Search - Lucy Kaplansky :: Ten Year Night

Lucy Kaplansky is the BEST

Annie | Ogden, UT USA | 10/22/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Lucy on the Cry Cry Cry album with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell. When I saw Cry Cry Cry in concert Lucy played "Ten Year Night" and I knew that I had to have her CD. Her music is inspiring and fun to listen to. It makes me happy and I never tire of listening to her albums. After I bought "Ten Year Night" I also bought her other two albums... all three of them are marvelous. I told my roommates about her while I was home in Vermont for summer vacation and they went out and bought her CDs too. If you love Dar and Richard and the Nields, you will LOVE Lucy Kaplansky."

Looks like I'm in the minority

Greg Brady | Capital City | 04/18/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I consider myself a singer-songwriter/new folk fan (I love Shawn Colvin, much of Dar Williams' stuff, Sarah McLachlan, Mary Chapin-Carpenter,Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer) and I'd heard good things about her (not to mention the Colvin connection was enticing) so I borrowed this disc from my library.



I'll echo what some others have said in that most of the ones I enjoyed best seemed to be the most spare, least produced offerings.



HIGHLIGHTS:

"Promise Me" is a 'missing you from the road' song and while the sentiment isn't new, it's heartfelt ("I'm counting the white lines/the measures of road time/They're broken in pieces/like my heart today") and sounds very nice with the John Gorka harmony. It's a keeper. "Just You Tonight" is simplicity itself: Larry Campbell's acoustic, Zev Katz's bass, and Lucy. The only studio "trick" is Jennifer Kimball's lovely harmony. The song is bewitching. The vulnerability in "A Child's Hands" (where Lucy realizes that the fears of youth still linger within) make it a fine effort, too.



LOW SPOTS:

"Turn the Lights Back On" sounds like it wants to be the anthem for women in passionless relationships, but the overly wordy third verse doesn't fit the meter and makes the tune stumble. "For Once in Your Life" also strains to be a "deep" hymn to those carrying emotional baggage they can't drop but the tune seems oddly upbeat and Lucy's voice too lilting for the heavy subject. It just doesn't work for me.



BOTTOM LINE:

Kaplansky does have a fine voice, if not particularly distinctive. The songs here are nice, but in the end only some of them were genuine "wows" for me. A good one if you're a diehard folkie/singer-songwriter only person, but those whose musical interests scatter across the board might not find this sufficiently fantastic to choose this over another act."

This is why the Grammy was created.

Ronald J F | Everywhere in U.S. (trucker) | 12/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I purchase between 35 and 50 CDs a year. This latest offering from Lucy is the best total collection of songs I have heard this year. Rarely does an album go 10 for 10 on the quality of its contents. Ten Year Night does this. The first couple times through, I thought I knew which tracks would be my favorites, and which might get the forward button pushed occasionally. But after listening more, I have found that even the tracks that were initially too slow for me, have spread their sweetness all over me. Too bad this fantastic example of emotion, music and style is not widely known. Kaplansky would surely receive the Grammy for Album of the Year. On the other hand, being one in a smaller fanbase keeps the intimacy with the artist that much better."