‘The Angel’ is a quiet piano ballad that kicks off side two of Bruce Springsteen’s debut album, 1973’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Half of the album’s tracks featured a full band while half were performed solo, this one being an obvious example of the latter.
Springsteen was very proud of the song and (for some reason) vowed never to play it live, though he caved and played it in a London show in the mid-90s, then again as part of a live performance of the full Greetings album in 2009.
Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days…
Wrapping up the first half of In These Silent Days, ‘Letter To the Past’ is another track that gives me strong Elton John vibes, though this time it’s a ballad rather than a muscular rocker.
I’m impressed at how different each of the first five songs on this album are stylistically, even as Carlile’s worldview threads them together thematically.
Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days…
The fourth track of In These Silent Days is an unexpected burst of righteous anger, and proof that Carlile can tear it up with the best of them. She channels her inner rock star in her live shows, but this is the first time I’ve heard it unleashed on a record.
The song shares a title with Carlile’s memoir, and she says it was inspired by the emotions stirred within her when writing the book.
Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days…
Third track ‘This Time Tomorrow’ is a simple acoustic number making lovely use of three-party harmony by Carlile and her two bandmates, twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth.
Carlile and the twins have seven children between them, and this song was written to help those children deal with their parents’ eventual deaths. As Carlile put it, “we were basically creating a family heirloom for the seven, for the kids that, pray to God, are going to outlive us by a margin.”
Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days…
Brandi Carlile befriended Joni Mitchell over the past several years, first earning an invite to the legend’s house for private jam sessions and later being tapped to perform Mitchell’s classic album Blue in live performances.
On In These Silent Days‘ second track, ‘You and Me On the Rock,’ Carlile wears that influence on her sleeve. The guitar sound here is straight out of Blue-era Mitchell.
