All I Intended to Be - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk
Emmylou Harris has always had a way with woe. On All I Intended To Be, she seems more maudlin than ever as she sings her way through songs about loss, heartbreak, even the odd funeral. Of course, this is the kind of material Harris has always been comfortable with, but as her career and years advance gracefully, so her gliding soprano seems to breathe ever more refinement and soul into her material. All I Intended To Be has been produced by Brian Ahern, her former husband and the man behind her first 11 albums--another reason the album sounds so comfortable and accomplished. Joined by a virtuoso set of players including keyboardist Glen Hardin and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan, plus vocalists Vince Gill, Buddy Miller, and Dolly Parton, Harris blends a handpicked selection of cover versions with her own material. Tracy Chapman's "All That You Have Is Your Soul" gets a honeyed reworking, as does Merle Haggard's "Kern River" and Mark Germino's "Broken Man's Lament". Billy Joe Shaver's "Old Five" and "Dimers Like Me" both get respectfully and sublimely covered too. But her own songs--in particular "Sailing Round the Room" and "Gold"--stand up well to these evergreens. An eclectic and profound set, All I Intended To Be is also one of Harris' best in recent years.--Danny McKenna

Album Description
On her second Nonesuch disc, Emmylou Harris assembles an extraordinary cast of veteran musicians and fellow singers, all of them longtime friends, for a set that indeed showcases this Nashville icon, and 2008 CMA Hall of Fame inductee, as all she has intended to be - a singularly expressive vocalist, a brilliant interpreter of other people's songs, a graceful and confident songwriter. In particular, the album displays Harris's ability to bring new life to songs that may have been overlooked, forgotten or lost along the way. Some of the most affecting material here may be the least well-known - though not for long: John Wesley Routh's celtic/country "Shores Of White Sands" and trucker-poet Mark Germino's heartrending story-song, "Broken Man's Lament." Harris has chosen these songs with conceptual care. Like much of the gently uplifting All I Intended To Be, the stories may be bittersweet, the characters may be downtrodden, but somehow a sense of redemption always vanquishes regret. The shared history of all the artists involved deepens the feeling of hard-won wisdom that informs All I Intended To Be. Producer Brian Ahern was behind the boards for such early Harris classics as Elite Hotel, Pieces of the Sky and Blue Kentucky Girl. The players and guest stars are not only a veritable who's-who from the worlds of country, bluegrass and folk, but they have each intersected with Harris throughout her four-decade career as a recording artist. They include Dolly Parton, singers Pam Rose and Maryann Kennedy, dobro player (and longtime Seldom Scene member) Mike Auldredge, keyboardists Glenn D. Hardin (of Harris's Hot Band and Elvis Presley's legendary TCB combo) and Bill Payne (of Little Feat). Two songs - the June Carter tribute, "How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower" and the breathtakingly beautiful "Sailing Round the Room" - were co-written by and performed with Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Singer-songwriter Karen Brooks, whose own eighties-era version of "Shores of White Sands" was the inspiration and thematic jumping-off point for this entire album, contributes backing vocals throughout; Randy Sharp, Brooks' singing partner, did the vocal arranging. (Harris won a 2005 Best Country Vocal Performance Grammy for her rendition of Sharp's "The Connection.") Harris's own songs, like the heartache ballad "Gold" and the elegiac "Not Enough," blend seamlessly with work by Patty Griffin ("Moon Song"), Merle Haggard ("Kern River") and Billy Joe Shaver ("Old Five and Dimers," from which the album title is taken). Harris revives what is arguably Tracy Chapman's most eloquent song, "Fast Car" notwithstanding - "All That You Have Is Your Soul," a cautionary tale with a simple but profound prayer of a chorus. Displaying the maturity, elegance and ease that distinguished All The Road Running, her best-selling 2006 collaboration with Mark Knopfler. Harris has created a riveting emotional and spiritual journey. All That I Intended To Be is everything a listener and fan could hope for.

Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

She may be uncommonly modest, but this is her "My Way" June 10, 2008
167 out of 179 found this review helpful

Until very recently, no one expected something "new" from an artist. He/she did what he/she did, and, over time, with work and talent and increasing mastery, the art got better and better. But it didn't get "different" and there was no expectation of novelty --- no one wrote about "Bleak House" that Dickens had failed to make a stylistic leap over "David Copperfield".

Emmylou Harris is an Old School musician in many ways, but especially in this --- she's plowed the same field for almost all her career. There have been modest detours, but nothing requiring her to change her hair or buy a drum machine. She just sings American Roots music, straight ahead and unadorned.

American Roots music isn't country, pop or rock, though it's not ashamed to borrow from those styles. It's not bluegrass, gospel, folk or Cajun, though there are elements. To its practitioners, it's the authentic heart of the heartland, songs that could only come from here, sounds that remind us who we are. Soul music, if you will.

Emmylou Harris is the high priestess of this music, and on her 21st release she does it as well as anyone ever will. To those who do not worship at her shrine or listen only casually to her music, it may sound like just another Emmylou Harris record: that exquisite voice, evocative lyrics, flawless instrumentation and angelic harmonies. Yes, it is, and "Great Expectations" is just another Dickens novel.

In today's lost and destructive music business, it takes ferocious courage and massive self-assurance to put out a record of quiet beauty and then to put a title like "All I Intended to Be" on it. That's a statement, a stake in the ground --- Emmylou Harris may seem uncommonly modest and self-effacing, but this is her "My Way".

These songs were recorded over four years. The producer was Brian Ahern, her former husband and collaborator on her first 11 albums. The musicians may be well-known to music fans --- the singers include Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Buddy Miller and the McGarrigle Sisters --- but there are an equal number of lesser-known singers and musicians who appear simply because they're dear to Emmylou. And the songs? "I've always seen myself as a relentless song-finder, a singer of other people's work whom I admire greatly, and an occasional songwriter," she says, putting herself last and least, as is her custom.

