Water Rec.
Ruthann Friedman : Hurried Life -lost recordings 1965-1971- (UK,pub.2007)***°°
Although I haven't got the first reissue yet, herem am I listening to the "lost recordings", mostly (well recorded) reel-to-reel tape recorder sessions. They were written in a time where the content of the songs mattered, which led easily to the nice sounds in them.
Bridget Saint-John just had her reissues, but it is also time to pay attention to other greats, even when they only made one or two albums (like Ann Briggs, also just reissued or Karen Dalton who also had another reïssue with unreleased tracks, recently).
The booklet is nice, has many beautiful photographs, and liner notes about the songs. The title of this compilation is 'Hurried Life', and that is not only a nice and favourite song of hers, it also described something of her life and how songs sprung from inspiration, on moments of peace and quiet, where noone or nothing dragged her into something. These songs just seek peace and no other content than as the windy leafs that find its way to earth. A few tracks are more bluesy. Favourites are are "Looking Glass", for its moving voice in many directions, while the text remains more compact, the expressions seek more and have its spontanuous inward movements. I also pretty much like the song "Alone at last", which also expresses the background content I just described. A few other tracks are connected with the group the Associations, with whom she was befriended and wrote "Windy". "Little Girl Lost and Found" was the result of a collaboration.
Very nice. Look forward to hear the official album reissue.
