Customer Reviews

Sand & Water

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I ran across this beautiful collection of songs, quite by chance, while watching a recent episode of ER. The episode was titled "Sand and Water" and ended with that song playing in the background. I was instantly struck by its haunting melody and the poignance and powerful imagery of the lyrics. I used the Internet to search on that title and found the CD. After listening to it several times now, it has achieved a status as one of the favorites of my life. I lost my mother not too long ago and I have struggled with my grief and finding words to express my feelings. The experience of hearing Beth's beautiful voice express her thoughts is finally helping me reach depths within my soul that I have been unable to find before. To quote her from the liner notes on the CD, 'in my experience there is no way around grief - there is only through to the other side'. To all those who are having similar problems in dealing with the loss of someone you loved so very much, please share my wonderment by discovering Beth Nielsen Chapman and her astonishing creation. Thank you Beth. You have my heartfelt gratitude.

I lost my dad to cancer in 1997. A close friend gave me this beautiful CD, and I tried to listen to it but I couldn't get through it--it was so heart-wrenching. Then - like everyone else, I saw the second episode of ER this season and realized that I owned a recording of the beautiful song, "Sand and Water," sung at the end. I got out the album and listened to it over and over. I didn't like the uptempo tracks (Happy Girl, etc) -so-the second time through, I programmed it to play only the melodic ballads. WOW!

I can be very moved by music, but not to the point of tears - with one exception - hearing the title track of this album. Beth Nielsen Chapman has accomplished seemingly the impossible - she has expressed the personal, gut-wrenching experience of loss and grief without being cloying. This is a tasteful, exquisite recording. I recommend it.

Her music, lyrics, voice...the whole package that is Beth Nielsen-Chapman...a treasure that is to be shared. I just wish that more people have heard of her. When someone hears her songs, they ask me all the time who it is. I send them to the store. They buy one cd...they buy her next one...every friend who I have introduced this amazing songwriter, have all gone to get their own copy soon thereafter. "Sand and Water" is one woman's way of saying goodbye to her husband, but it becomes everyone's way of dealing with loss after listening to it. "Say Goodnight" is reminding us that after someone dies, the memory is always with you. You may have only had them for a moment in time, but the memory lives on. It is about time that Beth has been given some recognition, even though it was with "This Kiss". Hopefully that will bring people to her. It is about time.

The moment I heard her voice on the second episode of ER this season I knew I had to have this CD. I called the local NBC affiliate and could get no information. When the episode aired again last night, I found other ER junkies online and they identified Beth Neilsen Chapman for me. I especially love her tender ballads; they remind me of another favorite artist, Mary Chapin Carpenter. The title track, Sand and Water, speaks for my heart since I have lost my mother to cancer, my husband to AIDS and my baby daughter to meningitis and myocarditis. I thank God for someone who has the gift to express the emotions that stir inside many of us. Beth Neilsen Chapman is truly a treasure about to be discovered.

After seeing a figure skater doing a song "The Color Of Roses" by Lorrie Morgan, I discovered that it was a cover song. Who did that splendid song originally? In the process of finding out that it was Beth Nielsen Chapman, I further discovered that she had done the album Sand And Water in the wake of her husband's death to cancer, and many of the sad heartfelt ballads reflect that loss and the many stages of grief she went through.

In coping, it's clear Beth tries to take things philosophically. The dual dynamics of life are explored in the piano and strings ballad "The Color of Roses" "Life gives us magic/and life brings us tragedy/everyone suffers some loss/still we have some faith in it"

"Beyond The Blue" which includes some excerpts from the Paramahansa Yogananda Cosmic Chants demonstrates her gentle but soaring vocals, which has a gentle substance like Carole King or Karla Bonoff, but smoother. "This life is but a dream/go gently down the stream..." seems to have a Taoist element in there.

The stresses of everyday burning away "All The Time In The World" is a mid-paced light country rocker. "These precious days we live through/thrown away like tissue/I wish I could give you all the time in the world" she sings. And she further sings she would dodge cops, jump ditches, and drive eighty miles an hour just to do that.

The title track is just as tearful as "The Color of Roses" as it shows how we are forced to do some things "all alone", such as trying to find meaning amid the pain, in Chapman's case, this meaning her loss and how she will have to raise their son by herself. "All alone I came into this world/all alone I will someday die/solid stone is just sand and water, baby/sand and water, and a million years gone by" goes the chorus. Chapman got a shot in the arm when Elton John heard this and began performing it live.

"Fair Enough" veers more light guitar jazz than the country rock or melodic ballads. "Seven Shades Of Blue" is an intimate folk song featuring Michael McDonald as a guest vocalist. A very tactile song at one point, where she describes the rain like "little knives upon our tongues."

"Happy Girl" is a more upbeat number about the transformation going from "a face of stone and a heart of gloom", "standing in a corner wearing concrete shoes" to "roll[ing] my heart out like a welcome mat." The harmonica, mandolin, and bandoleon give this a more folky tinge, kind of like Mellencamp during his Lonesome Jubilee days.

