Things I Gave Away

Things I Gave Away

Things I Gave Away

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Though best known for her folk, Celtic, and bluegrass collaborations with her brother, Tim, Mollie O'Brien surprised fans and critics with her 1998 solo album, Big Red Sun, on which she offered blues and jazz-pop interpretations of Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, and Steve Goodman. Now on Things I Gave Away, produced by guitarist Nina Gerber, O'Brien wades deeper into minimalistic jazz and art-form atmospherics, with more refined, yet elastic interpretations of standards and newer songs alike. If she doesn't quite innervate the Beatles' "You Won't See Me," she makes Percy Mayfield's "River's Invitation" the most artful call to suicide you'll ever hear, and in exploring "Love, Life and Money," pushes both the melody and the torchy emotion into territory that neither Little Willie John or Johnny Winter ever considered. But her finest moment comes in the confessions of a scared lover, "Practicing Walking Away," on which O'Brien delivers a shimmering, sad performance. This stylistic return to O'Brien's formative years of performing in nightclubs probably only hints at recordings to come. What sweet misery that is! --Alanna Nash

Things I Gave Away,Mollie O'Brien,Sugarhill [Country],Folk,Folk & Traditional,Pop,Progressive Country,Traditional Bluegrass
Things I Gave Away
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Our best unknown singer
  • "Telling it True" in a different way........
  • "Telling it True" in a different way........
 Things I Gave Away
Mollie O'Brien
Manufacturer: Sugarhill [Country]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Outlaw & Progressive CountryOutlaw & Progressive Country | Country | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music
TraditionalTraditional | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Folk | Styles | Music
Traditional FolkTraditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Big Red Sun
  2. Tell It True
  3. Remember Me
  4. Away Out on the Mountain
  5. When No One's Around

ASIN: B00004W5EI
Release Date: 2000-08-29

Tracks:

  1. River's Invitation
  2. When I'm Gone
  3. The House, The Boat, The Lovers
  4. Practicing Walking Away
  5. You Won't See Me
  6. Train Time
  7. Throw It Away
  8. Love, Life And Money
  9. The Right Thing
  10. When I've Got The Moon

Amazon.com

Though best known for her folk, Celtic, and bluegrass collaborations with her brother, Tim, Mollie O'Brien surprised fans and critics with her 1998 solo album, Big Red Sun, on which she offered blues and jazz-pop interpretations of Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, and Steve Goodman. Now on Things I Gave Away, produced by guitarist Nina Gerber, O'Brien wades deeper into minimalistic jazz and art-form atmospherics, with more refined, yet elastic interpretations of standards and newer songs alike. If she doesn't quite innervate the Beatles' "You Won't See Me," she makes Percy Mayfield's "River's Invitation" the most artful call to suicide you'll ever hear, and in exploring "Love, Life and Money," pushes both the melody and the torchy emotion into territory that neither Little Willie John or Johnny Winter ever considered. But her finest moment comes in the confessions of a scared lover, "Practicing Walking Away," on which O'Brien delivers a shimmering, sad performance. This stylistic return to O'Brien's formative years of performing in nightclubs probably only hints at recordings to come. What sweet misery that is! --Alanna Nash

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Our best unknown singer.......2000-09-04

Our best unknown singer, in the mega-commercial sense of the word, O'Brien is a name among bluegrass and folk circles. She has done fine work with her brother Tim and 1998's "Big Red Sun" was first-rate. This release is better, reminding us that a voice with perfect pitch, correct breathing, and an innate sense of swing rhythm, can make contemporary songs sound like standards of the type Sinatra and Simone could sing. And you don't have to write your own material to infuse your singing with powerful emotion. O'Brien is in terrific form here, and Nina Gerber's spare production and guitar stylings are the right support for her interpretive vocals. Acoustic bassist Cary Black is also wonderful here, especially on "Throw it Away." The only known song in the set is Lennon-McCartney's "You Won't See Me," done up with a satisfying salsa rhythm. Listen to the ache in O'Brien's voice as she delivers "Practice Walking Away," and the incredible meditation on dying "Train Time." I can't imagine this set of songs being sung and produced any better.

5 out of 5 stars "Telling it True" in a different way...............2000-09-04

For those familiar with Mollie O'Brien's last two CDs, the bluegrass folk of "Tell it True" and the blusier, more pop oriented "Big Red Sun", this CD may come as somewhat of a suprise. In what I think is a courageous move, this CD offers up an eclectic dish of jazz and R&B stylings - a move that will delight some, and confuse others.

For me, the impressionistic jazz styling of "Throw it Away" with its wandering bass line, the funkiness of "When I'm Gone" and the R&B inspired "the Right Thing" only serve to point out O'Brien's ability to grow as an artist which, in a day and age where most are content to continue comfortably on the same path day after day, comes as a sweet suprise.

For me the courage to be different, the courage to break the rules, is what makes art so interesting. I for one hope that this is just the start of Mollie's interesting journey through life.

5 out of 5 stars "Telling it True" in a different way...............2000-09-04

For those familiar with Mollie O'Brien's last two CDs, the bluegrass folk of "Tell it True" and the blusier, more pop oriented "Big Red Sun", this CD may come as somewhat of a suprise. In what I think is a courageous move, this CD offers up an eclectic dish of jazz and R&B stylings - a move that will delight some, and confuse others.

For me, the impressionistic jazz styling of "Throw it Away" with its wandering bass line, the funkiness of "When I'm Gone" and the R&B inspired "the Right Thing" only serve to point out O'Brien's ability to grow as an artist which, in a day and age where most are content to continue comfortably on the same path day after day, comes as a sweet suprise.

For me the courage to be different, the courage to break the rules, is what makes art so interesting. I for one hope that this is just the start of Mollie's interesting journey through life.

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