For admirers of classic pop song construction, production, and performance, Noah's Dove is jaw-dropping in its perfection. The subtle piano hook, deep and dark chord changes, and the warm, dry-eyed, heartbreakingly acute singing grab your ears, while the lyrics (an unhurried, unsparing epitaph to a relationship with a cheating scumbag) clench your heart. The best part may be that it introduces Our Time In Eden, a collection of finely-crafted folk-pop songs that served as a worthy finale for the Maniacs.
Everyone knows this song from "Breakfast At Tiffany's" but this is the most gorgeous version I've ever heard. "Karen Peris is blessed with the most hauntingly beautiful voice". It's a b-side from their Birds Of My Neighborhood" cd.
A beautifully desolate version of this track is remixed by gusGus and available on a Innocence Mission promo. The vocals remind me of the more coherent tracks by Elizabeth Fraser. The title is apt, it's quiet and simple, music for reminiscing by a forest stream during a winter walk.
I don't know if Jeffery Lee Peirce was a genius, but I find this song and album to be. ;)
from Fire of Love, available on CD
30 Sep 04 ·TippyCanoe: Fyi---Long Gone John at Sympathy For the Record Industry is a fool for the Gun Club, too. He is about to re-release two or three of their early records.