Arts & Entertainment
Simply Love
by Mickey Carter
When I opened the new Holly Near double CD Simply Love, I was like a little kid: way too excited to pay attention. Though I suppose if I’d read the fine print, I wouldn’t have had the wonderful surprise of slapping a disc into the player and hearing a young Holly singing “You Can Know All I Am” from 1976. (“Oh, right, OK, this is a compilation. It says right here: “The Women’s Music Collection.”) I then settled down to hear the best of the best of Holly’s career.
The next surprise came with recordings from a 1982 demo session and the spring 2000 sessions. Some songs were new to me, and some were new arrangements of tried and true women’s music standards. I listened to it for days, in the car, making dinner, before I even glanced at the liner notes. There’s the expected note from Holly Near, the less-expected note from Ronnie Gilbert, words to songs, and (yahoo!) snapshots from the history of women’s music. Some are from concerts, some from studios, some from album covers. All are wonderful, and make a great accompaniment to the audio snapshots on the CDs.
This is the perfect recording for those who have felt that Holly’s music is too political or that she sings too much of “other people’s” music. Here is a CD set of love songs spanning 24 years, presented in chronological order. It’s fascinating to hear the musical progression from the pure, wide-eyed, straightforward “You Can Know All I Am” to the playful and artfully arranged “Waterfall” to all the old music revisited in the Spring 2000 sessions. The background vocalists include Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Rhiannon, Teresa Trull, and the audience at the Michigan Women’s Music Festival. The musicians are from the creative forefront of the women’s movement, as are most of the songwriters. This is a great addition to the CD collection of anyone who wants to have a touch of nostalgia along with new music. For younger folks who don’t want to invest in a dozen or more albums to get a sense of the growth of women’s music or of Holly Near’s career, it’s the perfect choice.
For someone like me, who owns many of the source albums on vinyl, it is a joy to listen to old music with new technology. I was listening to it in the car on a road trip when I heard a brilliant high hat lick at the end of “You Bet” that just stunned me. I’ve had that song on a recording for 20 years and NEVER heard the high hat. It never occurred to me that listening to it on CD would make such a dramatic difference in my life. It might just be worth it to replace all my vinyl with discs.
It will also be worth it to keep your eyes open for Holly’s upcoming tour. Though she won’t make it to Vermont, she will be playing at the 7th Annual NH Women’s Music Festival, in Danby, NH on September 9.
Get the CD, remind yourself why a Holly Near concert merits a road trip, and enjoy.
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