Search - Tom Rapp :: A Journal of the Plague Year

Better than Pearls Before Swine

coop1821 | Texas | 03/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I have not owned all of the Pearls Before Swine records, "Journal of the Plague Year" is a better listen than any of those I have owned, including even "One Nation Underground." Mostly quiet and softly instrumented, these songs are sharply thought out and sharply played. Rapp's voice is a stumbling block for some listeners, but once one is accustomed to it, it is a very fine instrument for the conveyance of these tracks. "Hopelessly Romantic" is sweet and features a lovely mandolin solo in counterpart to Rapp's vocals. "Silver Apples" is a setting of a Yeats' poem [one which Donovan has also composed for, under the poem's original title of "Song of the Wandering Aengus"], and both Rapp's and Donovan's versions are worth hearing. This CD is folk music without [mostly] the treacle one sometimes associates with folk artists; and it exhibits the same intelligence and wit that the Roches' records do, though Rapp rarely employs humor as a writing device. The "symphony" that closes out the record is quite a marvel, a construction using old Pearls Before Swine tapes to form a lengthy and compelling suite involving humor [of a biting kind] and longing in equal measure. The packaging is also marvelous--similar to an LP sleeve, made of lightweight cardboard with the CD sitting in a "pocket" and with an accompanying booklet. Those who appreciate digipaks and other non-jewel enclosures will be pleased, I think, and old fans of Pearls Before Swine will note that Rapp has lost none of his affinity for fine, uncommon art on his record covers."

A folk singer for Everybody, not just smelly hippies

Baby Goo-Goo Krupke | An attorney from San Francisco | 04/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music on this album is like a diamond if you held it in your hand, hard but bright, like a shower of sparks if a cigarette fell off a building. With guitar voice and the occasional flute of gold, Tom Rapp sings songs of flowers and bees, joy and alabtross. The song for Kurt Cobain almost brings him out of his grave its so heartfelt...Recommended for parrotheads and pirates alike. "The swelling of the ocean, the raven's cry, the finch is on the wing" Just wonderful poetry as if written by the otherworldly hand, the hand that does not hold the sword but the pen. Chainmail and castlewalls, the purple rosewell and sculpted bust. I give it four stars out of five."

Tom is back

Jonathan D. Berke | Pleasant Hill, ca United States | 02/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tom Rapp returns after 30 some years to make one of the best lp's ...Yet no one seems to care..you should buy it.."