Ida for you - I ve heard this album about five times now and am still making up my mind about it. Parts of it seem more conventional than their earlier work. But it fills me with joy. Ida is one of the best bands in the universe.
Ida pure listening pleasure - Ida have now released their SEVENTH record not including live albums, 7, various EPs and other worthy sides. Highlights here are many, recorded in Levon s barn in Woodstock, NY, the Catskills do extreme justice to the warm tones of Ida s acoustic soulk. No that is not a typo. Dan and Liz are the most souful folk folks out there bringing it with Karla and Jean Old-Tyme school. Please enjoy The Killers, For Shame of Doing Wrong compliments of Richard and Linda Thompson s penmanship as well asGravity, and Willow Tree...highlights if need be. The whole records seethes like a humid Hudson Valley summer day and crackles like a Lake Hill February fire.
More Beautiful Than Ever - These Are True Love Songs - If you re already familiar with Ida, then get ready to treasure another spare, beautiful album filled with the voices of Elizabeth Mitchell, Dan Littleton, and Karla Shickele. This band has constantly updated its lineups, starting out with just Liz and Dan, and going through various progressions, but what s amazing is how, no matter how many people they ve got playing with them, they manage to bring things down to the bare minimum they need to express their sentiments. Not quite as minimal as Low, a band they ve toured with, but this album sounds like they are singing lullabies directly to their listeners. Here, joining the three are Ruth Keating, Jane Scarpantoni on cello, and Tara Jane O Neil, among others.Even a line like You punched Ronald Reagan right in the face (on The Killers, 1964 about the film starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson) almost sounds like a hushed revery in their delivery. I always say that the real sign of a book winning me over is if it makes me cry, and the same could be said for my favorite music. These hushed songs reveal themselves more and more on each listen, evoking love and spirituality, as the title suggests, sneaking up on you until you re simply sucked in. Ida once again proves that they can do so much with the simple grace of their instruments and their voices. My personal favorite so far (though it keeps changing) is their Richard Thompson cover, The Shame of Doing Wrong. Their harmonizing on the line I wish I was a fool for you again is just breathtaking. That is in no way meant to disparage Ida s amazing songwriting, which, to me, takes off where Heart Like a River left off, with lyrics that could be interpreted various ways, but go perfectly with their lullaby-esque music. The title track and The Love Below are also outstanding and prove that even after numerous albums, Ida is constantly looking to evolve.Forget candy or chocolate this Valentine s Day. Get someone this album and listen to it together and fall in love with Ida s music, again or for the very first time. Ida proves themselves very old souls, in the best meaning of the phrase, wise travelers on the road of life who are imparting lessons not from the lovelorn or jaded, but from people continually in awe of love, and life, a la See the Stars.