A dog, a chewed up package of cat treats and a great song. Kind of a strange set of bedfellows wouldn't you say? Well that is how most people were introduced to John Carrie and Moor Green. Who hasn't seen Denver the dog and his guilty looking expression when confronted with the evidence of his crime, all the while, a great song is playing in the background pleading, Please, Please, Please. Well, I doubt that when John Carrie produced that wonderful song that it would take a guilty dog to promote it. Hope he's getting some sort of royalty because it has been seen almost 40 million times. If that song however is the only thing people ever hear from John Carrie they are sadly missing out. To me, Please is a great song but it isn't even the best on that CD and that CD isn't even the best that he has recorded.
As I write this I am listening to his latest effort (from 2012 actually), Shy Away. It is a mind blowing piece of work that has 12 songs and spans about 45 minutes. It doesn't have the hooks like Sewn Up or Past The Point from the Clearing Air or the studio polish of Today or Back to the Sea or of course the aforementioned Please from Folk Is Not Happy. Shy away is a CD that is raw and sans Moor Green. It is John Carrie pouring his heart and mind out. It is stripped down and directly to the heart on every song. No over the top production like we find all to often by artists trying to capture their angst or heartbreak in a studio with pro tools and Auto Tuning. No, there is none of that. What you get with Shy Away is a CD that you have to sit and take in song by song by song and probably several times until you get the whole thing.
The first song is Coming Back To Life and if you have ever been knocked down and gotten back up and took on the world and then won, this is your song. Just remember to listen with your mind. A couple of songs later we are treated to Killer Blows. It is all about the human condition. Life is tough and if you let it, life will eat you alive but if you stand up to it, you can take whatever it throws at you and you can stand up to anything. If there is a gut punch song on the CD it is The Green River. The first time I listened to this song I thought, this is a really nice song. It really sounds like a sweet song. The second time I thought this has some undertones. The third time through I was almost in tears. It is a powerful song that you should hear. That is all I will say except I hope that you buy the CD so that you can decide for yourself. How do you see yourself in the grand scheme of things? And then there is Wintersun, another one of those songs that you need to listen to a few times. I love this song and if I have a favorite on this CD it is Wintersun. A song of hope but like life, not too much hope. If you are a hardcore folk guy this album may test your patience because it is clearly John's way to express his feelings and genre's be damned. That said, You Are My Sky is a good 'ol fashioned folk song.
So, that isn't really a review but it is my thoughts on this exceptional record. If you are new to John Carrie start with this one. You can get a good feeling for the power in his writing. You get a sense of who he is before you delve into the Moor Green part of his work. Moor Green is his band and they are exceptional on his other recordings. Shy Away though needed to happen, it is his best work. I stumbled across John Carrie several years ago while cruising around You Tube and found the song Over and Over. It was a pretty bad video of a live performance but it didn't matter. I heard the power in that song and I was hooked. Found the CD (Folk Is Not Happy) and I have been hooked ever since.
John Carrie is not going to be for everyone and in fact, he will tick some people off because he is pretty matter of fact. He talks about life, relationships and the world around us. He will challenge you and if you don't like that, you won't like him.
My John Carrie and Moor Green playlist:
Wintersun
The Green River
Leaving Now
Over and Over
Autumn
The Space Between
Heal The Scrapes
Coming Back To Life
Green Think Tank
and I have to include, Please (For Denver. The guilty dog.)
This is the video that started it all for me. I have been hooked since.
As I write this I am listening to his latest effort (from 2012 actually), Shy Away. It is a mind blowing piece of work that has 12 songs and spans about 45 minutes. It doesn't have the hooks like Sewn Up or Past The Point from the Clearing Air or the studio polish of Today or Back to the Sea or of course the aforementioned Please from Folk Is Not Happy. Shy away is a CD that is raw and sans Moor Green. It is John Carrie pouring his heart and mind out. It is stripped down and directly to the heart on every song. No over the top production like we find all to often by artists trying to capture their angst or heartbreak in a studio with pro tools and Auto Tuning. No, there is none of that. What you get with Shy Away is a CD that you have to sit and take in song by song by song and probably several times until you get the whole thing.
The first song is Coming Back To Life and if you have ever been knocked down and gotten back up and took on the world and then won, this is your song. Just remember to listen with your mind. A couple of songs later we are treated to Killer Blows. It is all about the human condition. Life is tough and if you let it, life will eat you alive but if you stand up to it, you can take whatever it throws at you and you can stand up to anything. If there is a gut punch song on the CD it is The Green River. The first time I listened to this song I thought, this is a really nice song. It really sounds like a sweet song. The second time I thought this has some undertones. The third time through I was almost in tears. It is a powerful song that you should hear. That is all I will say except I hope that you buy the CD so that you can decide for yourself. How do you see yourself in the grand scheme of things? And then there is Wintersun, another one of those songs that you need to listen to a few times. I love this song and if I have a favorite on this CD it is Wintersun. A song of hope but like life, not too much hope. If you are a hardcore folk guy this album may test your patience because it is clearly John's way to express his feelings and genre's be damned. That said, You Are My Sky is a good 'ol fashioned folk song.
So, that isn't really a review but it is my thoughts on this exceptional record. If you are new to John Carrie start with this one. You can get a good feeling for the power in his writing. You get a sense of who he is before you delve into the Moor Green part of his work. Moor Green is his band and they are exceptional on his other recordings. Shy Away though needed to happen, it is his best work. I stumbled across John Carrie several years ago while cruising around You Tube and found the song Over and Over. It was a pretty bad video of a live performance but it didn't matter. I heard the power in that song and I was hooked. Found the CD (Folk Is Not Happy) and I have been hooked ever since.
John Carrie is not going to be for everyone and in fact, he will tick some people off because he is pretty matter of fact. He talks about life, relationships and the world around us. He will challenge you and if you don't like that, you won't like him.
My John Carrie and Moor Green playlist:
Wintersun
The Green River
Leaving Now
Over and Over
Autumn
The Space Between
Heal The Scrapes
Coming Back To Life
Green Think Tank
and I have to include, Please (For Denver. The guilty dog.)
This is the video that started it all for me. I have been hooked since.
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