Search - Rosalie Sorrels :: No Closing Chord: Songs of Malvina Reynolds

No Closing Chord: Songs of Malvina Reynolds
Rosalie Sorrels
No Closing Chord: Songs of Malvina Reynolds
Genres: Folk, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (13) - Disc #1

Malvina Reynolds was a songwriter blessed with a sly wit and a gift for composing memorable melodies, and, as Rosalie Sorrels's performances remind us, she mastered the very difficult art of writing protest songs that peop...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Rosalie Sorrels
Title: No Closing Chord: Songs of Malvina Reynolds
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Red House
Original Release Date: 7/11/2000
Release Date: 7/11/2000
Genres: Folk, Pop
Style: Traditional Folk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 033651014324

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Malvina Reynolds was a songwriter blessed with a sly wit and a gift for composing memorable melodies, and, as Rosalie Sorrels's performances remind us, she mastered the very difficult art of writing protest songs that people actually want to sing. No Closing Chords collects 12 Reynolds songs (and one tribute written by Janet Smith) chosen and sung by her friend Sorrels to commemorate the songwriter's centennial. When Reynolds performed these songs while she was alive, she accompanied herself in the standard folk manner on acoustic guitar. But Sorrels and her producer Nina Gerber have decided to give these songs some more imaginative settings: "Magic Penny," for example, features a joyful mob of children on the chorus; "This World" is performed as a smoldering blues complete with burbling organ and a biting slide guitar solo by Bonnie Raitt; and "The Money Crop" is backed by the haunting sound of Laurie Lewis on the hardingfele (a hardanger fiddle, the so-called national instrument of Norway). --Michael Simmons

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CD Reviews

Yes, "What Have They Done To The Rain?''
Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 11/25/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"My first association of the name Rosalie Sorrels with folk music came, many years ago now, from hearing the recently departed folk singer/storyteller/ songwriter and unrepentant Wobblie (IWW) Utah Phillips mention his long time friendship with her going back before he became known as a folksinger. I also recall that combination of Sorrels and Phillips as he performed his classic "Starlight On The Rails" and she his also "If I Could Be The Rain" on a PBS documentary honoring the Café Lena' s in Saratoga, New York, a place that I am also very familiar with for many personal and musical reasons. Of note here: it should be remembered that Rosalie saved, literally, many of the compositions that Utah left helter-skelter around the country in his "bumming" days.



In the same spirit, if not for the same reasons, Rosalie here "rescues" the old time protest song writer and insightful social commentator Malvina Reynolds. Of course having been immersed in the folk revival of the 1960's I was perfectly aware of Ms. Reynolds's work although, if pressed, I could not name a song that I associated with her name. That, alas, is the fate of many songwriters who have written indelible songs that far outlast their names and fames. In this regard, for example, I did not realize until I listened here that the classic protest song against nuclear proliferation and in favor of nuclear disarmament from the 1960's (and later) "What Have They Done To The Rain? is Malvina's composition. But enough of that: you want to know what is good here, right?



Well, obviously the above-mentioned song is fit for inclusion. "The Judge Said" a righteously (and justly) indignant outcry against trivializing sexual abuse by the courts is another. "Rosie Jane" about the trials and tribulations of the pro-abortion movement early on (just before the now tenuous victory in Roe v. Wade in 1973) and what that issue looked and felt like down "on the street". Needless to say any song like "The Money Crop" that pays homage to one of my heroes of the 17th English Revolution the Digger (also known as True Levelers) theorist and leader Gerrrard Winstanley is going to get my attention (as I am sure it would as well for the late Professor Christopher Hill who did much to "rediscover" the work and actions of this important revolutionary).



Moving on, the heartfelt rendition of "This World", with Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar, is a little bouquet by Rosalie to Malvina. Nice work Rosalie, and nice work Bonnie. Needless to say whether Rosalie is covering Malvina, as in this compilation, or paying tribute to her influence by pushing her own work forward she does a masterful and creative job (like bringing in children as chorus on a couple of the songs at the beginning and end of the CD) that has been the hallmark of her work since the early days.

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