|
For
NEWS http://www.ericandersen.com/news.htm
For
REVIEWS http://www.ericandersen.com/reviews.htm
"Eric Andersen - a true
folk and singer/songwriter legend."
ASCAP
"There are folk heroes,
and there are, literally, folk heroes. Eric Andersen is one
of the latter... I'm letting this "secret" out of
the bag: Eric Andersen's not a star, but he should be. Pass
it on."
David L. Coddon, San Diego Tribune
You Can't Relive the Past is
one of the strongest sets in Eric Andersen's 35 year-long recording
career."
Sing Out!
For more information on Eric Andersen,
please contact Appleseed Recordings:
Alan Edwards / ph/fax: 215-628-4562; e-mail: Joevinyl@aol.com;
website: www.appleseedrec.com
If you want to conduct an interview
with Eric Andersen, please drop me a note at eaproductions@swcp.com.
Veronica
Office Manager
EA Productions
WHAT THE PRESS IS
WRITING ABOUT BEAT AVENUE
The New York Times (Sunday,
4/27/03)
ERIC ANDERSEN DISTILLS THE
PRESENT FROM THE PAST
"Last year when Eric Andersen passed
through New York to play a show, a friend e-mailed writers,
critics and potential fans to drum up enthusiasm. Mr. Andersen
faced stiff competition from other musicians who were also performing
in the city that night, so his friend just laid it on the line.
'How many of those artists,' he asked, 'have written songs as
good as Eric Andersen's?'
Very few songwriters have built a body of work as consistently
strong as Mr. Andersen's. Beginning in 1965 with Today Is the
Highway, he has recorded a series of albums that, taken together,
constitute a kind of poetic autobiography, a sonic journal of
his movement through the last four decades in the United States
and Europe. Early songs like 'Violets of Dawn' and 'Thirsty
Boots' capture the excitement of Greenwich Village in the mid-'60s,
a time when Mr. Andersen stood alongside the likes of Bob Dylan,
Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton and helped found the singer-songwriter
movement. His best-known album, Blue River, appeared in 1972
and features the haunting ballad 'Is It Really Love At All?'
Since 1989, Mr. Andersen, who is now 60, has explored the grip
the past holds on the present. Each of his albums since then
- Ghosts Upon the Road, Memory of the Future and You Can't Relive
the Past - describes characters who inhabit a landscape of alluring
and sometimes dangerous specters, whether former lovers ('Belgian
Bar') or neo-Fascist yearnings that pulse restlessly under the
surface of modern-day Europe ('Rain Falls Down in Amsterdam').
Mr. Andersen's new album, Beat Avenue, a double CD, wanders
that thematic terrain as well, to similarly compelling effect.
The first disc consists of 12 songs in which the singer looks
back in anger, amusement and regret both at his own reckless
youth ('Stupid Love') and at a pre-9/11 innocence ('Before Everything
Changed'). 'What once was Charles Bukowski/Is now Emily Dickinson,'
he sings, chronicling both the loss of bohemian wildness and
the pleasures of more precise literary epiphanies. 'Salt on
Your Skin,' 'Runaway' and 'Shape of a Broken Heart' are romantic
memoirs that Mr. Andersen delivers in a whispery rasp, as if
he were recalling dreams and scanning them for any meaning they
might have. The past holds few answers, however. 'When you're
looking for what you're missing,' he concludes reluctantly,
'You ain't looking at what you got.'
For the songs on that disc Mr. Andersen fashions a sound that
recalls the raucous Gypsy rhapsodies of Bob Dylan's Desire.
(Beat Avenue, in fact, is dedicated to Mr. Dylan.) Eric Bazilian's
electric guitar veers between driving rhythms and searing leads,
while the violin of Joyce Andersen (no relation) soars over
the top. Female singers, including Phoebe Snow and Mr. Andersen's
daughter Sari, provide a sensual counterpoint to Mr. Andersen's
brooding vocals.
