Two Wolves

John Flynn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 25, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mettafour/Kindred Rhythm
• ASIN: B000FUF6R2
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,747 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Two Wolves

2. There’s No Them There (Nomoreu’s Anthem)

3. Dover

4. My Father’s Chapel

5. Blink

6. Put Your Freedom Where Your Mouth Is

7. Azizulla

8. No More War

9. Pleasures of the Harbor

10. Sunflower

11. Hall of Angels

12. Trust the Rope

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

John Flynn is the kind of musician for whom protest music isn't a revived fad, dusted off and carried on the back of the war in Iraq, but a way of life, an activist's call for peace. Working in the direct and simple folk framework of the '60s (though he fleshes out his arrangements with restrained percussion and cello), Flynn employs an Arlo Guthrie-like tone of uncomplicated political morality. Though he sometimes treads the thin line between poetry and preachiness, his original songs nonetheless pack a wallop. "Dover" describes a U.S.-bound plane full of the bodies of fallen soldiers, all of whom we come to know as individuals, while the title song deftly turns on the Native American teachings of love and hatred. Still, Flynn benefits from two wisely chosen covers: Kris Kristofferson's luminous "Hall of Angels" (with a cameo vocal from the writer) and Phil Ochs's sad and haunting "Pleasures of the Harbor." Flynn is no special shakes as a vocalist, but one turns to him for conscience, not crooning. --Alanna Nash

Product Description

While John Flynn has drawn ovations as well as invective from audiences unaccustomed to this sort of candor, he has never before put the pieces together with the insight reflected on Two Wolves. The wonder of this album is that it speaks to listeners as if it had emerged from their own inner world.

Songs of faith ("My Father’s Chapel"), songs of hope ("Trust the Rope"), songs that measure our tolerance for hypocrisy ("Put Your Freedom Where Your Mouth Is") and our capacity for savoring the pleasures of love ("Sunflower"): with subtle metaphor and the plain poetry of common speech, with simple incantation ("No More War") and snapshot imagery ("Blink"), these songs convey essential messages, wrapped like gifts in the colors of music.

Teamed with a superlative cast that includes guitarists Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bill Morrissey) and Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Dar Williams), drummer Denny McDermott (Roseanne Cash, Donald Fagen), singer Jane Kelly Williams, producer Ben Wisch (Marc Cohn, Patty Larkin) and special guests Kathy Mattea and Kris Kristofferson, Flynn has it all on Two Wolves: a great band, powerful material, and a resolution to live and sing as he must at this stage of life.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Potent messages and efficacious imagery, November 23, 2006

By 

J. Ross "a-music_fan" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Two Wolves (Audio CD)

Playing Time - 49:54

Who They Are: John Flynn is a self-professed introspective contemporary folksinger and activist whose songs come from the heart.

Little Known Facts: John earned a 1980 degree from Temple University in political science

The Songs: Potent messages and efficacious imagery are presented in his ten self-penned songs. "There's No Them There," embellished with nicely-tailored harmonies, calls for a "a brand new way of seeing, a brand new way of freeing our fellow human beings by simply being kind." "No More War" declares "Violence has left its stain, Its drug is in our veins, It screams slay or be slain, It is a liar." A song for the fallen, "Dover" asks the big airplane to bring `em down easy out of the Delaware sky. Only 12-years-old, "Azizullah" is the sad tale of another casualty of war. Guitar, cello and oboe complement the reflective "Blink" with Flynn's observation "We blink and somehow time just flies." Kathy Mattea harmonizes on "My Father's Chapel," a call for understanding with "My father's chapel has many benches, Pews where the stranger may rest his feet." A radiant song of love remembered is "Sunflower" that exclaims "I would not trade the sunflower I held for a whole garden of flowers." Covers come from Phil Ochs ("Pleasures of the Harbor") and Kris Kristofferson ("Hall of Angels").

The Musicians: "Two Wolves" has some impressive talent with Kris Kristofferson, Kathy Mattea, and splendid instrumentalists like guitarists Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bill Morrissey) and Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Dar Williams), drummer Denny McDermott (Roseanne Cash, Donald Fagen), and singer Jane Kelly Williams. Producer Ben Wisch (Marc Cohn, Patty Larkin) has had a long and successful association with John Flynn.

Of Special Note: Flynn's harmonica provides some sweet conversational fill.

The Bottomline: An affable troubadour with strong messages that encourage peace, fairness, compassion, tolerance and optimism

Reviewed By: Joe Ross (staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An affable troubadour w/ strong messages of peace, fairness, compassion, tolerance & optimism, November 23, 2006

By 

J. Ross "a-music_fan" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Two Wolves (Audio CD)

Playing Time - 49:54

Who They Are: John Flynn is a self-professed introspective contemporary folksinger and activist whose songs come from the heart.

Little Known Facts: John earned a 1980 degree from Temple University in political science

The Songs: Potent messages and efficacious imagery are presented in his ten self-penned songs. "There's No Them There," embellished with nicely-tailored harmonies, calls for a "a brand new way of seeing, a brand new way of freeing our fellow human beings by simply being kind." "No More War" declares "Violence has left its stain, Its drug is in our veins, It screams slay or be slain, It is a liar." A song for the fallen, "Dover" asks the big airplane to bring `em down easy out of the Delaware sky. Only 12-years-old, "Azizullah" is the sad tale of another casualty of war. Guitar, cello and oboe complement the reflective "Blink" with Flynn's observation "We blink and somehow time just flies." Kathy Mattea harmonizes on "My Father's Chapel," a call for understanding with "My father's chapel has many benches, Pews where the stranger may rest his feet." A radiant song of love remembered is "Sunflower" that exclaims "I would not trade the sunflower I held for a whole garden of flowers." Covers come from Phil Ochs ("Pleasures of the Harbor") and Kris Kristofferson ("Hall of Angels").

The Musicians: "Two Wolves" has some impressive talent with Kris Kristofferson, Kathy Mattea, and splendid instrumentalists like guitarists Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bill Morrissey) and Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Dar Williams), drummer Denny McDermott (Roseanne Cash, Donald Fagen), and singer Jane Kelly Williams. Producer Ben Wisch (Marc Cohn, Patty Larkin) has had a long and successful association with John Flynn.

Of Special Note: Flynn's harmonica provides some sweet conversational fill.

The Bottomline: An affable troubadour with strong messages that encourage peace, fairness, compassion, tolerance and optimism

Reviewed By: Joe Ross

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE inspirational album, August 23, 2006

By 

Christine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Wolves (Audio CD)

Two Wolves by John Flynn is the most inspirational album I have heard in a long time. Each one of these songs has a very clear, important message. While each of these messages is different, they are each equally powerful. His music grabs hold of you and gives you something to think about as well as lifting your spirit. "Two Wolves", "Dover", "Blink", and his version of "Hall of Angels" are beautifully performed. I highly recommend this CD to everyone.