Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village In The 60's
Tribute albums come in all shapes and sizes. Most, however, simply come and go. The ones that stick around are backed by a vision that extends beyond "Let's get a bunch of people together to do a bunch ofClashsongs" (to cite one ignoble example).Bleecker Street's raison d'être is to shine a light on a fleeting and relatively uncelebrated period in the '60s folk boom--the nascent singer/songwriter era that came in the wake ofBob Dylan's move from protest songs to personal ones. The songwriters celebrated here--Eric Andersen,Fred Neil,Tim Buckley,Phil Ochs, and Dylan among them--penned songs that have become part of the fabric of American folk.Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe" (splendidly revived byRon Sexsmith) is as straightforward a lament as has ever been put to tape;John Sebastian's "Darling Be Home Soon" is longing set to music. WithBleecker Street, the deities and apostles share a piece of heaven, which, of course, is as it should be.--Steven Stolder