eMusic Review 0
If the master plan of Live From The Artists Den was a bit of a longshot — film up-and-coming acts in unusual settings for an obscure cable network — it helped that the music directors guessed right with one of their first acts, taping the Swell Season in Seattle several months before the duo won an Oscar. Their winning song, the emotionally uplifting guitar/piano/violin ballad “Falling Slowly,” is among the highlights in this collection, which focuses primarily on singer-songwriter material. Other standouts include Patty Griffin's rousing gospel number “O Heavenly Day,” Josh Ritter's raucous folk-rock rave-up “Right Moves,” and KT Tunstall's arresting, dramatic pop gem “Saving My Face.” A couple of top-flight pop bands — Crowded House with the buoyant “She Called Up,” Fountains Of Wayne with the more barbed and edgy “Traffic And Weather” — help to broaden the horizons, but it's Ben Harper's seven-minute, reggae-tinged “With My Own Two Hands,” a forceful declaration of social activism, that really pushes the collection into another dimension. Of the three bonus tracks that apparently came from shows beyond the series'first season, the most appealing is “Come On, Come Out” by A Fine Frenzy, featuring the enchanting vocals of… read more »
