Patty Griffin’s follow-up to 1998’s Flaming Red, which went unreleased by her then label A&M records, now has a street date. After being shelved for more than a decade, “Silver Bell” will be released on September 24 by A+M/Universal.
Though “lost” “Silver bell has hardly been forgotten. The album has been available on-line for years for fans willing to do a little digging. And Several of the songs from “Silver Bell,” “Top of the World,†“Mother Of God†and “Standing†found their way on her following album, “Impossible Dream.” Some songs have also been covered by others, “Truth #2″ was recorded by The Dixie Chicks, “What You Are†by The Greencards and “One More Girl†by The Wreckers
Though it’s preferable that music be released at the timing chosen by the artist, sometimes a shelving can build a demand and mystique that can work to the benefit of the release when it finally does become available. Either way, it will be nice to hear the tracks as she originally intended them.
Silver Bell Track Listing:
1) Little God
2) Boston
3) Perfect White Girls
4) Truth #2
5) What You Are
6) Silver Bell
7) Driving
8) Sooner Or Later
9) Top Of The World
10) Sorry And Sad
11) Making Pies
12) Mother Of God
13) One More Girl
14) Standing
Before he became the modern equivalent of Liberace and creator of Disney Soundtracks (1994’s The Lion King with Tim Rice) Sir Elton John (Reginald Dwight to his mum) was the reigning king of 70’s adult pop. Odds were if you tuned into an FM rock or pop station (often they were the same station as genre segmentation was less rigid back then) within 5 minutes you’d hear one of his omnipresent truckload of singles.
Tumbleweed Connection was the first time a road band had been used in the studio, making it more the Elton John band rather than just Elton on his own, and the bigger sound comes to life immediately on the blues-rock opener Ballad of a well-known Gun, the story of a gunslinger reaching the end of the road (though I prefer the more country-rock version found on disc 2 of the Legacy edition of TC) and My Father’s Gun a moody study on a Southern son’s legacy of avenging his father’s Civil War death that builds to a dramatic finale’. Both songs feature the soaring backing vocals of Madeline Bell, Tony Burrows and blue-eyed soul diva Dusty Springfield.