Somewherer Near Paterson
Richard Shindell saw his fervid following expand thanks toCry Cry Cry, an album of covers he recorded with fellow folk starsDar WilliamsandLucy Kaplansky. But fans are keen to take him straight up, and folk's Velvet Fog has obliged them withSomewhere Near Paterson. His fourth release is in fact a return to form after the unevenReunion Hill. Still, longtime fans--and those lucky to come upon this singer-songwriter for the first time--should cherish almost everything here. In the jingle-jangle opener, "Confession," a Wall Street type is desperate for pharmaceutical grace. Some will consider this monologue a chip off the Michael Stipe-ish block, yet its compound of irony, sympathy, and slant observation is Shindell's own. Other great tunes include "You Stay Here," narrated by a war-zone Everyman, "Waiting for the Storm," featuring another of the disc's quiet outlaws, and "Spring." Though this cut's Celtic-style coda has its longueurs, few would be without its paradoxical chorus: "Maybe will be certain / You can take it as a vow / Winter's just the curtain / Spring will take the bow." Shindell insists that his dramatis personae exist only in "songland," but his best work makes one beg to differ. And no one does dynamics and drop-D tunings better.--Kerry Fried