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Concerts for a Landmine Free World
(Available on Vanguard Records)
by Diane Wilkes
Emmylou Harris has long been active in raising money for and awareness of the international problem of landmines. This album, which selects 11 live performances from different artists who played at events organized to support elimination of landmines, is to be the first in a series. If the quality is indicative of the CDs to come, I say, bring 'em on--the additional CD, of course, not the landmines.
The album begins with Emmylou Harris, a woman who is emblematic of spiritual and musical integrity. This live version of "The Pearl" has a poignance and passion that is even more delightfully haunting than the studio recording. Her background vocals on many of the other songs enhance each of them. Other highlights of this album for me are Patty Griffin's "Mary" and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' "Morphine." All three songs are not just beautiful, but subversive in their bone-deep conviction. The instrumental beginning of "Morphine" reminds me of K.D. Lang's Ingenue album with its loping beat and vocal clarity, but the lyrics are so much more intense and disturbing.
Steve Earle is always brilliant, and on his live version of "Christmas in Washington," complete with vocals from Emmy and company, he offers a Woody Guthrie-esque political commentary that works even better in this context than on his album, El Corazon. The only specifically on-point song (in terms of landmine issues) is Bruce Cockburn's "The Mines of Mozambique," which I find too polemical. I am a fan of Mary Chapin-Carpenter, but wish that "This Shirt" was not the selection chosen. This is another song that seems too earnest and pointed...plus the mental image of the cat afterbirth going into the washing machine is just a little too graphic for my taste.
John Prine chimes in with "Big Ol' Goofy World", a charming ditty that refreshingly lacks the bombast of "The Mines of Mozambique," as do Guy Clark's quirky tribute to Townes Van Zandt, "Cold Dog Soup" and Kris Kristofferson's song for Willie (Nelson), "Shipwrecked in the Eighties." These light-hearted tunes, along with the subcutaneous trinity of the Harris, Griffin, and Welch songs, help the disk to avoid the whiff of sanctimony that can occasionally accompany an album of this kind and "keep it real."
The whole album weaves a hush of intimacy, flowing together in a way that makes you feel as if you are there, attending one of these concerts yourself. When it ends, you're almost tempted to get up and head for the door, not minding the ride home in store because you've just had your soul moved for a little while.
(You can purchase this through or at your local CD store.)
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