Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake
Posted by Jay Batzner in CD Review, Jay Batzner, Piano
Christopher O’Riley, piano
World Village
Rider on the Wheel, Pink Moon, Fly, Parasite, River Man, One of These Things First, Joey, Introduction-Bryter Layter, Northern Sky, Hanging on a Star, Harvest Breed, Place To Be, Three Hours, From The Morning
I had no idea what to expect when I first put this CD into the player. I was not familiar with the music of Nick Drake but I was familiar with some of Christopher O’Riley’s previous work (his arrangements of Radiohead tunes). This CD is a solid 65 minutes of Nick Drake songs put through a “George Winston machine,” if you will. All of the tracks are well played and stylistically solid.
There is no real deviation in Mr. O’Riley’s treatment of the music and I think that is a problem with the disc. Since I do not know any of these songs, it is hard for me to gain any kind of insight on them from these arrangements. I always felt like I was missing something. The music is repetitious and nothing ever ends, it simply stops. This would be a nice CD for background listening at a gathering, something my mom will like, but I could not find much to listen to on this CD. It is music you won’t mind hearing.
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Dear Jay, your album review is a bit superfluous. I’m not trying to be disrespectful or inflict any harm, but comments such as:
“I always felt like I was missing something. The music is repetitious and nothing ever ends, it simply stops. This would be a nice CD for background listening at a gathering, something my mom will like, but I could not find much to listen to on this CD. It is music you won’t mind hearing.”
really don’t say much. What were you missing? Is it necessarily wrong or bad that a piece just stops? What kind of music does your mom like? What were you trying to find in this music that you couldn’t? Then, after all the vague statements about what you think of the music, you tell us that we won’t mind hearing it. That’s just an assumption based on your impressions and set of values. Now, one’s impressions and values may help guide someone in tracking down music or avoiding it, but only if they’re clearly stated, justified, and not assumed as others’.
I’m not defending the music reviewed, I haven’t listened to it. But to talk or write about an artistic endeavor (whatever we think of it) shouldn’t be taken lightly, specially in forums like this one where people expect thoughtful input from the others involved, even if done in an informal manner.
All the best,
Ivan.
I have two thoughts on this review. In terms of the preceding comment, I agree that it is not “bad” that something just stops. A lot of Feldman is that way—he would end a piece when it just felt like it had run its course. To be honest, I end many of my pieces the same way—it ends when I just feel like it should end, not because of some conventional design.
However, I wouldn’t beat up on Jay that much. In all fairness, not every CD is going to be to one’s liking. In some cases, I’ve just chosen not to review the work after listening to it, since it doesn’t seem fair for me to review something that stylistically doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of meeting with my approval. I had a hard enough time reviewing the Huang Ruo album (and caught all sorts of grief because I didn’t “get it”); I’d hate to think what it would be like for me to review an Elliot Carter album or something by an academic wannabe. By the same token, perhaps repetitive music isn’t Jay’s cup of tea, and that’s valid. I know that when a piece of mine was reviewed some time ago in this forum, it didn’t receive the greatest review perhaps because repetitive music wasn’t to the reviewer’s liking (based on his responses in the Forum as well as his own musical compositions). I think it’s very difficult to review something that is just not to one’s liking for whatever reason. That’s life, I guess.
Perhaps my comment seems to “beat up on Jay” instead of saying what I really intended, which was to advocate for a responsible involvement (on everyone’s part, myself included) when dealing with these matters. Of course I agree that not everything will be of an individual’s liking, but the point I’m trying to make is that whether you like something or not, you should back up and inform the arguments you want to make. It’s not necessarily bad when a piece of music just stops, but it’s not necessarily good either. Why is it that in this particular music a sudden stop doesn’t work? That’s one thing that would provide substance and make the review interesting. Whether I agree or not, at least I’m exposed to someone else’s criteria, which can inform and enrich mine, or make me think in something I hadn’t thought of before.
Now, if something we listen to doesn’t inspire us to say much, it’s better not to write anything, like David states in his case.
Thanks for your comments, Ivan. Truth be told, this was a hard review for me to write. The music is nice, very much in the style of George Winston, but it didn’t do anything else for me than sound like a background. I don’t have a problem with the disc on a stylistic level. Is it what I would write? No, but that is a good thing. I listened to the whole disc, summed up my opinion (which is all I can really do), and tried to put my opinion into words.
The music is repetitve and I agree that repetition isn’t always a bad thing. Here, however, the music grows stale. There are no changes within the repetition to make it captivating. I don’t have a problem with music that “just stops” instead of ends, but after hearing 14 tracks in 65 minutes I strongly desired that one, just one, of those pieces would break the mold of the others. The same tricks got played out in the same ways over and over. It got dull after a while so my brain just put the music on the back burner and I went on with other things.
I think one of the problems I had with the disc is that I don’t like instrumental arrangements of pop music. Once you remove the text, the melody is often not that interesting (to me, again: this is all opinion here). It reminds me of when I used to work at JCPenney and would listen to the Muzak all day. I believe that someone who knows Nick Drake’s music might not have the same problems with the repetition that I had. That was the main thing I thought I was missing. For example, if you listened to Ofra Harnoy’s arrangement of “When I’m 64″ for cello, but didn’t know the original song and lyrics, I wonder if you would find it melodically interesting? I feel the same way about hearing film scores to movies that I haven’t seen. There is an important part of the puzzle missing.
This is not an offensive disc at all, I don’t think that people will actively dislike the music (if they like George Winston, they will like this).
I hope that helps explain my position more. I’m glad to have this venue so I can clarify points like these. I don’t worry about getting “beat up on.” I’ve had worse!
Thanks Jay, your comment now clarifies your impression of the music better. Actually, I think that should be the review! It’s easier to understand what you think of the music and why.
About instrumental arrangements of pop tunes: I agree, they are usually unsuccessful. Besides losing the sung text, which I agree is important, the complete change of timbre ruins the music. For instance, what symphony orchestra can perform The Beatle’s “She’s so heavy” followed by “Here Comes the Sun” without transforming the whole thing into elevator torture? If you have someone, say Bryn Terfel, singing the lyrics, it would even be worse! The acid, raw textures of the dissonances through the electric guitar and the scratchy voice in the first song against the all-around sweetness of the second is very especial, and no arrangement can accomplish that, at least not one that takes timbre for granted.
Anyway, that’s a good topic for the composers forum.