Customer Reviews

Ten Thousand Mornings

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He's been on the contemporary acoustic scene for a few years now, so it's easy to take Peter Mulvey a bit for granted, but Ten Thousand Mornings reminds us all over again that this man is an amazing talent. A fine songwriter himself, on this album his selection of material by other artists is unerring, and he makes every song his own.

Live recording in the subway lends this record a special energy and intensity felt in songs like "Stranded in a Limousine" by Paul Simon. But on some of the tracks we get to hear a gentler side of Mulvey as well. Mulvey's guitar playing is intricate, varied and exciting, his voice is remarkably expressive, and guest singers and instrumentalists add something special on many songs. The result is a great CD, with a wonderful, varied selection of songs and styles. Every track is another gem, and somehow it works beautifully together. Listen once, and you'll be hooked.

This CD also has a very cool hyperCD movie feature, giving us an extra glimpse of Peter Mulvey as poet and sometime busker.

Anyone who has ever seen Peter Mulvey in concert knows that the song catalog he plays from is deeper than the deepest ocean, and ranges from Bach to Radiohead. This collection of covers recorded live in Boston's subway platforms is a great example of Peter's versatility. He manages Paul Simon (Stranded in a Limousine) with a building intensity and Randy Newman (In Germany Before the Way) with a quiet, haunting calm - all the while making the songs very much his own.

My favorites on this disc are probably For No One (Lennon & McCartney) and The Ocean (Dar Williams). Guest appearances include Erin McKeown, Chris Smither and Jennifer Kimball, along with Peter's sideman extraordinaire, David "Goody" Goodrich. Bottom line, this is a must have album.

I discovered Peter at a friend's house and it was not long after that I owned all of his albums. I like his refreshing take on artists that I had never even considered before. His crisp, soulful guitar playing is perfectly balanced by his passionate voice. I would say that this is my second favorite of his albums (Rapture being my first) because only one of the songs is actually his. If you're looking for something new, Peter Mulvey will not disappoint you.

This CD is a total triumph: the covers are interestingly interpreted and the guitar work is brilliantly conceived and presented. But those are clinical words, actually, clinical adverbs mostly, and this CD just is a great big love song to the artists Mulvey covers, and the characters in the stories in the songs. It's the kind of CD that makes you hum when you think of it even in London's lousy weather, and makes you feel better about being alive.