There's a Light Beyond These Woods [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Nanci Griffith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 8, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Philo / Umgd
• ASIN: B00005UMTH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,862 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still one of her best, February 23, 2000

By 

longtimeAmazonian (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's a Light Beyond These Woods (Audio CD)

I own every album Nanci Griffith has ever made. I admit to being more of a fan of her early works (especially Poet in My Window and Last of the True Believers). Every now and then, I listen to There's a Light Beyond These Woods and I admire the incredible strength of her voice, the purity of her vision and the relative simplicity of the songs compared to later efforts. Plenty of toe-tapping songs here too, especially Montana Backroads.

If you like Nanci Griffith and you don't own this album, BUY IT NOW, you will love it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Last of the True Believers...Griffith & Rounder", February 19, 2002

By 

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: There's a Light Beyond These Woods (Audio CD)

Rounder presents the unforgettable beginnings from Nanci Griffith's early release of 1978...the innocent folk writings in "THERE'S A LIGHT BEYOND THESE WOODS"(her debut album), gives the listener a clear look at one of the purest songwriter/artists of our time.

Being a big fan of Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and Joni Mitchell, this vintage release from Rounder is a welcome treat for all folk, bluegrass and country fans all from the "O Brother Where Art Thou" region.

Want to close with my favorite pick of the album "ALABAMA SOFT SPOKEN BLUES", is poetry in motion, beautiful beyond all words, Nanci's performance sets her apart even at this early period of her career...thank you Rounder, for sharing this classic album from the past.

Total Time: 37:51 on 9 Tracks ~ Philo/Rounder 11671-1234-2 ~ (2002)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great album, her best (at least in some ways), April 15, 2008

By 

Sanpete (in Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's a Light Beyond These Woods (Audio CD)

This is one of my very favorite CDs. Griffith has done some fine work throughout her career, and is still going strong, but there is a special purity, directness, and freshness here in her first album.

It's partly because of how it was recorded, live straight to two tracks in a small studio in Austin, Texas on four days in 1977 and '8. No overdubs. The instrumentation suits her perfectly, basically folk/bluegrass instruments, including banjo, mandolin and dobro, with the addition of some tasteful cello; not all acoustic--there's an electric bass, and a bit of electric piano to good effect on one song. The arrangements are full of fine touches, including excellent harmony vocals; a lot of love went into this. All live in the studio. The sound quality is quite good, all the instruments and voices clear.

Griffith's voice is strong and pure, with that very slight, tight vibrato that adds a bit of a tear to it. ("Tear" as in "teardrop"!)

Griffith's career has moved from the folky, even somewhat bluegrassy music here and on her follow-up Poet in My Window (four years later), to near-mainstream Nashville country, to a kind of hybrid of Nashville and folk. This is Griffith at her folkiest.

The songs here include some of her best, all very good at the least.

The title song is probably the best known, as it was rerecorded for her more commercially successful Lone Star State of Mind album eight years later. Like many of the songs on this album, its sweet tones have a strong wistful, melancholy undertow. It looks back on two young girls, herself and her real-life friend, beginning with their fantasies as ten-year-olds and going through young love, separation, the death of Griffith's boyfriend, Mary Margaret's marriage, and what they've come to. (I've included additional comments and the complete lyrics for this song in the first comment attached to this review.)

The differences between the the two recordings of the song illustrate some of the differences between this album and what came later. Here it unfolds at a slow, deliberate pace, much of it in subdued tones, with cello. The arrangement is spare, uncluttered, intimate, Griffith's voice very clear, up front. In the later recording her voice is a little more distant sounding, with more reverb as though she's in an echoey room (or possibly her voice track was processed with reverb for effect), with somewhat different and fuller instrumentation, including weeping electric guitar, and harmony vocals. The second version seems just a bit quicker and has more of a lilt. It sounds dreamier, sweeter, nostalgic. The version here is wistful, seemingly with something heartbroken in it.

I love both versions. Maybe each focuses on a different aspect of the song. It seems to be a lament of things lost, but also a reminder that the light still shines. Mary Margaret participated in the making of this album, cowrote a song and sang harmonies.

By the way, if it seems strange that someone who looks about 15 in her cover photo should be looking back on her life, it may help to know she was actually 24. She had been performing in public since she was 14.

Not all the arrangements are so spare; some are more full-sounding, particularly the opening track, which has massed harmonies, and which also features someone's brief attempt at an American Indian chant. Not entirely convincing, but I like it, and it fits the song.

"Michael's Song" is the sparest-sounding one, Griffith's plaintive vocal, two sweet, quiet acoustic guitars, and a touch of bass. "West Texas Sun" is similarly done, but features the cello throughout in place of the bass. It's the dobro and banjo backing Griffith on "Montana Backroads," with the bass keeping the beat; mandolin, guitar and bass on "John Philip Griffith," with the cello coming in too.

There are no weak links here. Every song is a unique pleasure. "Alabama Soft Spoken Blues," the one cowritten by Mary Margaret, is one of the sweetest, mildest songs Griffith ever recorded. Well, mainly. The man it's about must have been a real "Alabama sweet-talking baby," as she calls him, because even though she left him, there are gentle memories and ever-so-soft harmonies. There are more soft harmonies on the also-gentle "Song for the Remembered Heroes."

Another stand-out song is contributed by Griffith's then-husband, folk singer/guitarist/songwriter Eric Taylor, who sings and plays lead on his "Dollar Matinee." His voice has a touch of a John Prine quality. The guitar and dobro are nicely syncopated. Griffith sings harmony and takes a verse herself.

If you like folk, bluegrass, or even alt-country, I think you'll probably enjoy this. And fans of Nanci Griffith will surely want to get to know it.