The Beauty of the Rain [ENHANCED]

Dar Williams

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 18, 2003)
• Original Release Date: February 18, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Razor & Tie
• ASIN: B0000894RG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  DVD Audio  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,874 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Styles > Alternative Folk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
With each release, this East Coast singer-songwriter moves farther from the strictures of folk into the musical mainstream. While Dar Williams's artistic trademarks--lyrical introspection, melodic warmth, an occasional tendency toward breathy vocal preciousness--remain much in evidence on this collection, produced by Stewart Lerman and Rob Hyman, the expanded musical support adds more rhythmic propulsion and layers of harmonies to the mix. Among the highlights are "I Saw a Bird Fly Away," featuring the harmonica chirp and background vocals of Blues Traveler's John Popper and the keyboard of John Medeski, and a hymnlike transformation of the Band's "Whispering Pines," with vocal counterpoint from Cliff Eberhardt and harmonies from Alison Krauss. Other musicians making key contributions include banjoist Béla Fleck, trumpeter Chris Botti, bassist Stefan Lessard (Dave Matthews Band), and fiddler Mike Kang (String Cheese Incident). Titles such as "Farewell to the Old Me" and "I Have Lost My Dreams" reinforce the spirit of transformation, though one of the strongest cuts here, "Mercy of the Fallen," sticks closest to folk convention. --Don McLeese

Product Description
Dar Williams delivers her most stunning work to date with The Beauty Of The Rain, showcasing a new, fuller sound and her master at mapping out the emotional terrain of people whose lives are in transition. Produced by Rob Hyman (Joan Osborne, Hooters) and Stewart Lerman (Laurie Anderson), The Beauty Of The Rain features guest appearances by a remarkable roster of talent: platinum artist Alison Krauss on vocals, Bela Fleck on banjo, John Popper (Blues Traveler) manning the harmonica and backup vocals, Stefan Lessard (Dave Matthews Band) on bass, electro-jazz wiz John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood) on keyboards, Chris Botti on trumpet, and Michael Kang (String Cheese Incident) on fiddle.

Alison Krauss, Bela Fleck, John Medeski, Stefan Lessard, Chris Botti and John Popper among guests joining Dar on this album.

24 bit / 96 kHz DVD-Audio, 24 bit / 48 kHz Dolby Digital 5.1, and stereo options
Stunning 5.1 surround sound
Lyrics
Artist Photos
Weblinks
Plays on ALL DVD players --This text refers to the DVD Audio edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How does this woman know my family and me?, July 4, 2003

By	Brian Melendez (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The beauty of a Dar Williams album is that you buy it for a song that you heard on the radio, or a snippet of words and music heard in the background of a television show's soundtrack. You listen, you enjoy, then it hits you: the mainstreamy, poppish tunes that you thought you were getting are just the surface current. Dar Williams's music always runs much deeper, and one day you realize how much lies beneath the surface (and wonder why the record companies and the deejays aren't displaying the real treasures).

As it did to some extent on "The Green World," the album before this one, a subtle theme of family runs through this album's songs (some of them, anyway). And Dar's understanding of family is rich and complex. Her songs are not syrupy ballads about parents loving their children, nor are they angry screeds about one generation rebelling against the generation before. Those motifs are both present, from the anger of "Your Fire Your Soul" ("But any day now one of us could die, and if we make you suffer don't you want to find out why, / Cause we love to watch you try, With your fire, your soul, your soul") to her heartstring-tugging ode to a mother's love for her child in "The One Who Knows" ("I want to teach your heart to trust, as I will teach my own, / But sometimes I will ask the moon where it shined upon you last, / And shake my head and laugh and say it all went by too fast."). Love and anger aren't always mutually exclusive, though, in life or in these songs, and Dar is at her best when she captures them together ("You should leave this house, leave this town, All that's left to chart is nothing less than your own heart. / What can you do with a day? What will you wake up and see? / The farther you get, the closer to me.").

If you are buying this album for a song that you heard on the radio--"I Saw a Bird Fly Away," say, or "Closer to Me"--they are here and they are good songs. And it only gets better from there. I listen to Dar's music wondering, How does this woman know my family? and me? And I am grateful that such an insightful poet with such a beautiful voice is gracing the same generation as I am living in.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous., May 13, 2004

By A Customer

I was also introduced to Dar through her earlier music and very reticent to get this album, based on concerns about it being overly "pop." I got it anyway, and am very glad I did. It's definitely not the acoustic singalong style of some earlier music, but it's very far from soulless pop. The songs are gorgeously crafted and the lyrics are in many cases quite moving. Dar has not let me down in any way with this lovely album.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty to a new fan, January 21, 2005

By	J. Wohlgemuth - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like many, I suppose, I know of Dar and her friend Richard Shindell through the album Cry,Cry,Cry. Due to the loveliness of that I bought The Beauty of the Rain and have been pleased and blessed every since. Even when I can't say I am in tune with her philosophical wanderings, the melody and musicality woo my ears. From the deep swirly harmony of "Whispering Pines" to the bareness (in accompaniment and honesty) of the title track to the poppish beat mixing sadness and hope in "Mercy of the Fallen," this CD makes a nice aural backdrop to my day (though I admit to skipping over the lesser songs, such as "I Saw a Bird."

Concerning its similarity to previous albums, you older fans have to have seen her moving towards this style, especially after Green Things. I like this style much better than her early stuff--which I think fitted into folk of the 90's and not neccessarily folk definitively, but take into account that I listened to that earlier stuff only recently and was not a devoted fan over the years. Some differences would be more conventionally ordered verses and choruses, more focused but less informative narrative, and yes, a more pop/rock beat. To each his own!