The second disc of Beat Avenue includes the 26-minute title
track on which Mr. Andersen. . . recounts a poetry reading and
party he attended in San Francisco on the day John F. Kennedy
was assassinated. As Robert Aaron conjures a jazzy musical backdrop
on keyboards, tenor saxophone and trumpet, Mr. Andersen, who
was 20 at the time, recollects the simultaneous shattering and
realization of many of his dreams. He had moved to San Francisco
to meet the Beat poets he idolized, and he is wonderstruck to
be in the presence of Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
Neal Cassady and Michael McClure. But his joy is inextricable
from the murder in Dallas earlier that afternoon.
Mr. Andersen's best work has always drawn on the complex emotions
summoned by scenes like that. Love comes, but it is never what
one expects. Moments of the deepest joy and ease are often merely
the prelude or aftermath to cataclysm. And, as Beat Avenue well
demonstrates, the past refuses to dissolve safely into memory
but exerts a pull that one can never fully escape." (Anthony
DeCurtis)
OTHER PRESS:
"[Andersen's] best work zigzags brilliantly between melancholy
romance and dark, brooding intensity. Beat Avenue keeps to that
same path, with mostly excellent results. Kicking off with the
pulsating, electric-guitar-driven 'Ain't No Time To Bleed,'
Andersen signals right away that we're in for a big dose of
the muscular, brawny side of his songwriting. . .The second
disc showcases Andersen's deep lyrical debt to the Beat writers…laid
out here against the backdrop of a smoky, atmospheric jazz vamp,
sung-spoken by Andersen in his huskiest baritone." -
No Depression
"Andersen works within and without
traditional song frameworks, wielding a vivid poetic skill and
a fearless approach to songwriting. His haunting, sensual lyrics
are married to electric and acoustic instrumentation and rock,
folk, country and blues-flavored arrangements." - United
Press International
"A two-CD set that really is two
very separate albums. The first disc is a traditional Andersen
album of 12 originals in a variety of styles. Some are urgent,
raw-edged rockers. . .[others] are deeply etched Andersen signature
love songs. . . Vibrant sound and bracing performances are hallmarks
of an excellent album. . . The second disc is comprised of two
very long pieces, each very different from the other. 'Beat
Avenue' takes 26 minutes to recount the memory of a San Francisco
get-together with Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti [and
other Beats] on the night John F. Kennedy was shot. A very dense
work. 'Blue Rockin' Chair' is a blues that stretches out over
ten minutes. . .Both are very strong." - Sing Out!
"Dylan isn't the only '60s folk
vet still worth hearing. . .This ambitious epic underscores
the vitality of a vastly underrated troubadour." - Mother
Jones
"[Andersen's] swings between acoustic
and electric album have increasingly reinforced his own comment
that he's not a folk singer. . .This is primarily an electric
album with the knobs turned up. It's rock 'n' roll, blues and
funky, [with] jangling guitars, soaring violins, rousing vocals
and variously prowling or kick-ass melodies. . . 'Beat Avenue'
is a mood poem, a remarkable piece of writing that captures
the confusion and shock of the moment and the sense that. .
. the world would never be the same." - NetRhythms (UK)
"Andersen has rarely gotten due
credit for bringing enough of the sensual and personal into
the head-driven sixties Village folk bag to push it toward singer-songwriter
variations that could last. Even his epic new rap-and-track
saga of hanging with the Beat poets on the day JFK died manages
to escape the nostalgia trap." - Village Voice
"A pillar of the 1960s folk scene,
Eric Andersen was one of the first to write his own songs and
to eschew traditional and topical lyrics in favor of more personal
concerns. . .He's shown remarkable creative longevity, producing
some of his strongest work as he approaches his 40th anniversary
as a recording artist . . . [and has] maintained a poetic, philosophical
stance that's aged far more gracefully than much of the era's
more overtly political song writing. . . He continues his resurgence
with Beat Avenue." - Time Out NY
"On Beat Avenue, Andersen pushes
every story he tells into something beyond categorization. Every
track is a walk down the road of life. [Andersen] belongs amongst
the higher echelons of poets with a guitar. . .[The] title track
is one of the most emotive and thought provoking compositions
that I have ever heard. This may be one of the very best albums
that you will hear all year so do not miss it." - Music
Dish
"Andersen's most ambitious album,
a 90-minute tour de force that encapsulates his musical and
lyrical concerns over a lifetime. The music is often dense rock
dominated by a rhythm section led by guitarist Eric Bazilian
of the Hooters. Equally dense is Andersen's highly poetic versifying,
which he sings in his gruff baritone. . . This isn't folk music
of the type with which Andersen is generally associated, and
it can be demanding, but it is also a compelling transformation
of memory into art song." - All Music Guide
"[A] powerhouse two-disc song cycle.
