I first came across Over the Rhine a few years ago at Greenbelt festival- I was on my way somewhere and stopped for a few mins to have a listen, and found myself rooted right to the end of the set. I bought a couple of albums, which were OK, but more recently on the back of some rave reviews, I got hold of their new album ‘The Long Surrender’.
It is brilliant- soulful, bluesy, with tinges of Jazz and Country.
And it passed that test of all good music-of-meaning (which is all I am interested in these days)- it made me cry.
There is this one song, for instance, near the end, which I have decided to adopt as an anthem for a while. With apologies to my friends, it speaks of the best of us being broken- and in this broken vulnerability, we find each other and the beauty that life is all about…
There is also a wonderful sax solo that fades into brokenness and is tender and lovely.
Here it is- go buy the album!
I got this for my birthday- I love this track and I sometimes repeat the lines to myself when I encounter a church ‘success’ merchant.
Better still, IMHO, is ‘Only God can save us now’…
Hi Graham- yes another great track- about a psychiatric ward- another one that made me cry…
And that terrible success thing. It will kill us all in the end.
C
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