ARTiST: Greg Copeland
ALBUM: Diana And James
BiTRATE: 170kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: ADA Global
GENRE: Rock
SiZE: 64.13 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 49min 53sec total
RiP DATE: 2009-01-23
STORE DATE: 2009-01-23
Track List:
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01. Muddy Water 4:06
02. Diana And James 3:49
03. The Only Wicked Thing 3:55
04. I'll Find Someone 3:10
05. Between Two Worlds 3:37
06. I Am The One 4:40
07. Count The Bodies On My Crown 3:12
08. Blue Room Red Suitcase 3:20
09. Who You Gonna Love 4:28
10. Typical 2:41
11. A Woman & A Man 4:30
12. Palace Of Love 4:21
13. All Those Things 4:04
Release Notes:
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The Desert Island Disc - every music fan, especially those who are critics, has
one. Usually revered for both sonic beauty and a sense of neglected genius
(See: Lester Bangs on the ShaggsÆ ôHistory of the Worldö).
For me, that record is Greg CopelandÆs ôRevenge Will Come,ö which arrived in
1982 like a Molotov cocktail lobbed at the coked-out complacency of Southern
California soft rock and nascent Reaganism.
Jackson Browne, CopelandÆs friend and sometime collaborator since high school,
produced it.
But even though they shared a history (and A-List studio musicians like Danny
Kortchmar and Bob Glaub), this was no ôPretenderö - not by a country mile.
If anything, Browne became the borrower: ôLives in the Balanceö couldnÆt exist
if Copeland hadnÆt written ôEl Salvador,ö an anti-war song that rivals Bob
DylanÆs best:
Think of the four sisters shot in the back
For holding a land-reform school
Think of the ones taking heart in the hills
They can be beaten but they can never be ruled
Los Companeros - born in the war
Viva El Salvador
ôEl Salvadorö was among many perfect moments of unalloyed rage on ôRevenge Will
Come.ö Copeland railed at whoremongers (on the title song), spit on shiny
limousines (ôUsedö) and sneered, in ôFull Clevelandö:
ThereÆs blood all over the bottom line
Money, child, thatÆs where itÆs at
You go tell Karen Silkwood that
Which so offended ClevelandÆs biggest rock music station, they refused to play
the album. ItÆs a crime that Black Flag never covered the song.
But the real power of ôRevenge Will Comeö came during its uncommonly tender
moments. Prisoners, trailer park denizens and the criminal-minded all shared a
piece of Greg CopelandÆs warm heart.
Take ôStarting Place,ö where a rounder counts off his sins and asks for
redemption:
Once I was a fool at heart
I was a man at everything
I killed an angel for her precious wings
And every time I could get some love
I put it right back in my arm
I guess itÆs true, baby,
ThereÆs no refuge in the storm
ThatÆs for another time
And another space
Oh baby will you be my starting place
Or the misguided rube of ôWrong Highway,ö
Born on TV, raised at the Alamo
You donÆt want to go to jail,
But every payday comes so slow
On ôRichard Hill,ö Copeland weds a ôKumbayaö progression to a murder ballad as
he tells the story of a sonÆs retribution:
My father was a kind man
From the western states
He could buy and sell
And he made his way
Gunned down
æCause he would carry cash
I left my mother and my sister
And I went after that killerÆs ass
Though it entered my bloodstream like adrenaline, the rest of the world mostly
ignored ôRevenge Will Come.ö The record never appeared on CD, and Copeland
didnÆt perform it live - ever. On the albumÆs cover, the songwriter stands half
in the shadows, emanating wariness of the spotlight.
Among the few interviews he did, one might have made him a star. Paul Nelson,
whoÆd written about Dylan when he first hit Greenwich Village, signed the New
York Dolls, and ran the record review desk at Rolling Stone when such a thing
actually mattered, talked to Copeland in late 1982.
But he resigned from the magazine before writing a story. NelsonÆs biographer
found a cassette of their conversation shortly after the critic died in 2006.
Copeland æs fate reminded me of a line from ôEl Salvadorö û ôpraise for the ones
who are buried and gone/and the strong hearts who just disappear.ö
HeÆd made a record with one of musicÆs biggest stars, released it on the
powerful Geffen label (which included Elton John and Donna Summer), and then
vanished.
I asked about Copeland during a conversation with Jackson Browne in 1986, and
even he didnÆt seem to know where to find him.
