Mr. Eric Bachmann returned to town for the first time since a triumphant full-band April, 2005 set with his Crooked Fingers at Central Square's Middle East. Both the setting and the setup were drastically different this time around, with Eric touring on his fine "To The Races" solo album, bringing along two sidewomen to assist rather than the full-Fingers. The trio squeezed onto the tiny stage of the generally folk-centric Club Passim, just one stop down the Red Line from Central in Harvard Square. An entirely dissimilar atmosphere, but no less magical.
It was our first time at Passim, and we were surprised to discover that our reserved 'dinner seats' put us right up against the stage, nearly in opener Richard Buckner's lap. Blame my ticket-purchasing punctuality for the prime spot, I suppose, but as someone who likes to snap a few photos, it was almost uncomfortably close... at times I felt like I was intruding. We were also only slightly bothered that the reservation had us eating with a couple of (fortunately friendly) strangers at the table. Not sure if this is standard for the club (every other table in the sold-out space had team-ups), or if the demand for tickets necessitated it (the small room required the scheduling of a second Bachmann/Buckner show later that night). Coupled with the crammed-in crowd, some early-fall humidity made the place super-stuffy, but Bachmann's set was beautiful enough to make me oblivious as he played. Here's his performance, featuring Kate O'Brien on cello & violin, and Miranda Brown on keyboards, guitar, and a bit of percussion. Both also contribute some gorgeous backing vocals throughout...
For those keeping score, that's eight songs from "To The Races", four from the latest Crooked Fingers disc, 2005's "Dignity and Shame", two from the previous one, 2003's "Red Devil Dawn", and a couple from the 2000 self-titled CF debut.
Some Bachmann-related links...
Purchase his solo album "To The Races" at Saddle Creek Records, or from his offical store. I believe he had the vinyl version with him on the road, so hopefully it'll show up there.
Chromewaves wrote up the Bachmann/Buckner one-two punch after he caught them up in Toronto a couple weeks back. An excellent post (and a few accompanying mp3 links) from Frank as usual.
Is it just me, or is there a melody in "Sleep All Summer" that is straight outta Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"? Can't believe I never noticed that before. Oboy, do I ever digress.
This probably deserves a post all its own, but as long as I mentioned Crooked Fingers, it's worth noting that longtime CF guitarist Barton Carroll will release his second solo album, "Love & War", on October 17th, courtesy of Skybucket Records. Visit Barton's MySpace page, look here later on to order the album, and in the meantime, check out some mp3s...
Bachmann's tourmate, Richard Buckner, is keeping an interesting tour diary on the Merge Blog. Naturally, he got lost driving in and out of Boston, and according to that entry, he believes our fair city "overturns cars whether or not their team wins or loses". Actually, no... I think it's only when they win. And it ain't just overturned cars... young lives are lost. And as for his "scraps of LL Bean khakis and blue button-ups" comment... it was Harvard Square. What did you expect?
On a side note, hard to believe that 2005 Crooked Fingers show was the very first one I captured with my minidisc recorder after I ditched my old Archos... seems like far longer than 18 months ago. Glad I quickly got the hang of the thing after that initial semi-successful attempt...
the fine print... If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link on left). Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Mp3s are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