. .This is easily the most ambitious music that Andersen has
ever made, and some of the best as well." - Amazon.com
"Terribly good - Eric Andersen the
unrecognized genius. His resounding roadmovie contains more
essence than other songwriters obtain in ten CDs. Blues, rocking
dirtily, a little bitterly and with experience of life, the
60-year-old hangs onto blurred dreams and almost forgotten affairs.
. .The title track links the most personal, private experience
to the utmost publicity. And it shows the way in which an external
incident may shatter the visions of a whole generation. (5 stars)"
- Facts Magazine (Switzerland)
"A great record in the spirit of
Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, but [it] comes from a peer, not
a latter-day acolyte. Much of Beat seethes with apocalyptic
fire, from sensual love songs to urgent rants about meaning
and fate." - Minneapolis City Pages, MN.
"A nearly flawless double-disc that
displays an incredible versatility" - Lowell Sun,
MA.
"[A] True Poet! [He is] one of the
United States' most important singer/songwriters. . .Pretty
gruff occasionally, sounding even really roots rock-like and
extrovert but including extremely melodic songs . . .The title
track [is] a slow groove/rap/ambient/ poetry/lounge/jazz monster.
. .To finish off the powerful album, Andersen once again indulges
in his secret (by now not that secret anymore) passion, the
blues: the slow, incredibly intensive 'Blue Rockin' Chair'.
inevitably sticks in your auditory canals." - Glitterhouse
(Germany)
"The most ambitious work of [Andersen's]
three-decade plus career, and it is one that works. . .A true
21st century troubadour, an evocative writer and sensual vocalist.
The songs are colored by blues, rock, country and folk backings,
which weave a lush tapestry behind the complex and heartfelt
lyrics. . .'Beat Avenue' is a highlight. . .This is a true masterpiece.
[A] superb album."
- Relix
ERIC ANDERSEN TIMELINE
1943 - 1963 -- Eric Andersen born
in Pittsburgh, PA. Grows up in Buffalo, N.Y., teaching himself
to play piano, guitar and harmonica. Formative musical experiences
include concerts by Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and the
Miles Davis Quintet. Eric also forms his own groups to perform
songs by Woody Guthrie and The Weavers, and immerses himself
in poets and writers such as Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Jack Kerouac
and Allen Ginsberg.
1963 -- Eric hitchhikes to San
Francisco to hang out with the Beats and begins performing original
songs in North Beach coffeehouses, where he is "discovered"
by Tom Paxton and urged to move back East.
1964 -- Eric plays his first show
in Greenwich Village at Gerde's Folk City, opening for John
Lee Hooker. Gets many opportunities to listen to his blues heroes
- Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters and Son House. He records
some of his best-known songs - "Violets of Dawn,"
"Thirsty Boots," and "Come to My Bedside."
Eric's songs first appear in the New York topical song magazine
Broadside, along with those of other new song-poets. Later this
year, Eric moves to Boston, where he performs at Cambridge's
Club 47 and studies James Joyce at Harvard. Vanguard Records
issues two New Folks compilations, featuring four of Eric's
compositions on New Folks Vol. 2, along with those of labelmate
Phil Ochs, among others.