Over the years, IÆd check record store bins for signs of his work; when the
Internet emerged, I Googled ôGreg Copelandö more times than I can remember. I
wore out two copies of ôRevenge Will Come,ö and every time a new technology came
along û MiniDisc, CD-R, MP3 û his was the first music IÆd convert.
Then a few months ago, word arrived of a new Greg Copeland record, the first in
over 26 years. The album, entitled ôDiana and James,ö was released on Jackson
BrowneÆs own Inside Records label in mid-October.
ItÆs easy to mistake ôDiana and James,ö for the work of a different artist. The
smooth fury of 1982 is scuffed and weary in 2008. CopelandÆs voice, once a
close cousin to Walter Egan or perhaps Lindsey Buckingham, is now a
ragged-but-right combination of John Hiatt and Bob Dylan.
But sentiments at the heart of both records û love is neither given nor
guaranteed, sorrow can be overcome but never banished, and doubt can cling like
morning fog to every single day - stitch the years together.
In a perfect echo of ôStarting Placeö Copeland sings, on the new record:
If we want love
We better make our own
Instead of putting up walls
Stone by perfect stone
ThatÆs the lesson of distance. What once could be conjured, or willed through
passion, now takes patience and work. ôYou donÆt just kiss and make up/weÆve
got this to go through,ö he wryly observes in ôA Woman and A Man.ö
But bruised optimism is still a kind of hope, he explains on the wondrously
brief ôTypical.ö With the precision of Raymond CarverÆs ôA Small, Good Thing,ö
Copeland whittles the enormity of simple survival down to eight perfect lines:
Typical three-day day
And a three-chord song
If it wasnÆt for this
IÆd be screaming in tongues
And the love light shines
Sparkling on razor wire
Typical bud-wiser words
Typical steel guitar
ôDiana and Jamesö are recurring characters in a story that begins with murder
and works backwards. On the lead track, ôMuddy Water,ö a womanÆs body is pulled
from a river, the reasons for her death unclear:
It took time to find out
What she could bear
It took sticks and sandbars
To braid her hair
Hey what did it take, boys
To carry her there
More than the muddy water
More than the muddy water
Though culpability for the killing is revealed on ôI Am The One,ö the guilty
party is not. Doing the deed matters less than failing to stop it, and carrying
on with the weight of regret is worse than death. Laments Copeland on the title
song:
ThereÆs nobody else I want to be
Nobody else I can turn into
Honey baby, where have you been
What I have to do
IsnÆt what IÆve learned to live with
Another reason not to give in
With a literary voice somewhere between David Lynch and Cormac McCarthy (with a
coy, Henry James-ish ôdear readerö tossed in) Copeland reveals a character
ôBetween Two Worlds.ö In the first, heÆs wandering wounded through escape and
self-destruction - ôjust me, in my own little Amsterdam.ö He yearns for a holier
place û ôus in our own little Palestineö û and implores ôKing Confusion, send me
a sign/send a little postcard so I can tell where I am.ö
Copeland and producer/guitar wizard Greg Leisz lured some amazing players into
the studio for this project, which took over five years to complete. Standout
performances include violinist Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio), who shares an
eerie lead vocal on ôPalace of Love,ö Heather WatersÆ tasteful harmonies on ôA
Woman and a Manö and the title track, and Gabe WitcherÆs (Punch Brothers,
Loggins & Messina) mournful fiddle playing.
Keyboard player Phil Parlapiano evinces an incredible soft touch, just enough on
ôWho You Gonna Loveö and ôThe Only Wicked Thing,ö the latter a playful
speculation on the night Hank Williams died.
Leisz, who plays on every song, is wonderfully ubiquitous on lap steel,
acoustic, electric and baritone guitar. His restraint and elemental musical
sense behind the boards elevate ôDiana and Jamesö into brilliance.
ItÆs another touchstone record, but for different reasons. CopelandÆs youthful
militancy has given way to a murkier acceptance of ôthe trouble in the truth.ö
Now he graveyard whistles (on ôAll Those Things,ö the albumÆs final song) and
muses: ôI guess IÆve seen enough of this long, gaudy fall out of love.ö
Yet he doesnÆt gives up the ghost. ôI donÆt know how, but I can see you now,ö
sings Copeland, ôby a light I can barely find.ö
Dreams of burning the world down once fueled his fury, but those emotions belong
to another life, another time - another man. Older, wearier and somehow serene,
he now follows the promise of a dim, durable flame.