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Emmylou Harris - All I Intended to Be Audio CD

A fair review of the Emmylou Harris "All I Intended to Be" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Emmylou Harris reviews here, or go back to the Emmylou Harris tabs.

Emmylou Harris Band: Emmylou Harris
Title: All I Intended to Be
Rating:
Release Date: 2008-06-10
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Shores of White Sand 2: Hold On 3: Moon Song 4: Broken Man's Lament 5: Gold 6: How She Could Sing the Wildwood 7: All That You Have is Your Soul 8: Take That Ride 9: Old Five and Dimers Like Me 10: Kern River 11: Not Enough 12: Sailing Round the Room 13: Beyond the Great Divide

All the Intentions come Home
On her 2008 "All I Intended to Be," she digs in deep and follows a mournful track that is just pure Emmylou, teaming up with old collaborators like the McGarrigle sisters and her ex-husband/early producer Brian Ahern to make a fantastic album. Emmylou Harris could - to paraphrase an overworked comment - sing the phonebook and she could make me sad.

As the pure country strains of "Shores of White Sand" give way to a lilting Celtic flute, you realize Emmylou has moved away from the Daniel Lanois atmospherics of the lovely Red Dirt Girl and back to the openness of traditional country. "All I Intended To Be" stays the course with a mixture of Emmylou's original songs and a choice selection of covers from Merle Haggard, Patty Griffin and Tracy Chapman. Chapman's "All You Have Is Your Soul" (from her Crossroads) is one of the album's highlights.

But for me, the clincher is Harris's own "Gold. " Here, she invites Vince Gill and old Trio companion Dolly Parton to sing harmonies. The result is sublimely beautiful (and makes me wish for a return of the "Trio" for a third album). It's my favorite song on an album that surrounds the soul-pulling of sadness with strains of hope, and rates up among Emmylou Harris' best CD's.


Emmy Lou Harris
Very pleased with item, purchased for my husband, he loves it, was in mint condition and received it very promptly.


"All I Intended to be" Emmylou Harris
I cannot get enough of her music. "All I Intended to Be", the latest CD from Emmylou Harris is the best music she has ever created. I love Emmylou Harris's music.


Superb in every respect
The songs,brought to life by Emmylou's beautiful voice are a joy to listen to. This is one superb album. Every song on this CD is a winner but Emmylou's rendition of Tracy Chapman's "All That You Have Is Your Soul" is worth the price of the CD alone.


Approaching the sublime
It's not a return to her earlier style either, despite the production of Brian Ahern who was responsible for masterpieces like Luxury Liner, Elite Hotel and Blue Kentucky Girl. The sound is a departure from Wrecking Ball (1995), Red Dirt Girl (2000) and Stumble Into Grace (2003), considered her Daniel Lanois trilogy although the last two were produced by Malcolm Burn.

Most tracks appear to be in the mournful ballad mould; they may be melancholic on the surface but there's a subversive undertone of hope. The opening number Shores of White Sand, defiant and life-affirming, is given a wistful air by a recorder flute. This contrasts nicely with the rock ballad Hold On where slide electric & electric guitars call the tune.

Patti Griffin's Moon Song has stirring mandolin and accordion whilst Mark Germino's Broken Man's Lament is a springsteenesque tale of resignation with references to Patsy Cline and the 1960s Procol Harum classic A Whiter Shade of Pale. Then suddenly there's soul. Emmylou's own Gold, on which Dolly Parton and Vince Gill provide harmony vocals, is pure poetry. Sonically, the twang puts it firmly in the country camp.

With their voices, a banjo & guitar, Canada's talented McGarrigle sisters add magic to the second Harris composition How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower. The magic intensifies through a striking interpretation of Tracy Chapman's All That You Have Is Your Soul, one of the album's highlights. Then Emmylou's vocals rise a register or two for Take That Ride with its impressive electric guitars.

Atmospheric accordion & mandolin accompany the duet with Mike Auldridge called Old Five and Dimers Like Me, a track as good as any on her Duets album whilst Kern River, written by Merle Haggard, sounds vaguely familiar in theme, tune & structure to some other country or folk song. Dobro and fiddle add that special element that imprints it on one's soul.

In its regret and nostalgia, the Harris composition Not Enough recalls Dolly Parton's old hit Just Someone I Used To Know whilst Sailing Round the Room with its spectral backing vocals was co-written with Anna & Kate McGarrigle. The devotional Beyond the Great Divide is unapologetically country in sentiment & sound with aching male backing vocals that resemble those on the live album Spyboy.

The CD booklet contains all the lyrics, the credits, a message from M Lou and some lovely full-color photographs of her and various contributors. With the exception of the aforementioned Chapman interpretation, I would say Ms Harris' own compositions outshine the covers. Songs like Gold, Wildwood Flower, Not Enough and Beyond the Great Divide will soon be reckoned amongst her most beloved songs.


You can see a complete list of all Emmylou Harris discography, or go back to the Emmylou Harris tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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