1965 -- Eric returns to New York
for the release of his first Vanguard album, Today is the Highway,
which garners rapturous reviews. Eric meets Joni Mitchell, and
teaches her the open tunings which would become a hallmark of
her songs. He appears in England for the first time, performing
in London and at the Cambridge Folk Festival, and, back home,
sings with Phil Ochs at the Philadelphia Folk Festival.
1966 -- Eric debuts at the Newport
Folk Festival, stars in fellow Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol's
film Space, and records his second Vanguard album, 'Bout Changes
& Things. Eric is slated to join Beatles manager Brian Epstein's
roster, but Epstein suffers an untimely death before the deal
can be finalized.
1967 -- Eric releases 'Bout Changes
'n' Things, Take 2 (Vanguard), a more electrified folk-rock
version of his earlier album, initially intended for release
in Europe.
1968 -- This year sees the release
of More Hits From Tin Can Alley (Vanguard). Eric switches labels
later in the year to release Avalanche on Warner Bros.
1969 - Two albums are released
this year - A Country Dream (Vanguard) and the self-titled
Eric Andersen (Warner Bros.).
1970 -- The year begins with performances
in Europe, and upon returning to North America, Eric participates
in the legendary Festival Express train tour across Canada,
along with the Grateful Dead, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends,
Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, and The Band. Eric also makes his first
national TV appearance on The Johnny Cash Show. The Best of
Eric Andersen released (Vanguard).
1971 -- Eric moves into New York's
legendary Chelsea Hotel, where he meets poets Gregory Corso
and future punk-rock priestess Patti Smith.
1972 -- A new label (Columbia)
for the release of Blue River, which includes harmonies by Joni
Mitchell on the title track. The album is later acclaimed by
the Rolling Stone Record Guide as "the best example of
the '70s singer/songwriter movement." Eric tours with The
Byrds for six months.
1973 -- This year is supposed to see the release of Stages,
Blue River's follow-up, and the album which would continue to
expand Eric's growing audience. Instead, the tapes are mysteriously
lost by Columbia amidst corporate shake-ups and company politics.
Unsurprisingly, Eric leaves the label and does not release another
album for two years.
1975 -- Eric signs with Arista
for the release of Be True To You. Eric performs twice with
Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, including the debut concert
held at Gerde's Folk City.
1976 -- Eric releases Sweet Surprise
(Arista) and becomes the first American singer-songwriter ever
to tour Japan, performing more than a dozen solo dates in theaters
and concert halls.
1977 -- Arista releases The Best
Songs, featuring live and studio recordings.
1978 - 1989 -- Eric records several
albums (Midnight Son, Tight in the Night, and the Istanbul soundtrack)
issued primarily in Europe. Eric splits his time between touring
in the U.S. and Europe.
1989 -- Eric returns to U.S. record
stores with the release of Ghosts Upon the Road (AGF/Gold Castle
and Virgin Europe, later re-released on Plump Records). The
title track is a long-form musical narrative drawing on his
earlier Boston experiences. Eric wins two New York Music Awards
for "Best Contemporary Folk Album" and "Best
Contemporary Folk Performer." The Rolling Stone Record
Guide calls it "one of the best albums of the '80s."
The album is produced by Steve Addabbo (co-producer of Suzanne
Vega) and features guitarist John Leventhal and a then-unknown
Shawn Colvin as backing vocalist.
1990 - 1994 -- The long-lost tapes
for Stages are finally found in a Columbia vault and the album
is released in 1991 as Stages: The Lost Album. While recording
bonus tracks for the CD, Eric enlists the help of The Band's
bassist/vocalist Rick Danko and Norwegian singer/songwriter
Jonas Fjeld. Their collaboration subsequently yields two studio
albums for Rykodisc - Danko Fjeld Andersen (1991) and Ridin'
on the Blinds (1994). Danko Fjeld Andersen wins the Association
for Independent Musicians' award for "Best Adult Contemporary
Album of the Year" and Norway's Spellemans Pris, their
Grammy equivalent.
