My Better Self

by Dar Williams

Overview

Starting from the atypically playful cover photo of Dar Williams sticking out her tongue, stained from the blue jawbreaker in her hand, My Better Self is clearly a big departure for the New England folkie. In contrast to both her sparse early records and her more recent albums that had hesitantly worked a wider range of musicians into her guitar-and-vocal tunes, My Better Self kicks off with the self-confident AAA folk-rock jangle of the sardonic "Teen for God," a rueful but affectionate memory of earnest adolescent moralizing set to a jaunty pop tune. This is in no way a sell-out attempt to appeal to a wider pop audience, but an opening up of Williams' music to incorporate unexpected but entirely appropriate new musical and emotional shadings. Williams steps up to the challenge with some of her finest material, including the instant classic "Beautiful Enemy." Quite possibly the finest song Williams has yet recorded, "Beautiful Enemy" matches a sharp lyric (including possibly the first chorus to turn the word "hegemony" into a vocal hook) to a terrific '60s pop melody that's given a strong pop-rocking arrangement powered by a killer organ part; for the first time, Dar Williams sounds more like Aimee Mann than Shawn Colvin, and it's an exciting transformation. The '70s California rock touches on the illegitimacy ballad "Liar" send what might have been just another acoustic folk tune into a direction closer to a vintage Fleetwood Mac or Carly Simon single, and all the better for it. Even the nervy cover choices, Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" (released shortly after the Scissor Sisters' glammy reinterpretation of same), come off well in the context of Williams' introspective originals. Stewart Lerman's production and arrangements bring in guests like Marshall Crenshaw, Ani DiFranco, and the guys from the Hooters (Rob Hyman co-wrote two songs, in fact), but this remains Williams' album throughout, and it's the best of her career. Her better self indeed. ~ Stewart Mason

Product Details

Release Date:	09/13/2005
Label:	Razor & Tie
UPC:	0793018295024

Tracks

1. Teen for God
2. I'll Miss You Till I Meet You
3. Echoes
4. Blue Light of the Flame
5. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
6. Two Sides of the River
7. Empire
8. Comfortably Numb
9. So Close to My Heart
10. Beautiful Enemy
11. Liar
12. You Rise and Meet the Day
13. The Hudson
14. I Saw a Bird Fly Away

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dar Williams   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Soulive   Primary Artist
Ani DiFranco   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Marshall Crenshaw   Vocals (Background),Guitar,Vocals,Soloist
Sammy Merendino   Percussion
Julie Wolf   Organ,Piano,Clavinet,Melodica,Accordion,Mellotron,Vox Organ,Glockenspiel,Fender Rhodes
Steve Holley   Drums,Glockenspiel
Ben Butler   Guitar
Eric Bazilian   Vocals
Eric Krasno   Guitar
Rob Hyman   Organ,Piano,Cordovox,Wurlitzer
Neal Evans   Bass,Organ,Piano
Michael Visceglia   Bass,Bass Pedals
Stewart Lerman   Guitar,Keyboards
Patty Larkin   Vocals
Steuart Smith   Organ,Piano,Guitar,Keyboards,Guitar (Acoustic)
Alan Evans   Drums

Technical Credits

Matthew Cullen   Assistant
Ben Wittman   Engineer
Greg Calbi   Mastering
Roger Waters   Composer
Rob Hyman   Composer
Jules Shear   Composer
Neil Young   Composer
Mike Napolitano   Engineer
Stewart Lerman   Composer,Producer
David Gilmour   Composer
Dar Williams   Composer
Dave Darlington   Mixing,Engineer
Chris Avedon   Assistant
William Wittman   Mixing
C. Taylor Crothers   Photography
David Richman   Package Design
Patty Romanoff   Photography
Ronald K. Fierstein   Management,Photography,Executive Producer
Damien Shannon   Assistant
Scott Serota   Assistant
Jennifer Coia   Management
John O. Senior   Engineer