Patty Griffin’s “Silver Bell” (From 2000) To Be Released on October 8, 2013
Amos Perrine
Posted On July 31, 2013
They say good things come to those who wait…..but 13 years is a long time for Patty Griffin’s followup to “Flaming Red” to be released.
Several reasons have been put forth concerning the delay. The two most prevalent include getting lost in the shuffle (or different priorities) due to a change in ownership of the label at the time or that it sounded too much like her previous effort. The latter holds little weight as since when did “imitation” stop anything in the music world? And concerning the former, not only was artwork chosen for the the album, but CD covers had been printed. (See below.)
“Silver Bell” contains 14 originals (track list below) and was recorded at Daniel Lanois’ Kingsway Studio with Frank Swart on bass, Doug Lancio on guitar, and John Deaderick on keyboards. Emmylou Harris sings harmony on one song. Two of the songs, “Top of the World” and “Truth #2,” were covered by the Dixie Chicks’ on”Home” (2002) and Natalie Maines included the title song on her solo album.
One would have thought it would found the light of day sooner that this if only as a result of her Grammy winning “Downtown Church” and her work with Band of Joy.
One more thing. Until “Silver Bell” is released, on October 8 on A&M/Universal with a new mix by the legendary Glyn Johns, some of us will continue listening to the original CD as a few of those slipped out the back door and it has been long available on the bootleg market. And as far as I can tell the tracks on the the new release are in the same order as they were in 2000.
Silver Bell track listing:
1. Little God
2. Truth#2
3. Boston
4. Perfect White Girls
5. Sooner or Later
6. What you Are
7. Silver Bell
8. Fragile
9. Mother of God
10. One More Girl
11. Sorry and Sad
12. Driving
13. Top of the World
14. So Long
The title song performed pre-2000 on the PBS “Sessions on West 54th Street:”