1996 - 1997 -- Eric performs his
songs and poetry alongside fellow guests Andrei Voznezensky
and Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the renowned Russian poets, former
Velvet Underground leader and solo artist Lou Reed and writer
Jay McInerney at the Conegliano (Venice) Italy Poetry Festival.
1997 -- Archive Recordings releases
Collection, a remastered compilation of Eric's three Arista
albums. Eric also contributes a track for a tribute album to
Beat writer Jack Kerouac (Kicks Joy Darkness on Rykodisc).
1998 -- Eric appears on What's
That I Hear? The Songs of Phil Ochs, a 2-disc tribute set (Sliced
Bread).
1999 -- Eric is signed by the
idealistic, independent Appleseed Recordings label, which releases
Memory of the Future, his first solo CD in ten years. Recorded
with the help of bassist/co-producer Howie Epstein and keyboardist
Benmont Tench (both of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers), British guitar
god Richard Thompson, Wyclef Jean band member Robert Aaron,
old friends Jonas Fjeld, Rick Danko and Danko's Band-mate Garth
Hudson, and daughter Sari on backing vocals, Memory of the Future
contains a full quota of stunning Andersen compositions, including
the ominous "Rain Falls Down in Amsterdam," a warning
of the rising tide of neo-Fascism in Europe.
This year also sees the Sony Legacy reissue
of Blue River (featuring two previously unreleased bonus tracks)
and the Vanguard compilation Violets of Dawn. Eric also performs
at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tribute to Phil Ochs and a
celebration of Joni Mitchell's jazz music in Central Park. Eric
writes a chapter for The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats: The
Beat Generation and American Culture.
2000 -- Andersen's second CD for Appleseed, You Can't
Relive the Past, is a stunning combination of blues-oriented
material recorded with several of the Mississippi blues musicians
associated with the Fat Possum label. The album also features
four songs co-written with the much-admired "alternative
country" master singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt before
his death in 1997, and a historic acoustic duet with Lou Reed
on their co-written title song. "Lou is another original
'60s 'first wave' songwriter out of New York along with Ochs,
[Fred] Neil, Paxton, [Peter] LaFarge, Dylan and myself,"
Eric wrote in the CD's liner notes. Concerning Lou, he continues,
"You might say, same town, different subways."
Also this year, Smithsonian Folkways
Recordings releases a stunning box set, The Best of Broadside
1962-1988, containing archival print and musical materials from
this seminal and highly influential song-poet publication. Eric's
contributions include the rare tracks "Long Time Troubled
Road" and "Plains of Nebrasky-O," the latter
a duet with Phil Ochs originally recorded in 1964, as well as
a testimonial essay about his experiences with the magazine.
2001 - Eric contributes a track
to If I Had a Song: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 2, Appleseed.
2002 - Danko Fjeld Andersen, which
Rolling Stone labels as "soul music of deep and lasting
appeal," is subsequently reissued by Appleseed Recordings
as the 2-CD set One More Shot, paired with a live 1991 midnight
concert by the trio at Norway's Molde International Jazz Festival.
2003 -- Eric releases Beat Avenue
on Appleseed Recordings, a 2-disc set featuring 14 new original
compositions including the 26-minute, 15-years-in-gestation
title track recounting his experiences among the Beat poets
and writers of San Francisco on the evening of President John
Kennedy¹s assassination. Eric headlines Bottom Line show
in March and he and Beat Avenue are the subject of a large feature
in Sunday New York Times¹ Arts & Leisure section in
April. Also in April, Eric and multi-instrumentalist and musical
collaborator Robert Aaron perform "Beat Avenue" composition
at NYC¹s Bowery Poetry club (and again at Boston¹s
Museum of Fine Arts at a "Poetry in Motion" event
in October with poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti on the bill).
