Search - Eric Andersen :: Blue River

Poor Remastering Damages A Classic

Ron Frankl | Hendersonville, NC | 07/13/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In its original LP form and initial CD release, "Blue River" is a wonderful album that belongs in every collection of folk music, and fans of '70's singer/songwriters will appreciate it as well. Sadly, in this most recent version, Sony Music badly botched the remastering.



Rather than take full advantage of the increased dynamic range to make the recording sound warmer and lifelike, those responsible for this release merely boosted the levels of all the instruments and vocals. As a result, the balance between them is completely changed, and much of the subtlty of Andersen's music is lost. It sounds like a '90's pop album, and I don't mean that as a compliment. This is not the recording that Eric Andersen made; it's a clumsy and unnecessary attempt to update "Blue River" for a modern audience.



A contemporary of Bob Dylan, Tom Rush and other legends of the Folk movement, Anderson's songwriting was focused on more personal, romantic subjects than most of his fellow folkies and, as a result, they have stood the test of time. After a successful early career at Vanguard and a lesser stint at Warner Brothers, Andersen moved to Columbia Records for "Blue River."



But few major artists have been as poorly served by their record company as Andersen was at Columbia. When "Blue River" was released in 1972 it received very positive reviews, and became the best selling album of Andersen's career, a potentially career-making work. Rather than capitalize on this succss, though, Columbia managed to lose the only copy of the master tapes of his follow up release in their own facility, and did not find them for more than 15 years. Whatever career momentum that was created by "Blue River" was lost. (The missing tapes were located in the late '80's and were issued as "Stages;" it's one of Andersen's best) It was three years before his next album was released (for Arista), and by then the music scene had changed significantly. Eric Andersen never became the major star he should have been. Now, with this poorly-executed reissue, Columbia has failed Andersen yet again.



Blue River contains two of Andersen's best songs, the gentle opener "Is It Really Love At All?," and the wistful "Faithful." Joni Mitchell adds background vocals on the lovely title song, but there are no weak tracks here. Andersen's intelligent and expressive vocals still sound great, and they are framed by arrangements that are both sympathetic and beautiful. It's a shame, though, that most listeners will never hear this music as it was intended to be heard, but even in this inferior edition, it's worth a listen. If you ever see a copy of the earlier CD edition of Blue River that preceded this mistake, by all means grab it."

A Perfect Album

Joeomar | Omaha, NE USA | 04/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the rare albums that achieves perfection right down to each note, a quiet, peaceful album that carries you gently like floating down a river under starlight. I saw Eric Andersen in concert one night in 1974 in a small theater, maybe 400 in the audience, at Michigan State U where I was a freshman. His performance was as quiet and simple as his albums. I remember particularly the song "Liza Light The Candle" (from a later album), where he enjoined the audience to sing along with the chorus. The song enveloped the audience and carried us away in the darkness, and when it quietly concluded no one made a sound; no clapping or applause, no one wanted to disturb the silence. You could have heard a pin drop. Eric eventually said something like "well...", and only then did everyone finally start applauding. I've never seen an artist hold his audience like that. That was 35 years ago and I still remember it as one of the most amazing concert experiences of my life."

Growing Artist

Claudio Grill | 05/07/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I discovered Eric Andersen music recently.

This is a good album. In any case I would prefer the more mature sound of recent records like 'Blue Rain' with reinterpretations of old pieces from Blue River.

"