck me as odd that he would do an entire album of non-originals. Any misgivings I had disappeared as soon as I heard the first track. Alvin's mournful vocal is the perfect instrument for "Shenandoah." The somber tone of the opening track prevails through most of the selections, but there are a handful of uptempo songs, like "Maggie Campbell," "What Did the Deep Sea Say," "Walk Right In" and "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down." More representative of the album, however, are tracks like "A Short Life of Trouble," "Engine 143" and "Murder of the Lawson Family." These are honest songs of sorrow and grief and (sometimes) even joy, but one is also left with a sense of hope. As Alvin says in his liner notes, "A lot of what is good, and bad, about us is in these songs." Even when listening to the bleakest of these songs, there is still a strand of optimism that runs through this album, a testament to the human spirit. These are songs that will be with us a hundred years from now long after the current flavors of the month have vanished from the public's memory. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I've been a Dave Alvin fan for years and believe that his two biggest strengths are as a songwriter and as a live performer. As a songwriter, there are few who come close to his ability to tell a story, make it relevant and put it to compelling music. As a live performer, he can keep you transfixed for over two hours as he plays what he describes as folk music -- both quiet and loud.

Now comes a new album that at first listen doesn't appear to take advantage of his strengths. None of these songs were written by him, and you wonder whether some of these songs will work live with his band the Guilty Men.

I've now listened to the CD a number of times and I just saw Dave perform live. The fact of the matter is that it's a wonderful CD although it might be hard to warm to the first few times you hear it. However, the arrangements are fascinating and the level of muscianship by Dave and band members Rick Shea, Brantley Kerns and John "Juke" Logan will amaze you. More importantly the album reveals the influences that have shaped Dave Alvin as a songwriter. You can sense that these songs have been somewhat responsible for his brilliance as a songwriter and storyteller. We should also be thankful that he has breathed new life into a very important part of this nation's musical history through this new recording of these old standards.

Finally, the live show. Dave has incorporated a number of songs from the album into the Guilty Men's reportiore. Fiddler Brantley Kerns, who used to play with Dwight Yoakam is now part of the band.

My bottom line recommendation is buy this album. buy Interstate City, Blackjack David and King of California and make sure to see him live!

Sometimes, an artist needs to pay tribute to the music that has brought he or she to where they are today...the music that lives in THEIR hearts before they can make the music that will live in OUR hearts. Think of Springsteen's NEBRASKA or TOM JOAD and think of Steve Earle's TRAIN A'COMIN...wonderful records all, and not at all designed to crack the Top Ten or even attract new converts (a pleasant by-product, but certainly not a factor in the mix). So it is with Dave Alvin's seventh solo album, a look into the musical heart of this stellar guitarist, singer, and songwriter. While he was beginning to open virgin ears with BLACKJACK DAVID, he could've responded with an effort to perhaps take the momentum he'd built with that record a step further, but he has given us a beautiful and beautifully recorded new album of old songs, and, as he says, his first "real" album with The Guilty Men, who perform superbly behind him. Rather than focus in on individual tracks (although I will say that DARK EYES and SHENANDOAH jump out as immediate favorites) I'll just say that each song is a prime example of what makes American heritage music so fulfilling, so enriching, and so frustrating. Fulfilling in its ability to make us think and make us wonder, enriching in its ability to make us wanna dance or at the very least, tap our feet, and frustrating in that it nowadays takes an artist of the stature of a Dave Alvin or a Bruce Springsteen or a Steve Earle to open eyes, ears, and hearts to the music that was so instrumental in the formation of America's melodic history. While this record may not attract a sizable amount of new fans to Mr. Alvin's stable, it certainly gives the ones he already has another rich chapter in his musical repertoire to chew on. I listen to PUBLIC DOMAIN while reading "Any Rough Times Are Now Behind You" (Mr. Alvin's second book of poetry) and I feel as if I'm thisclose to a private conversation with Dave Alvin...quite the cerebral experience. And don't get me wrong...this album may be comprised of folk and traditional music that now resides in the public domain, but it's still Dave Alvin, which means it still rocks and rolls. And which also means it's done right. We should afford him the same respect to which we afford this music...together they make a very special team.

