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Music Review: Jonathan Elias 'American River'
Posted by Jeremy Chrysler on Sept. 01, 2004 10:41 AM
American River by Jonathan Elias
Music from Decca, Release date: 24 August, 2004
In the first words of the last recording before his death, Johnny Cash speaks slowly, with his native authority, over the incipient trickle of Jonathan Elias' piano:
The American River
Lives inside our soul.
It spills onto the soil we touch,
And it spreads its wisdom
To those who then reach
The struggle to remain pure,
Is clouded by fear and deceit.
As the music builds behind Cash, so to does the River, growing with ever-increasing complexity. Continuance, a spoken-word track, is performed first by Johnny Cash, describing the River as life, and then by his daughter, who chronicles the marniners-turned-musicians history of the American family Cash.
The metaphor is quite simple and certainly unoriginal - the River as our personal journey through life, ever struggling against a path already determined and the confusion of 'rocky ideas' - but it is still powerful, and feels more so because of the beautiful, refreshing music that Elias has created.
Elias treats the River differently, more respectfully than most. While a popular musician might use the River as a metaphor as a means to express a sentiment, Elias sees the River as an end in itself that just happens to mirror the myriad and humble existence of humans.
The ultimate beneficiary of this rare treatment of riverine America is the listener. In about an hour, one is treated to dynamics, depths and complexities rarely found on music that makes the radio. Elias draws from actual rivers, from the frenetic Colorado to the softer, slower Waiting in the Forest.
It truly is a gorgeous record from start to finish. The spoken word performances by Kris Kristofferson and Emmylou Harris are both good and interesting, although I found myself skipping through them after 5-6 listens. Elias' music has rare power though, and I doubt that power will stray too far from my stereo any time soon. My guess is that if you purchase this album, it will have a similar effect on you.
Coincidently, Kristofferson and Cash collaborated at least once before, working with Willie and Waylon to write a tremendous song called The Highwaymen, a sonic history of four mythical figures of the Great American West. Cash sings the third verse, quite fittingly about a dam builder the Colorado River:
I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wide Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around
I think Elias would agree.
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www.bellaonline.com...
Kathy Lyngholm
BellaOnline's Country Music Editor
American River by Jonathan Elias
This is not your typical country music album, there are no lyrics except for the spoken word. But the classically arranged music is accompanied by some of the best known names in country music, Johnny Cash, Roseanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris and Marty Stuart. All of the words spoken to the beautifully arranged music are the creation of the person speaking them. Not only do you get big names speaking on the CD, you get them playing on the CD too. Randy Scruggs, Marty Stuart and Ronnie McCoury all make appearances playing either acoustical guitar or the mandolin.
In his final recording Johnny Cash is first to speak on “The Continuance/Mariners and Musicians”, he speaks of “life being a river inside our souls”. Daughter Roseanne Cash with “Mariners and Musicians” speaks of the original Cash ancestors coming to America as sailors and farmers and how things have changed in the many years since they first arrived and how they are now musicians. You can hear how frail Johnny’s voice had become in the final months before his death, but it doesn't make that voice any less powerful. It’s a must listen for any Johnny Cash fan.
Kris Kristofferson’s contribution to the CD is on “The Source”. He chose to write about rivers being a source of destruction and rebirth. He describes how the Rio Grande separates Texas and Mexico and how it brings life and can take it away. This contribution is the longest on the CD, but well worth it, the music and the words go together wonderfully. Kristofferson’s skill as a music writer is unsurpassed.
Emmylou Harris makes her contribution with a short poem that accompanies the song “Mother of Exile”. Marty Stuart is on the bonus track in “You Can’t Stop Love” telling us to wake up, love is the one thing you can’t kill. While Jonathan Elias may not be a household name, his music is probably known to you, some of the songs that you will hear on this CD have been featured in television commercials for Acura and Lexus. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first popped this into my CD player, the music is calming and relaxing after a stressful day. Beautiful music, wonderfully written words, take a chance and see what it’s all about!
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www.iclassics.com...
