Customer Reviews

The Seed-At-Zero

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

 

 

Those listeners already familiar with the breadth, scope and quality of Robin Williamson's work should not be surprised to se him take on such a seemingly monumental endeavor -- setting works of Dylan Thomas to music. I don't think there's another artist more suited to the task. Williamson's arrangements -- sparse, skeletal constructions utilising acoustic guitar, harp and mandolin to accompany his one-of-a-kind voice -- are simple and perfect, not once getting in the way of the words. And the words, after all, are the jewels in this showcase.

Thomas has been admired and reviled, worshipped and derided, since he first unleashed his incredible literary vision on an unsuspecting world back in the 30s. Few before or since have had at their disposal his remarkable gift for turning the English language on its head, twisting it inside-out, yet, in the process, revealing its heart and soul, as well as that of the human condition and our world, in the process.

Though the cd is touted as 'Dylan Thomas set to music', there are only five works here actually written by Thomas. However, Williamson's own pieces, as well as his choices of works from other sources, perfectly complement Thomas' own. The words roll off Robin's tongue magically, wrap themselves around the mind, burrow into it, and draw the listener inexorably into another world, from which nothing will ever look the same.

Williamson's own 'Cold days of February' brings with it chilling new insights, absent in the old recording by his group The Incredible String Band, on their album 'Hard rope and silken twine'. It's a timeless piece, more relevant than ever.

It's especially interesting to see the works of Thomas and Williamson side by side, as it were -- Robin's work is anything but derivative, but there are definite echoes there. His use of language, not only in the selectrions contained here, but in his entire body of work, is extraordinary.

Not an album full of tunes you'll find yourself whistling at work, but one which will touch your soul, and to which, I predict, you will return again and again.

Robin has already completed work on a second album for ECM, featuring the works of Whitman, Blake and Vaughan, entitled 'Skirting the river road', set for release in 2002. The Incredible String Band has also reformed, including fellow-founding members Mike Heron and Clive Palmer -- we can look forward to a renaissance of creativity in this new millenium....

This is a work of quite astonishing intensity and of major importance to the worlds of poetry and music. Williamson's genius for delighting, amazing, and sometimes perplexing his audience is brought into breathtaking focus as he applies his interpretive talents to the already vivid and virile poetry of Dylan Thomas (and others). The arrangements are stark: the opening "The World" serves as un unflinching declaration of intent as, unaccompanied, he uncurls and carresses every vowel and syllable of this momentous work. Easy listening it definitely is not, but hair-raising and mind-boggling it certainly is. How does the man manage to sing like this? There is just no-one else performing at this level - Robin Williamson is truly in a class of his own. As the album unfolds Robin re-visits some of his own earlier works to good effect, playing to his vocal and intsrumental strengths with many a deft touch and a sure craftsman's eye for detail. Despite all the astonishing skill on display here, however, its most remarkable feature is the amount of pure "heart" which the artist has put into these songs. He is in his element here, giving everything. Buy this album and enrich your life!

Creating sparse settings for the poems of Dylan Thomas and others, Robin Williamson has fashioned a quiet, respectful, and meditative CD. Williamson's voice does not soar. Rather, it connects you to the earth; a solid low timber emanates and gives a good solid base for the poems selected. The music doesn't interfere with the words; it accompanies them in a cooperative manner, making the music work for the poetry unobtrusively. The fact that Williamson put his heart into this work can be easily heard. The only difficulty with this CD is the unbalanced nature of the compositions chosen; Thomas's work dominates, and the other pieces chosen from Welsh traditionals and Mr. Williamson's own work don't quite have the same beauty, although Williamson's "For Mr. Thomas" is a worthy effort.

`The seed-at-zero' and `Skirting The River Road' are two CDs by Robin Williamson which come as close, in 2000 and 2002 respectively, to plumbing the sources of Williamson's inspirations for many of his Incredible String Band songs. And, both demonstrate that in spite of Williamson's polymath abilities with many old instruments, his most distinctive instrument is his voice, it's Scottish accent, and the poetic intelligence behind his interpretation of both his own and others' lyrics. I am constantly amazed at how Williamson can turn the enunciation of a broad `a' into two syllables.

As much as The Incredible String Band's songs seemed to be for and about children, the works on these two albums are not only for adults, many seem to be reflections of older men (Women readers please excuse the male noun, as all authors and artists are male!).

While outward appearance and common publisher (German company ECM) and common producer (Steve Lake) suggest a common set of material, the two albums have a few important differences.

`The seed-at-zero' is a true solo performance with Williamson doing all vocals and performing all instrumental accompaniments. It is also devoted primarily to musical interpretations of poems by Dylan Thomas plus similar song poems by Williamson himself.

`Skirting the River Road' is poems by Walt Whitman, William Blake, and Henry Vaughan set to music and sung by Williamson. Unlike the earlier work, Williamson is joined by four sidemen, primarily to provide jazz settings for some of Whitman's poems of urban scenes.

The single familiar work on either album is `The Bells of Rhymeny' based on a poem by Idris Davies with music by Pete Seeger and made famous by a performance by The Byrds.

Williamson has done some pleasant storytelling albums and live duets with both Mike Heron and John Renbourn since his Incredible String Band days. And, he has done some albums that I feel are pretty forgettable. None of them are really bad. It's just that the standard set by the best Incredible String Band albums is so high that Williamson has to really reach to approach our memory of these great little entertainments.

While these albums are not terribly original, they offer a new view of Williamson's talent instead of the recycled stuff on other post ISB albums.

If you really like The Incredible String Band, especially Williamson's songs and performances with that group, I recommend both of these recordings.

The Seed-at-Zero certainly isn't for the faint-hearted - at first, I found it a bit difficult to get really in there, but when past that threshold there's a wealth to find. I must admit that some of Dylan Thomas' poems are still too dark for me, but all poems&lyrics are challenging in the right way. Do Robin's own poems seem out of place? Not at all, I assure you, as he's a truly great poet himself - a fact that may be obscured by his reputation as a musician.

This cd shows Robin in top form - never mind his lighthearted work with the newly-formed Incredible String Band: the essential stuff is here, in these works of words.

This is, by far, one of the best recordings of poetry set to music that I have ever heard...the only other comparable one would be An American Prayer (Jim Morrison and The Doors). Yet, while Morrison's poems are mystical word-plays set to swirling musical themes, Williamson takes his own poems, along with those of Dylan Thomas, Henry Vaughan, Idris Davies and the bards Llywarch Hen and Taliesin, and puts them in the stark musical settings one would expect from a Celtic bard of ancient and medieval times.
And what a bard he is! I find The Seed-at-Zero to be a perfect companion piece to such classic ISB albums as The 5000 Spirits and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. Williamson sings/chants much of the work in the style he frequently employed in the Incredible String Band, using the sustained notes common to Indian music. His accompanying instrumentation, again, is played in the freeform style that he and Mike Heron used as the linchpins of the ISB, if not nearly as exotic--perhaps because the themes of the poetry are a bit darker and more Celtic, which would seem to need guitar, harp and mandolin more than they would, say, sitar or Moroccan bowed gimbri.
Indeed, not an easy listen--this album requires a concentrated mind and a focused ear and works, at least for me, best on Sunday afternoons when spare acoustic music is required listening. I don't agree at all with the prior reviewer who stated "The muse is upstairs packing"; the muse has remained most faithful to Mr. Williamson, if taking on a different aspect in his later middle age. Definitely recommended.