Appears in PBS documentary about Joni Mitchell (now available
on DVD and VHS); in the Sixties, Eric taught her "open"
guitar tunings that became her instrumental trademark. Four
Andersen performances at one of Judy Collins¹ Wildflower
Festival shows are included in the CD and DVD release of the
concert.
In September, Eric traveled to Canada for the Toronto Film Festival
debut of "Festival Express," a documentary of a historic
trans-Canadian concert tour by a train full of musicians including
the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, and many
others, including Eric as the only solo acoustic performer.
No performance footage of Eric is included in the theatrical
release (although it will be included in the upcoming DVD version),
interviews with him are interspersed thoughout.
In October, Eric journeyed to San Remo, Italy, to receive the
country¹s most prestigious songwriting award, the Premio
Tenco prize. Fellow songwriter, poet and longtime friend Patti
Smith was the year¹s co-recipient of the award, and previous
winners include Joni Mitchell, Laurie Anderson, Randy Newman,
Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. The nationally syndicated FM Odyssey
radio program ran a lengthy interview and retrospective of Eric¹s
career. After concert dates in Belgium and Switzerland in October,
Andersen concluded his year¹s touring with four shows in
the UK and several BBC interviews before returning to the US
to commence work on his next Appleseed CD.
2004 Eric, Robert Aaron, and a diverse group of
top musicians, including special guests Wyclef Jean, the internationally
famous hip-hop/rap star, whose band Aaron leads, former Lovin¹
Spoonful leader and solo artist John Sebastian, singer-songwriter
Patrick Sky, longtime Woodstock and NYC musician Happy Traum,
country-pop guitarist Pete Kennedy of The Kennedys, record The
Street Was Always There, in which Eric presents his distinctive
new interpretations of classics and forgotten gems from the
'60s heyday of Greenwich Village by his elders and contemporaries
of the time, including Bob Dylan ("A Hard Rain¹s A-Gonna
fall"), Phil Ochs ("I Ain¹t Marching Anymore,"
"White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land"), Fred Neil
("Little Bit of Rain," "The Other Side of This
Life"), Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Universal Soldier"),
David Blue ("These 23 Days in September"), Patrick
Sky ("Many a Mile"), Tim Hardin ("Misty Roses"),
Paul Siebel ("Louise"), as well as revisiting his
own 1969 vintage "Waves of Freedom" and wrapping up
the CD with the newly-penned title song. "Festival Express"
film released nationally. After performing in early August at
the 17th International Notodden Blues Festival In Norway, Eric
will return to the United States for a national tour this fall
to present songs from The Street Was Always There and his bottomless
repertoire of original material.
Eric Andersen Biography
"Eric Andersen is living
quite compellingly in the present, making music that tells us
resonant truths about our own movement through time." (Anthony
DeCurtis, Rolling Stone Magazine)
With a career spanning over
30 years, singer/songwriter ERIC ANDERSEN has indeed served
to chronicle through both his music and writings the times in
which he has lived.
Born in Pittsburgh, Andersen
taught himself guitar and piano at an early age, later forming
folk groups performing the political songs of Woody Guthrie
and The Weavers. After two years of pre-medical studies, Andersen
set out for the coffeehouses of San Francisco to try out his
songs. Songwriter Tom Paxton spotted Andersen and invited him
to New York, where he entered the circle of Phil Ochs and Bob
Dylan. Shortly after he signed with Vanguard Records and began
work on his debut album, Today Is The Highway.
Andersen was greatly influenced
by the blues and jazz greats he saw in Village clubs, including
such artists as Mississippi John Hurt, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy
Waters, John Lee Hooker, Doc Watson, Anita O'Day, John Coltrane
and Miles Davis. His first four albums showcase those influences
on such classics as "Ghosts Upon The Road." Critics
began to take note of Andersen, including the New York Times'
Robert Shelton, who cited the lyrics of "Come To My Bedside"
as "typical of what will one day be called an 'Eric Andersen
song'."