Dave Alvin is one of the good guys. His love for America's traditional music has been apparent since the 1980s and the Blasters, an affectionately remembered rockabilly outfit which always had a folk song or two in its repertoire. Public Domain: Songs from the Wild Land (great title) sounds like the labor of love it undoubtedly is. It's a collection of (mostly) standards from the American songbag, some rocked-up -- most surprisingly and wonderfully, the ordinarily somber "East Virginia Blues" (not really a blues, but Alvin almost turns it into one). On the other side, he takes an often-recorded 1920s North Carolina ballad, "Murder of the Lawson Family," which I've never much cared for, and brilliantly transplants another melody (from "Down in the Willow Garden," also a Southern murder ballad) to the lyrics, managing in the process to transform the song into something darkly beautiful; the original was merely banal and depressing. "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," the signature song of Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, becomes a post-war Chicago blues in Alvin's hands. Among the relatively rare obscurities is "Dark Eyes," probably learned from Molly O'Day's recording, a song of broken love as pretty as any you'll hear. If this is not exactly a great CD (in other words, not quite at the gold standard level of Dylan's own one-man folk revival, World Gone Wrong), it's still a damned fine one, and I suspect one a lot of us will be coming back to for a long time to come.

I'm a lucky sucka. I got to see Dave Alvin perform the songs on this record before its release, at one of the final shows at Jack's Sugar Shack in LA. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Frankly, the show was much better than this CD, and my impression of the CD reflects my memories of the show. His singing was a little more hoarse, but all the beers he downed loosened him up, and he put more bite into the delivery. The band was amazing. A few times, they had me almost crying.

What made the show great, though, was Alvin's own material, and non-folk covers, played by his country band. That was something else. If you have other Dave Alvin or Blasters CDs, mix the songs up a little, especially his more mature material.

This is Dave Alvin's album of cover songs - but instead of doing the usual suspects, he did us all a favor and did songs that are true American folk songs and have entered the public domain - hence the title.

On the first song, "Shenandoah," Dave shows that his singing ability has really grown since his first album.
There's a nice range of material here - and some really good songs I had never heard before. I like Dave's songwriting so much that my main gripe is that there are no songs of his own on here - but that wasn't the purpose of the album, so it isn't really a fair complaint.

Dave is a great performer, and the tour he did supporting this album was really good. He's a good singer, a great songwriter, a hot guitarist, and comes across great onstage, dynamic yet humble.

I got the chillbumps and practically started weeping as soon as I heard the first guitar notes of "Shenandoah" which opens this gorgeous new CD from the brilliant Dave Alvin. The song was written to be sung by him, I swear. His voice is molasses, and his guitar playing is, as always, smooth, easy, nasty, dirty and mean. The man can play. "Public Domain" as a record is a great idea, putting together these great old folk, blues and cowboy tunes, and Dave does a beautiful job covering them. I ain't crazy about "Walk Right In" (don't need to hear that again) or "Railroad Bill" (um, just don't like it), but I love all the others. It's dark, it's sweet, and it's a hoot. Grab your guitar, start a campfire in your living room, spin this cd and sing along! Yee-Ha!

If kd lang's INVINCABLE SUMMER is like a summer afternoon drinking lemonade under a share tree, then PUBLIC DOMAIN is a summer evening on the back porch with old friends playing and singing. There are light tunes on here that are just fun to listen to, sing along if you want, like Railroad Bill or Walk Right In. They aren't the usual rich sound or lyrics for those familar with Dave Alvin songs. There are other songs on here that earlier traveling troubadours of the American West would surely have sung around summer evening campfires, like A Short Life of Trouble. Personally, I found Sheneandoah, Murder of The Lawson Family, and Sign of Judgement to be hauntingly beautiful being sung in that soulfully rich Dave Alvin voice. The tunes, characters and the struggles of love, loss, sadness and joy are familar enough to us and brought back to life in this classic collection done in classic style. Pull up a chair on the back pourch and sing along.