GLIDING BIRD is an album by Emmylou Harris, released in 1969. Before she met mentor Gram Parsons and became a famous country singer, Harris began singing folk music; yet Gliding Bird, her obscure début album, displays an eclecticism that is found in her later work. The album contains five folky Harris originals (with influences from Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell) plus the country-rock of Bob Dylan and Fred Neil, classic country of Hank Williams and a folk-pop rendition of a Dionne Warwick/Bacharach/David hit. Not until 1985s The Ballad of Sally Rose would another Harris album contain more than two of her own compositions. Jubilee Records folded shortly after the release of this album, thus ceasing any distribution or promotion; its catalogue was purchased by Roulette Records. Neither of the singles released from the album made any of the Billboard Music Charts. The title song Gliding Bird, was written by her then-husband Tom Slocum. Though technically Harris first album, she subsequently disowned the record and regards 1975s Pieces of the Sky as her first official album. [edit] Track listing In Emmylou Harris own Words Gliding Bird was made under very strained circumstances and her memories of the experience are not particularly fond. The good thing about that record is that it shows that I was very much into songwriting, Harris recalled. Half the songs on there, theyre not the greatest songs in the world, but Im not embarrassed by them. I wrote like half the album. And I think the song selection, for the most part, was pretty good. I did a Dylan song and a Hank Williams song. So there were some seeds of what was to be. Her soon–to–be–former husband wrote the albums title song. Although Gliding Bird is a gentle, unassuming little folk record (Harriss rather fruity arrangements owed more than a small debt to Clouds–era Joni Mitchell), her singing was all over the map, exhibiting none of the remarkable control and passionate phrasing that would come to characterize her later work. I was struggling and no one was interested in what I was doing, Harris said. I got a manager who got me this deal with Jubilee and I made the mistake of not getting a lawyer and not looking into what was going on. I tended to be very passive, as I am still, maybe not so much as I was then, but I just signed the contract and found myself with a company that really wasnt able to do very much for me. Or wasnt inclined to. I went in and did a record in three days and didnt really have a direction, I didnt really have a style. I dont think I really got all those bits and pieces. I dont think that they were forged into anything definable until I worked with Gram. Harriss take on Hank Williams I Saw The Light was amateurish, her Ill Be Your Baby Tonight no cousin (distant or otherwise) to Bob Dylans original. She also covered Fred Neils Everybodys Talkin and at the request of her producer Ray Ellis and over Harriss own objections, Bacharach/Davids Ill Never Fall In Love Again. Of course, Gliding Bird went nowhere (1,300 copies were reportedly sold) and Jubilee billed the artist for $8,000 to cover production costs. 1 Ill Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob Dylan) – 2:45 2 Fugue for the Ox (Emmylou Harris) – 2:23 3 I Saw the Light (Hank Williams) – 2:40 4 Clocks (Emmylou Harris) – 3:00 5 Black Gypsy (Emmylou Harris) – 5:50 6 Gliding Bird (Tom Slocum) – 2:50 7 Everybodys Talkin (Fred Neil) – 2:03 8 Bobbies Gone (Emmylou Harris) – 4:05 9 Ill Never Fall in Love Again (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:22 10 Waltz of the Magic Man (Emmylou Harris) –
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 13:33:05 +0000
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