Andersen's second album, 'Bout
Changes and Things, was followed by Tin Can Alley, Avalanche
(Warner Bros. Records), Eric Andersen (Warner Bros. Records)
and A Country
Dream. He was featured on The Festival Express, the legendary
musical train tour across Canada that included Janis Joplin,
The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy and The Band and, upon his return
to New York, began a friendship with poets Patti Smith and Gregory
Corso. Blue River (Columbia Records) was released in 1972 and
featured a duet with Joni Mitchell on the title track. The Arista
Records releases Be True To You and Sweet Surprise followed.
In 1989, Eric's first American
album in a decade, Ghosts Upon The Road, was released to critical
acclaim and won two New York Music Awards (Best Contemporary
Folk Album and Performer). His 1990 release, Stages: The Lost
Album, won a New York Music Award for Best Folk Album of the
Year and was described by Rolling Stone as "a masterwork."
Eric's critically-acclaimed
album Memory of the Future (Appleseed Records) was released
in 1999 and featured such supporting talent as John Prine (producer),
Howie Epstein and Benmont Tench (both of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers),
Dylan bassist Tony Garnier, and Rick Danko and Garth Hudson
(The Band). In addition, his writings were included in The Rolling
Stone Book of the Beats (Hyperion) and he participated in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Phil Ochs tribute and "Joni's
Jazz," a Joni Mitchell celebration that took place in New
York's Central Park.
His latest release, You Can't
Relive The Past, explores the depth of Andersen's talents, integrating
the best of classic Eric Andersen soulfulness with the Mississippi
blues sounds of James "Super Chikan" Johnson, the
New York edge of Lou Reed (who co-wrote and performs the deeply
moving title song with Eric) and the country feel of the late,
great Townes Van Zandt. In fact, four tracks were co-written
and recorded with Van Zandt, a testament to the respect accorded
to Eric's songwriting talent, since Townes rarely collaborated
with others. The lost tapes of the never-before-released songs,
written by the two in New York in 1986, were rediscovered last
year.
"The album claims you can't
relive the past. That's true," says Andersen in the CD's
liner notes. "But music is a flame that keeps a memory
alive." Eric utilizes his gift of song to explore the past,
present and future with thought-provoking and insightful lyrics,
which continue to touch audiences worldwide.
Eric Andersen divides his time
between his homes in New York and Oslo, Norway.
Eric Andersen - You Can't
Relive the Past
Eric Andersen follows his critically
acclaimed CD Memory of the Future with his newest CD You Can't
Relive the Past, an album that explores the breath and depth
of Eric's musical talents. He ventures in fresh musical directions
on this CD, which integrates the best of "classic"
Eric Andersen soulfulness, his unique songwriting craft and
sweetness with the Mississippi blues sounds of "Super Chikan,"
the gritty NY edge of Lou Reed and folksy, woeful echoes of
Townes Van Zandt.
Starting off this eclectic mix
is a classically beautiful, poignant song, "Eyes of the
Immigrant," destined to strike a chord amidst the melting
pot in all of us. This deeply moving song features the title
song "You Can't Relive the Past," co-written and performed
by Eric and rocker Lou Reed in an Everly Brothers acoustic guitar
- driven style. Anthony DeCurtis, rock critic and writer for
Rolling Stone Magazine, says this song "comes together
exactly right and is a defiant rebuke to the dying of the light."
The CD also features four songs
never previously recorded that were co-written by Eric and the
late great Townes Van Zandt (The Meadowlark, The Blue March,
Night Train and The Road). These never before released songs
were rediscovered last year on a tape of songs that Eric and
Townes wrote together in New York City in 1986.
Showcasing the broad expanse
of Eric's musical ability to weave words, this collection includes
5 songs Eric recorded on location in Mississippi with musicians
from Fat Possum Studios. On these bluesy driven songs, Andersen
jams with such famed musicians as drummer Sam Carr, guitarist
James "Super Chikan" Johnson and slide guitarist Kenny
Brown. All legends in their own time and have recently been
featured in two New York Times articles. Andersen flexes some
musical muscles that don't typically get exercised in his work
here.
