3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting attempt to reach beyond the folksinger mold, October 16, 2010
This review is from: The Things I Notice Now (Audio CD)
This Tom Paxton album comes from that period where folkies were stretching beyond acoustic guitars and Appalachian-derived melodies to incorporate instrumental and melodic / harmonic elements of rock, jazz, and even art-song forms (think Phil Ochs' "Pleasures of the Harbor" or Tim Buckley's "Goodbye and Hello"). Tom Paxton's voice isn't as adaptable to such a musical environment as some of these others, but the batch of songs he comes up with here show a nice stylistic variety ("Bishop Cody's Last Request" is juiced-up, "HIghway 61"-style folk rock, the title cut a self-deprecating Mose Allison-like jazz-blues, for instance). And Paxton really reaches with "The Iron Man," essentially a political novel in the form of a song cycle that took up nearly all of Side Two on the original LP. There's a lot to admire here, and although in the end it's neither as satisfying as some of Paxton's stronger "straight folk" albums (like "Outward Bound") or similar experiments by folkies with suppler, more expressive voices, I still find myself drawn deeply into it whenever I put it on the stereo.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
