More Love Songs
Loudon III Wainwright
Richard Thompson, Maria Muldaur
Producer: Loudon Wainwright III, C.Tannenbaum
Demon Records (UK), 2003
1 CD
Catalogue #: 8046
EAN: 0740155884628
UPC: 740155884628
You save: 25%
Personnel includes: Loudon Wainwright III (vocals, guitar, cymbals); Chaim Tannenbaum (vocals, banjo, harmonica, saxophone); Maria Muldaur (vocals); Peter Filleul (keyboards); Ruari McFarlane (bass); Dave Mattacks (drums); Danny Thompson, Christine Collister, Martin Carthy, John Kilpatrick.
This is the second in a pair of albums that Loudon Wainwright recorded in the mid-'80s with producer Richard Thompson. As with its predecessor, I'M ALRIGHT, MORE LOVE SONGS benefits greatly from Thompson, who as a songwriter himself, brings deft support to the arrangements. The ensemble is at times large, incorporating horns, fiddles, and accordion, besides the usual core of guitars, bass, keyboards, mandolin, and drums. The opening number, "Hard Day on the Planet," replete with background singers, sounds like Wainwright's answer to the "We Are the World" anthems that popped up around the time of this album's release. Elsewhere he details the ups and downs of his life and relationships (a constant subject throughout his career). MORE LOVE SONGS introduced such Wainwright classics as "You Mother and I," "I Eat Out," and "Unhappy Anniversary."
Tracklist
Loudon III Wainwright
In the late '60s, New York's own Loudon Wainwright III was tagged as one of the first "New Dylans," but his penchant for solo acoustic performances was the only real similarity. Wainwright is adept at using humor to defuse powerful emotional issues in songs that deal very specifically with the everyday realities of life. His biggest hit was the novelty song "Dead Skunk," but in fact, he's written powerfully about some very heavy topics.
Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson started his career in the late 1960s as Fairport Convention's precocious guitar whiz. His subsequent solo career bears echoes of Fairport's folk-rock sound, but with a much darker, more deliciously twisted sensibility. Thompson is equally skilled as composer and guitarist, as borne out by his much-lauded recordings both with his then-wife Linda and on his own.
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur got her start in the heady West Village folk scene of the early 1960s with the Even Dozen Jug Band (her bandmates included guitarist Stefan Grossman and future Lovin' Spoonful John Sebastian), and then enjoyed a few years with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, alongside her then-husband Geoff Muldaur. After their marriage split up in 1972, Muldaur focussed on a solo career, establishing an image as a sultry earth-mama chanteuse. Her first album, released in 1973, made a splash, spawning the classic pop hit "Midnight at the Oasis." Although subsequent albums and singles didn't go over as well with the public, Muldaur never stopped recording or touring, and later in her career adopted a jazzier, more timeless repertoire that suits her varied international audiences.