"No One Knows But You" is another piano ballad, where she sings about feeling her lost one's presence. The bridge totally shows her devotion: "And if there is some magic/some way around these stars/.../I'll cry this empty canyon/an ocean full of tears."

Bonnie Raitt shows up as guest vocalist for "Heads Up For The Wrecking Ball" a song about keeping oneself solid in the mean old world, and to do the title thing. Slide dulcimers, accordions, and dobros give this a slight folky tinge.

"Say Goodnight", as opposed to saying goodbye, is another coping mechanism for loss. Another tearful piano and strings ballad that closes the album, although there is a brief instrumental of "The Color Of Roses" that's on the same track.

A few tissues for the more soft-hearted is recommended on songs like the title track, "The Color of Roses" and "Say Goodnight." This is a very personal album and Chapman finds an effective way to cope with her loss. After listening to this, I feel like giving her a nice warm hug and saying "It's gonna be okay."

I had never heard of BNC before I watched the episode of ER that featured the song "Sand and Water". It didn't take too much effort to find out who the artist was. I immediately ordered the CD. It is music that stirs the soul. Having lost a young son recently, I know the pain and anguish of a broken heart. Beth Nielsen Chapman speaks to the heart and helps to bring you through the grief.

Sand and Water is a classic, a beautiful collection of heartfelt stories. The CD came about following the death of Beth Nielsen Chapman's husband following a long struggle with cancer. Her voice is true and clear. The haunting clarity of sorrow and search for comfort and strength are the theme of many of the songs. There are also songs about the many facets of life and living. This is such a gift; it has carried me through the days prior to and after my own mother's death. The last time I talked to her, I sang "Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye" to her over the phone...This is music at its best, straight from the heart. I would give it more stars if I could.

Rarely have I heard a piece of recorded music that can touch my soul so directly. Beth Nielsen Chapman wrote most of the songs on this recording during her mourning period for her husband who died at a very young age. She explains in the liner notes that the work was a necessary part of the process and one can her working through her loss as she gains understanding and acceptance.

The title song always touches my soul when I hear it. Most people have suffered a loss and have searched for a way to understand and accept it. Chapman has invited us into her process and as a result created a work of great beauty.

The material is smart, gentle, and affecting and Chapman has a beautiful voice. She also has the gift of being able to go right to the core of the issue.

Highly recommended.

My wife of 38 years died a few months ago. Last week a friend sent me this brilliant album and I've played it at least a dozen times. It's so on the mark I can hardly believe it, and it's really helping me with the grieving process. Beth, if you're listening, thanks a million and God bless.

I first discovered Beth Nielsen Chapman one day on BBC Radio 2 when breakfast show DJ Terry Wogan aired I FIND YOUR LOVE a lot - heard it in the film CALENDAR GIRLS too. Then I looked her up and discovered this CD and its tearful title track which, as some reviewers stated, featured in ER. This whole album, while being written under distressing cirumstances(the death of Beth's husband Ernest of lymphoma) is just an amazing listen and is not all downbeat at all. In fact, in amongst the grief of some songs there is an acknowledgement that loved ones can reunite in Heaven, in the stars. THE COLOR OF ROSES has some nice classical piano playing influenced by the hymns she knew as a child(listen to the HYMNS album and you will see what I mean) and Beth displays her vocal range to its ful potential. BEYOND THE BLUE has a true world music feel on the drumming - check out the Gregorian chant at the end! ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD rocks and is a tale on how we must appreciate what's important(or not?) in life. The title track, as I said, is tearful and stunning to listen to - crisp classical guitar sounds on top of an acoustic ballad and comes across even better live - I saw Beth live at the Eastleigh Festival in the UK in August and this was the absolute high point of her set. Other favourite tracks on here are the light country influenced SEVEN SHADES OF BLUE, very deep and personal lyrics - loved the line about the kitchen table . . . You can imagine Beth is there in the room singing it to you with it's closeness. HAPPY GIRL is all about getting over the worst and is catchy and upbeat with lyrics of hope. NO ONE KNOWS BUT YOU is packed with more top piano playing and real raw emotion and I loved the appearance of the wonderful Bonnie Raitt(also recommended if you like Beth) on another upbeat, inspiring folk track similar to BEYOND THE BLUE called HEADS UP FOR THE WRECKING BALL, which conveys the message that you can get knocked back in life by a sad event but that there is a light at the end of it all and you have to stand up and face what life throws at you rather than hiding behind a wall and succumbing to depression. Overall, this CD comes highly recommended and if you're new to Beth, this is a great place to begin. Then get DEEPER STILL, LOOK and all the rest to appreciate this lady's versatile talents on vocals, guitar and piano. Not to forget she is one of the best songwriting geniuses around. And a lovely person to speak to - I got to meet her after her set at Eastleigh and even though I was in awe of her and couldn't believe I was really stood by her(and had a pic taken with her), found her pleasant, interesting, honest and always friendly to her fans, which in this day and age is a breath of fresh air and a wonderful thing indeed.