Search - Mother Earth :: Bring Me Home

...And I Fell

patocaster | San Jose, CA United States | 08/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought the LP back in the day and based on Tracy Nelson's killer performance of "Temptation Took Control Of Me And I Fell", this recording warrants its reissue and purchase. The 30-second clip gave me goosebumps!"

BRING ME HOME Just Sends Me...

Gregor von Kallahann | 02/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Song for song, BRING IT HOME is just about my favorite Mother Earth album--at least among those records featuring the great Tracy Nelson as their sole vocalist. The very first two albums LIVING WITH THE ANIMALS and MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE have a very special place in my heart, precisely because they, like the Big Brother and Jefferson Airplane albums of the late '60s, are collective efforts DESPITE the presence of a major female vocal talent who could be (and often was) the focus. In other words, those first two ME albums have a true hppie, communal feel that captures the spirit of the era.



By BRING ME HOME, Tracy and the group had moved to Nashville and entered a completely new phase. Being a Tracy Nelson fan, I could scarcely complain that Tracy was now fronting the band exclusively and, in fact, never did. Its predecessor SATISFIED was actually the first record to feature Tracy as the sole vocalist, and that was a fine record too (if a little on the brief side), but BRING ME HOME came about after a label switch, had many more upbeat tunes and just seemed tighter and more dynamic a set overall.



There may be a certain irony that the very earliest Mother Earth albums, with one or two other vocalists, actually feature enough vocal highlights on Tracy's part to satisfy Tracy devotees as well. They include: the first recorded version of her signature song "Down So Low" (later recorded by artists like Linda Ronstadt, Etta James and Maria Muldaur); the song that inspired the band's name Memphis Slim's "Mother Earth," and Tracy's powerfully moving version "I Need Your Love So Bad"--all are just plain killer tunes. In fact, anyone listening to them now would have to wonder why she was not as big a name as Janis or Grace (or bigger for that matter).



But BRING ME HOME had its share of showstoppers as well--including the rowsing "Temptation Took Control Of Me (And I Fell), Tracy's knock out version of Boz Scaggs' "I'll Be Long Gone", the gospel inspired "Bring Me Home" and "Deliver Me." There are beautiful slower tempo moments too, like Tracy's own composition "Soul of Sadness" (as moving in its way as the earlier "Down So Low") and a classic reading of the Eric Kaz tune "Tonight The Sky's About to Cry." She assays classics like "Seven Bridges Road" and James Taylor's "Lo and Behold" and makes them pretty much her own.



I just about cried tears of joy when this record was finally re-released on CD. So many of the tracks had appeared on the earlier Warners anthology THE BEST OF TRACY NELSON/MOTHER EARTH. But that compilation was released in the mid-90s and I feared that the complete Mother Earth albums would never come out on CD. Thank heavens for revival companies like Wounded Bird (and Rhino and Collectors Choice)! Nearly all of Tracy Nelson's catalog--solo AND with Mother Earth--had been released on CD at some point or other. Not all of it remains in print now however, so I recommend picking up what's out there.



And BRING ME HOME is not a bad place to start. For many listeners, in fact, it may be the PERFECT place to start.



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