News & Features
Crossover Café
American River — Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias, one of the most accomplished and highly regarded composers for the film, television and advertising genre has released American River, now considered to be one of the most original albums of this style to have come around in a long time. In a 14-movement modern classical composition for piano, strings and percussion, American River features the final studio recording from American music icon Johnny Cash, with other special guest artists including Roseanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Marty Stuart, all helping complete Elias’ vision. “American River is intended as a symbol of hope and renewal, in both the spiritual and environmental sense of a river. America is constantly being reborn,” said Elias.
His third and perhaps most compelling work to date, American River contains tracks that all have original, spoken-word lyrics written by the given featured guest artist, around which Elias has woven his music where “along the way, the river reflects history — sometimes emotionally dark and somber, sometimes hopeful and of unimaginable beauty.” Randy Scruggs, Marty Stuart and Ronnie McCoury all also make appearances playing either acoustical guitar or mandolin. Obviously, this recording is a must for any Johnny Cash fan — his voice frail with meaning in these final months before his death — as he speaks on “The Continuance/Mariners and Musicians” of “life being a river inside our souls.” His daughter, Roseanne Cash, on “Mariners and Musicians,” talks of the original Cash ancestors coming to American as sailors and farmers and how things have changed so much over the years since their first arrival, and how they are now all musicians. The American River, which has been polluted, dammed, diverted, tamed, flood-controlled, and practically dried out of existence, still also has its stretches of wild water which evokes this untamed spirit of the pioneer and wilderness, something which the music of this album captures beautifully in its feeling. Elias' music surrounds some of the richest and most authentic voices in country music, and its moving poetry speaks of this spirit in the lands of the muddy Rio Grande, the mighty Mississippi, or the blue of the Colorado.
Over the past 25 years, Jonathan Elias has had his music appear frequently in the trailers and scores of many movies, some of which include Alien, Back To The Future, Blade Runner, 9 1⁄2 Weeks, Gandhi, Chaplin and The Singing Detective, as well as musical themes for hundreds of well known and award winning commercials — Nike, MTV, Levis, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola — his work continuing to remain fresh and versatile. Two tracks from American River actually appeared in major advertising across the country: “Wild Colorado” appeared in a campaign for Microsoft and “Crossing Rivers” for a Lexus commercial. Elias has also arranged and produced for such artists as B.B. King, Alanis Morissette, James Taylor and Duran Duran. Requiem for the Americas: Songs from the Lost World, a rock fable and tribute to the spirit of the North American Indian culture, inspired by the photography of Edward S. Curtis, was released in 1990 as his first solo project, which included vocals from Michael Bolton, Jon Anderson and Patti Scialfa. This encounter with the native Americans reverberated in Elias’ second solo album, Prayer Cycle (1999), which featured an amazing cast of international talent (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Alanis Morissette, Malinese musicians Mah Damba and Salif Keita, James Taylor, John Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Perry Farrell) and received critical acclaim for its vision of humanity’s future. Scored for orchestra and chorus, the cycle consists of nine meditations in which the original texts in English have been reinterpreted in a number of different languages by the artists. “Prayer is what we turn to when the only thing we have left is hope,” Elias said, and it is these depths that we are reminded of when encountering the profundity of this man’s work.
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www.countrymusic.about.com–lamericanriver
Jonathan Elias - American River
--Kathy Coleman
Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Well, it's not a country album. It is, matter of fact, a classical album with some spoken-word performances by prominent country singers, which is how it ended up landing on my desk. However, it is a tremendously moving and emotional album with stunning melodic quality and richly textured moods. It richly evokes the feeling of that which it is a tribute to The American River.
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www.captaincynic.com...
Captain Cynic
American River — Jonathan Elias
Hello everyone-
I want to share with you a writer and composer, who creates beautiful music--music that can be truly defined as "music". Though I've just learned of him, Jonathan Elias has been creating memorable tunes for a long time, writing music for films, television, and advertising (like microsoft, yahoo!, Nike, Back to the Future, etc.). I bring him to your attention because his cd is a refreshing break from the superficial pop music. "American River" is a meaningful and symbolic album as it represents rebirth and renewal; the music suggests a long transformation as we float with Jonathan Elias down the American River, where the river represents our history-sometimes emotionally dark and somber, sometimes hopeful and of unimaginable beauty. Accompanying his genius are many well known artists, including the last recordings ever made by Johnny Cash. This music is fantastic-- inspiring and moving.
1:40:19 pm - August 6th
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