Music for Grownups Reviews: Moss, Longview
By: Richard Gehr | Source: AARP.org | Date Posted: 2008-04-08
Richard Gehr is a veteran music critic based in New York City.
Moss
"Moss"
Sunnyside
From the Andrews Sisters to Crosby, Stills & Nash to Manhattan Transfer, great vocal groups always transcend the sum of their talented individual members. The five New York City singers comprising Moss—Theo Bleckmann, Peter Eldridge, Lauren Kinhan, Kate McGarry, and Luciana Souza—boast that special alchemy, with the added distinction of not being tied to any single musical style.
While there's a jazz tilt to the quintet's luminous debut, their material ranges from Neil Young's "Old Man," Tom Waits's "Take It With Me," and a stunning a cappella version of Joni Mitchell's "Shadows and Light" to the shimmering devotionalism of Bleckmann's "Orchard," Eldridge's wordlessly wonderful "These Things Take Time," and Souza's Bach-inspired "Object Devotion."
Longview
"Deep in the Mountains"
Rounder
The fourth album by a group formed as a one-shot deal a decade ago, "Deep Into the Mountains," finds six seasoned bluegrass stars delving deep into the music's folk repository. J.D. Crowe, Ron Stewart, and Lou Reid join originals Don Rigsby, James King, and Marshall Wilborn on an album that recaptures the spine-tingling, three-part harmonies and ensemble musicianship of such golden-agers as Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and the Stanley Brothers. I'm partial to balladic songs about death, such as "At the First Fall of Snow," and rebirth, "The Baptism of Jesse Taylor." But my ears always perk up when Rigsby's mandolin or Stewart's fiddle breaks out of this passionate pack.
"Moss"
Sunnyside
From the Andrews Sisters to Crosby, Stills & Nash to Manhattan Transfer, great vocal groups always transcend the sum of their talented individual members. The five New York City singers comprising Moss—Theo Bleckmann, Peter Eldridge, Lauren Kinhan, Kate McGarry, and Luciana Souza—boast that special alchemy, with the added distinction of not being tied to any single musical style.
While there's a jazz tilt to the quintet's luminous debut, their material ranges from Neil Young's "Old Man," Tom Waits's "Take It With Me," and a stunning a cappella version of Joni Mitchell's "Shadows and Light" to the shimmering devotionalism of Bleckmann's "Orchard," Eldridge's wordlessly wonderful "These Things Take Time," and Souza's Bach-inspired "Object Devotion."
Longview
"Deep in the Mountains"
Rounder
The fourth album by a group formed as a one-shot deal a decade ago, "Deep Into the Mountains," finds six seasoned bluegrass stars delving deep into the music's folk repository. J.D. Crowe, Ron Stewart, and Lou Reid join originals Don Rigsby, James King, and Marshall Wilborn on an album that recaptures the spine-tingling, three-part harmonies and ensemble musicianship of such golden-agers as Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and the Stanley Brothers. I'm partial to balladic songs about death, such as "At the First Fall of Snow," and rebirth, "The Baptism of Jesse Taylor." But my ears always perk up when Rigsby's mandolin or Stewart's fiddle breaks out of this passionate pack.
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