The songwriters are at once venerable and esoteric: Billy Joe Shaver, Merle Haggard, Patty Griffin, Mark Germino, Jack Wesley Routh. The song you probably know is by Tracy Chapman: "All That You Have Is Your Soul." That could easily have been the title of this CD. It is certainly the theme.

5 out of 5 stars

Confonting aging with honesty and beauty June 11, 2008
53 out of 69 found this review helpful

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1GVSXE9PDGPIN My name is Jeremy Gloff. I am a musician (check me out on Amazon!) and retro music enthusiast. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out my Amazon user profile to check out my other reviews. I am always up for making new friends and discussing the music I love!!!

3 out of 5 stars

Nice, but lacking a little something June 10, 2008
20 out of 37 found this review helpful

As I listened to songs on the new ELH disc, adjectives like "dreamy" and "delicate" came to mind. The tempos are nearly all so slow, it's a bit hard to remember that this is the same lady who once sang "Two More Bottles of Wine" and "Ain't Livin' Long Like This!" The recording quality is excellent, the performances are also topnotch, but the CD is just missing a certain amount of umph. I have nothing against Emmylou singing slow - "Too Far Gone" is one of the most beautiful songs ever - but her albums start sounding sleepy and even a little dreary without the occasional burst of energy. Follow "Old Five and Dimers..." with "Kern River" and you have a recipe for excessive mildness. (Then the very next tune, "Not Enough" is even slower!) I guess if I could think of this as an album of funeral music, I might be giving it 4 or even 5 stars - it'd be great for background music as the body is lowered into the ground... One other thing: I've always liked the way Ms. Harris sings, but she does have a problem with slurring the lyrics, and her voice often drops off in the middle of a phrase. I was grateful for the CD booklet, without which I would not have been able to understand what she was singing about on several of the songs.

5 out of 5 stars

hunger only for a world of truth August 27, 2008
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

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.

5 out of 5 stars

Her "loss" is our gain June 18, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

I've been an Emmylou fan since I was a young teen-ager and my mother bought me her Profiles I Best of album (yes, album). So I want to preface my review by stating upfront that I'm a fan and probably biased. That said, I do think this is a wonderful CD, well worth purchasing.

I do think that I personally prefer the production sound of her Wrecking Ball, Red Dirt Girl and Stumble in Grace CDs (what most reviewers have described as atmospheric, with world music influences, etc.) but that doesn't take away from the beauty and impact of the songs on this CD.

Yes, they are sad and full of regret and remorse. But this is Emmylou Harris folks. For my money, Emmylou's reputation as the "diva of loss" is our gain. No one sings these songs like she does. And nothing makes me happier than to listen to her sing them.

And as the Amazon reviewer said, despite darker subject matter (death, aging, loss, regrets) there is an uplifting feel to the CD. I think it's the paradox of the dark material in the hands of someone with such an angelic voice, but I also think there's a feeling of pulling up a chair and listening to someone older and wiser share hard-earned wisdom without self pity.

Is it country? Does it matter? Emmylou hasn't been welcome on country radio for a long time, even before Wrecking Ball. To be honest, I would like Emmylou to get airplay because I think she deserves it, but I wouldn't want her to change her style to get it.

It is more country, in my opinion, than the CDs I mentioned above, mainly for the production sound but also the material. Kern River still sounds as classic as it did in Merle Haggards' hands, and Emmylou's Gold and How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower both have a traditional flavor to them. Add Old Fiver and Dimers Like Me and Beyond the Great Divide and that's a lot for the tradionalists.

Personally, I don't care how you classify her music. I guess I'm one of those fans who likes whatever Emmylou does because I love her voice so much, and I respect her integrity.

Of her voice, one customer reviewer wrote that Emmylou was washed up and I felt compelled to respond to that before I even had received my CD. Now that I have, I can say without hesitation that she is not. This CD was recorded over a period of several years while she toured and did other projects. The fact that these songs are a bit gentler and delivered in a more delicate voice are a stylistic choice, it seems to me. If you've seen any of her recent youtube videos from performances as recent as last year or six months ago, you know that she can still exert some power on songs like Pancho and Lefty, Together Again and others when she needs to.

Has her voice changed? It would be a miracle if it hadn't. In my opinion though, the change in her voice is like the change in her appearance... maturity has only added a new element of beauty.

I know that there are times on this CD when her voice, described as cracked crystal by friend Linda Ronstadt, conveys emotion in a phrase or single word that I don't if anyone else could achieve, and that's only enhanced by the edgier sound that now complements the purity of her voice.

Her own song Not Enough is amazingly beautiful and moving to me, and it's a combination of her words and the aching delivery, especially on the refrain.

If I have any true critical remarks, it would be that the production seems a little heavy at times (slightly overshadowing the voices). On repeated listens, however, I have turned the volume up and found that does the trick. Also, I would somewhat agree with other reviewers who said the songs are all similar in tempo, but I disagree with the reviewer who said they all sound alike.

Those are two different things entirely. Similar in tempo yes, but Emmylou's delivery and the vocal and sound arrangements on the songs do vary. Shores of White Sound and Hold On have heavier production, while Moon Song, Not Enough and All That You Have is Your Soul are more spare.

To sum it up, I can't say that everyone will like this CD; some people seem to be either old Emmylou, or new Emmylou and this CD is a bit of a hybrid, not really either one. I guess when your tastes are as eclectic as Emmylou, you run the risk of not pleasing everyone.

Bottom line: the material is well-chosen and well-delivered and that's what makes it quintessential Emmylou. Turn the sound up and enjoy.

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