Harrod & Funck's Live Lives Up To Title

Review by dave

Most times when record companies try to sell us "live" albums, what they are actually pawning off are the same songs we've heard on earlier studio works played before a live audience in mostly the same manner as we're used to, only with perhaps an extended guitar solo or two. The recording is then doctored with studio-recorded over-dub music and beefed-up crowd noise. Ironically, the "live-ness" and spontaneity is methodically weeded out in favour of a high-gloss production. God bless the exceptions that prove the rule.

Released by Weathervane Music, the aptly named Live, the third release from folksters Jason Harrod and Brian Funck, has done us all a favour by bucking the trend of over-zealous post production for a live album, and has delivered what the title promises. It's now time for us to do ourselves a favour and find a permanent spot for this disc in our CD rotation.

Live was recorded on February 14 and June 2, 1998 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The setting is popular to many singer/songwriter types, and Harrod and Funck seem to fit right in, judging by the warm reaction from the audience. The fact that both performances were recorded at the same place give the disc a natural continuity. The end result is a truly live recording, in which the listener is treated to a dialogue between musician and audience.

Of the 13 songs appearing on this disc, only five have appeared on Harrod and Funck albums before: "Worn Out Welcome," from Dreams of the Color Blind, produced by the late Mark Heard in 1992, and "All Fall Down," "Tidewater," "Something," and "Lion Song" from the Ric Hordinski produced, self-titled album. All other songs are apparently new material, save a T-Bone Burnett song and one from former college classmate Peter Beyer.

The disc starts off unassumingly with the sedate "All Fall Down," and moves to a swanky folk tune called "Carolina." "Worn Out Welcome" follows ironically close after the duo have introduced themselves to the audience at Calvin College.

The two covered songs appear consecutively towards the middle of the disc. "After All These Years" is a T-Bone Burnett song that Harrod and Funck give their own off-beat folk spin to (Mark Heard described Harrod and Funck's style as "Simon and Garfunkel on drugs"), and is followed by a song called "'I Will Find C.'" "Model Waif" is a good example of Harrod and Funck's songwriting ability: "I wish I was a frozen pizza/I'd get warmed up by someone who loves me." The audience responds with a laugh at the line, "I wish I was Generation X/I'd get to whine all day and be a pain in the neck/I wish I was Johnny Depp..." and leaves the next line empty, as if to imply that there's nothing more to be said about the Gen X/Johnny Depp comparison.

"Grasshopper" is a song based on a poem by Jeanne Murray Walker, and although it has appeared on no previous album, one gets the sense that this song is a crowd favourite based on the reaction from the audience. Here, the scratching of guitar strings is cleverly employed to simulate a grasshoppers legs.

Live is a fun, inviting disc. The quality craftsmanship that went into these songs is rewarded with a truly human touch and a quick wit. The production that went into this disc was careful and precise, resulting in a sound that is both genuine and crisp. It is indeed refreshing to hear an album that can be truly called Live.

To order this or any Weathervane Music disc, visit www.weathervanemusic.com.