Blue River
Originally recorded in 1971 and composed during a time of intense creativity, anguish, and physical and mental exhaustion, Eric Andersen's ode to despair and cry for renewal is widely acknowledged to be his masterpiece. Along with Bob Dylan'sBlood on the Tracksand Joni Mitchell'sBlue, it is a defining moment for the singer/songwriter genre. Andersen delivers these nine country- and gospel-flavored songs as if in a trance; a fragile and flowing analog warmth threads them together. All the airy, spacious lyricism of Norbert Putnam's delicate production is now before the listener, and the musical experience, even for those who know the album well, will be a revelation. The smallest details--Grady Martin's gut-string guitar on "Faithful," Weldon Myrick's steel guitar and Joni Mitchell's intricately phrased harmony on "Blue River," and Farell Morris's barely audible but finely textured vibes on "Florentine"--arise as if for the first time. Columbia has also unearthed two unreleased tracks--a soulful reinterpretation of the early ballad "Come to My Bedside" and a Cajun vamp-up of Hank Williams's "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do?" If it's a crime that an album this moving ever went out of print, it's also a triumph that it has returned meticulously remastered and elegantly annotated and presented.--Roy Kasten