All I Intended to Be

Emmylou Harris' new CD is a lovely folk set. Four of the tracks have caught my ear at this point. "All That You Have Is Your Soul" is a Tracy Chapman song that Harris remakes with great result, "Hunger only for a taste of justice; Hunger only for a word of truth 'cause all that you have is your soul." For me, the album is backloaded with my very favorites coming right at the end. "Not Enough" is an Emmylou penned tune about loss, "I still have your memory, one or two pictures of you & me, Life is long & life is tough, but when you love someone, life's not long enough." What wisdom! "Sailing Round the Room" was written by Emmylou with Kate & Anna McGarrigle. Its lovely melody shines with the McGarrigles' backup vocals, "From the tall pines of Carolina all the way to the wall of China." The set ends with the lovely harmonies of Mike Auldridge & John Starling on "Beyond the Great Divide." "All I Intended to Be" is a quiet set that is like deep waters. Enjoy!

Once again I feel compelled to comment on Emmylou's music. When I first saw this disk I read various reviews here whining that this album is a "downer" and the like. I smiled to myself and bought it without a second thought. I would have bought it no matter what the reviews said. Yes, Emmylou sings about pain, but she also sings about redemption and perseverance, the dawn that follows the darkness. Anyway, what price do you put on music that brings tears to your eyes?

But I am writing just to comment on one track from this disk. "All That You Have Is Your Soul", a song that did not grab me when I heard the author's version two decades ago, is rescued here and made Emmylou's own. The song includes the lines: "hunger only for a taste of justice, hunger only for a world of truth." The depth of longing in the "hunger only", the slight hush of reverence in "justice" and "truth". Those lines, at this time, in that voice... Whatever I might think of the tracks on this album, and my opinion varies, those few seconds are worth the price of the album to me, and I would not be without it.

At least I can say it's not a bad album, but I'm not going so far to say it is a great disk either. It's no 'Wrecking Ball' or 'Red Dirt Girl'. Heck, it's not even a 'Cowgirl's Prayer'.

It seems when it was released a few months back, every reviewer heaped nothing but praise on it. That's hard to live up to. And in my opinion, it doesn't.

As expected, there is nothing wrong with Harris' voice - it is still crystalline and unique as always. And though it was recorded over a three year stretch with her ex-husband as producer, it still has decent flow and consistency. A little too much consistency, where to a point there seems to be little deviation in the song style.

Maybe it's the material. But whatever it is, it is just not firing on all cylinders for me.

That's not to say it is bad - as I said earlier. It's fine, but it doesn't have too many stand-outs and that is usually what I love about Emmylou - she has plenty of them. But compared to anything else out there, it's a very good disk, but compared to some of her other works, it is just very middle of the road.

As usual, I just purchased her without listening to it, as you usually get a quality disk. Technically it is - I was just expecting so much more.

I loved this CD.
As if there was any chance that I would not.

The reason that I gave it 4 stars
is because I am comparing it to her
other collections of songs released
over the decades, on the EH scale
if you will. Very few, if any, other
folk musicians can even qualify to
be rated on the EH scale.

I wasn't expecting a sort of return
to somewhat traditional Americanish
folk music,
but I'm not disappointed because
she is particularly good at that
whatever-you-call-it type music.
What am I saying ?!!! She's the best.
The truth is, after all this time,
one might as well call it
Emmylou Harris music. She owns it.

You will hear and like a number of songs
written by herself
and other great song writers.
And, as usual, she is accompanied
by the best of the best of musicians.

The cardboard packaging is pretty lame.

It's a new Emmylou Harris album!!!
Get it and listen to it alot!!!

Emmylou never fails to deliver and on "All I Intended To Be", she continues to use that magic voice, beautiful melodies and a heart-crippling "All That You Have Is Your Soul".

I would suggest buying this album if you are a long-time fan....see the change Emmylou has made from the 70's until now, she is truly a rare gem.