Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth

His Name Is Alive | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 4ad / Ada
• ASIN: B00005B9LF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,096 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #73 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

The change in direction which Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth embodies may have been a gradual one for His Name Is Alive, but it may still come as a shock (although hopefully a pleasant one) for fans of the one-time Cocteau Twins-influenced art rockers. This beautifully crafted album is essentially a showcase for the sensuous and hypnotic vocals of gospel singer Lovetta Pippen. But equally, it shows off for the production work of Warn Defever. From the muted R&B backing of the "Write My Name in the Groove" to the crackling gramophone-filtered jazz of "Solitude," Warn perfectly builds on the drama and atmosphere within each heartfelt track. "One Year," with its funky bassline and infectious lyrics, is a great pop track, sounding not dissimilar to the Sugababes, but the lyrics ("if you had a year to live") still stick closely to the blues project that dominates the album. Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth may have been 10 years in the making, but as this breathtaking collection of blues-influenced soul, jazz, and modern R&B demonstrates, good things come to those who wait. --Caroline Butler

Product Description

Out of print in the U.S.! Originally released in 2001, Someday My Blues Will Cover The Earth is a collection of 10 songs and three interludes: emotional ballads and, in the words of leader Warn Defever himself, simple, make-out R&B. As Defever had intended, Singer Lovetta Pippen's vocal is the star of the show. In one instance she can demonstrate a childlike innocence 'Write My Name In The Groove' and in the next breath she artfully regurgitates the fragile tenderness of Billie Holiday in 'Solitude' and then reaches the glorious high pitches of Linda Lewis in 'Karin's Blues'. Putting emphasis on the vocal doesn't mean that the music has been disregarded. From lo-fi blues to classical to R&B this is an album that has been toiled over. 4AD.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underrated, even by HNiA's fans..., November 14, 2002

By 

Stopheles (Ridgewood, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth (Audio CD)

This is a truly wonderful album, which is ultimately (and unfortunately) polarizing fans of His Name is Alive. I'm a fan of HNiA's older work, and have always found Warn Defever's strength to be in aesthetic more than in songwriting (not meant as a slight at all) -- on this record, however, Defever's working without the safety net of his trademark sound, and is in fact working with not only a new 'band' arrangement but a remarkably different chanteuse. The songwriting, as a result of not being submerged behind layers of lo-fi patina, had to step up to the task. And it really did. Full songs -- not fragments, not three-line verses -- show what Defever was heading towards in the production and songwriting of STARS ON E.S.P..

Listening to Lovetta Pippin sing on the first few tracks, it's not hard to see what Defever saw in her as a musician -- her voice is the sort of instrument that could only intrigue a musician as wide-reaching as he has been in the past few years. She's got a great tone, a great delivery, and well acts her songs.

Many of these reviews claim that this is not really a HNiA album, that the differences are just too great between this and the quiet, affecting pop on LIVONIA and HOME IS IN YOUR HEAD...I disagree. I hear familiar chord progressions, familiar trickling guitar and cello notes. I hear statements in the lyrics that are as opaque and sad as those in Warn's older work. It's radically different, yes, but no less impressive, no less affecting. It would be wonderful to see this make it to the mainstream, but (for all of the complainers' issues with it sounding 'like Mariah Carey') this is an album that's too idiosyncratic, too intelligent to be properly pushed towards a receptive audience. Sadly, 4AD doesn't seem to know how to push His Name is Alive to anything other than a clove-cigarettes-and-copies-of-Faulkner crowd, which does Pippin and Defever a disservice. This was a very brave move for him to make, and he deserves credit for it.

Really, I think attempting to redo HOME IS IN YOUR HEAD would be selling out much more than would be letting a new relationship with an impressive musician take your music in new directions. More musicians should be so daring.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Karin come back! (he was wrong to let you go), September 7, 2001

By 

Jonathan J. Casey (the twin cities) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth (Audio CD)

Okay- please bear with me, 'cause I'm gonna start with the criticisms...

The main problem I have with this record is that it is successful neither as a straight R&B album nor as a His Name Is Alive album, which leaves us in something of a nebulous zone. I have much respect for Warn Defever's skills, but the beats tend to get in the way. I think the basic problem is in trying to force an R&B structure onto songs which are so clearly not of that realm. Just listen to the version of "One Year" on Warn's solo release "I Want You to Live One Hundred Years," compare it to this recording (with Lovetta's syrupy croon replacing Warn's anguished crack), and you'll see what I mean. And while I'm sure Warn is really happy with this new version of "Are We Still Married," I don't think it stands up to any of HNIA's earlier renditions. Which brings me to the next big issue: the absence of Karin Oliver. While I knew this was going to be a Lovetta spectacular, the song title "Karin's Blues" (listed on the 4AD web site well before the actual album release) gave me a sliver of hope that she'd make an appearance. Instead it is the song that I most wish had been left off this album, seeming like a suburban high school band's rendition of the blues more than anything. HNIA has always flirted with disparate styles and survived, making the process that much more impressive (look at the shift from old time-y folk to surf-rock on "Stars on ESP"). Here, however, the experiments fail more often than succeed, proving nothing more than Warn's fallibility, which he needn't be crucified for. He's still an amazingly talented, adventurous musician.

Keep this in mind when you first put this CD on, for you will be greeted by the kind of magic that I have come to expect from His Name Is Alive, and I suppose that's what really counts. "Nothing Special" sounds a little like "No Hiding Place Down Her" from "Ft. Lake," which should give you a good idea of what to expect. "Write My Name In The Groove" is about the most upbeat this album gets, which is mostly full of slower, introspective songs (and not too much guitar wankery). Warn digs out his ancient wire recorder once again for a brief (and very effective) foray into Duke Ellington's "Solitude," but elsewhere there are hi-fi flourishes of strings and piano. The focus of this album is supposed to be Lovetta's voice, and it is impressive. I still miss the ethereal Karin, though, and hope that Defever's love affair will eventually give way to some amazing new songs.

Compared to HNIA's other releases, this one is flawed. I got my hopes up pretty high since it was delayed so long, and I do expect this release will grow on me, but I was counting on something more immediately mind-blowing. As it is, it stands as a fine record, just not one of Warn's best. He's working on an instrumental album (with much of the same cast) for time stereo, and I wonder if much of this could've been released as one of his many side projects rather than the "big" new HNIA album. Buy it, enjoy it, check out timestereo.com for more obscure Warn releases and other fun stuff.

Fans of Ida please note: Dan Littleton plays on a few tracks here (and co-wrote "Happy Blues"). Violinist Ida Pearle appears, as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best album of 2001, August 28, 2002

By 

Neil "Neil" (New Orleans) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth (Audio CD)

Most people might think of this album as a sharp 90 degree turn for the band, but I disagree. Owning all albums from the first up until this one, there is a definite path of growth and change, and this album makes perfect sense. I listen - I still hear His Name Is Alive. Their subtle nuances are unmistakable. This album is finely crafted and beautifully thought out and the attention to detail shows. It is one of my all time favorite albums. Their new album will be out 23/Sept/2002, and I can hardly wait... If it is anywhere near the beautiful album 'Somday' is, then we're all in for a second treat.
Neil