Press Quotes
"Eric Andersen is living
quite compellingly in the present, making music that tells us
resonant truths about our own movement through time."
Anthony DeCurtis Rolling Stone Magazine.
"Andersen's music is sleek
and adventurous."
Entertainment Weekly
"One of the best ballad
writers."
Bob Dylan
"Andersen is the most elegant
of singers. He is powered by the singular mix of irony and high
romanticism that fuels his classic work."
Paul Evans, Rolling Stone Magazine
"It's a poetic quest, kind
of like summoning a memory of the future. It is also what Eric
Andersen does best and that is why he still matters."
Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone Magazine
"You know the way whiskey,
good Irish whiskey, real drinking man's whiskey feels when it
hits your stomach and your face flushes and you catch your breath
a moment before your throat closes and suddenly the world is
a dimmer place. Sometimes it's a better place, definitely different
place with a different perspective. You know that feeling? That's
Andersen's voice - not just his singing voice, mind you, but
his VOICE."
Michael Patrick Harrington, Rockpile
"He still hasn't abandoned
his quest for perfect words."
Evan Brooker, The Globe
"Andersen is one of America's
finest lyric-poet songwriters... he stands with his contemporaries
Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell - as one of the few remaining pioneers
of the 60's singer/songwriter movement continuing to do important
work."
Aquarian Weekly
"Memory of the Future is
a stunning, seven-years-in-the-making jewel which features contributions
from Jonas Field, Rick Danko, Richard Thompson, Howie Epstein,
Benmont Tench, and Garth Hudson."
No Depression The Alternative Country Music Magazine
"Eric Andersen's personal
songwriting style is in its own superior class."
Jam Magazine
Eric is devilishly handsome-dark
and lean with piercing eyes and a grab bag of gentle, sensitive
songs about love and the lure of the road."
Greg Haymes, Freelance writer
Audience Quotes
With your March appearance in
Toronto, I was reminded that when the world is forgetting what
it means to be human, poets appear to spark us back go life,
bringing us home to ourselves. The honesty and generosity of
your music is irreplaceable.
Taivi Lobu
Eric... you did a great show this past week. It was a very simple,
low tech setting but the evening had a spirit of magic. There
are many here in town who recognize your talent are incredibly
proud of you.
JL Cummings
eric,
just you and your guitar.
what a night,
what a star.
always a fan,
Jay Fisher
Saw you last night at the Point
outside Philly, and the last two times you played the Tin Angel
downtown. You've lost nothing since the days when I saw you
at the old Main Point and the Philly Folk Festival. In my estimation
you are, along with Bob Dylan, Richard Farina and Phil Ochs,
one of the premier songwriters of the 60's folk boom.
Michael Zungulo
Just wanted to tell you that
you were as wonderful as I told my wife (who was unfamiliar
with your music) you would be--the newest songs as good as anything
I have heard from any songwriter in many a year. And the familiar
sound of finger picking and lyrics with substance and commitment
to a world we had all hoped would come to pass... We just ordered
the new cd and look forward to a return visit. It has been almost
35 years since last hearing you---I hope it will be only one
or less before the next time. Thanks for all the years of great
songs
Jeff Rice
I first head your music one
afternoon in the early 60's when my brother brought home your
album. He said listen to this guy he's better than Dylan. I
listened and have been listening ever since...I would never
give up my old albums. They are old friends. They got me through
college and through many good times and bad times. Your newest
CDs from Ghost Along the Road to the latest You Can't Relive
the Past are as wonderful to me as the early ones. I can't tell
you how many times I have put one or the other of them in the
CD player and listened over and over to them. Your words are
so powerful. The stories you tell are chilling. You love songs
beautiful. Some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. I wanted
to thank you for so many years of wonderful times with the music
you have given me. I hope to have many more years of music.
Keep up the wonderful job you are doing.
Susan Sweet
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