Reason To Believe – The Songs of Tim Hardin
(February 12th 2013 on Full Time Hobby)
Tribute album featuring covers by Mark Lanegan, Smoke Fairies, Okkervil River and more…
artwork: Miles Johnson
Stream/share: Smoke Fairies “If I Were A Carpenter” HERE
Acclaimed Oregon troubadour
Tim Hardin
is one of the most influential and respected singer-songwriters of all
time, not that the man himself cared much for the title. "My songs
aren't personal," he insisted before his death in 1980. "They sound it
'cos it was me who revealed them, but it was my head that got the
lightning shot through it.” An interesting choice of descriptive,
seeing as how for his many devotees, his bewitching folk music has the
same knockout power as a ten thousand volt lightning strike from the
sky – instantaneous, bruising, beautiful, electrifying.
Among those devotees are some of the most exciting alternative voices
of the last fifty years – like Nick Drake and Tim Buckley before him,
Hardin was a musicians' musician, the inspiration behind a great many
artists whose limelight he never procured for himself. Johnny Cash,
Paul Weller, Rod Stewart, Echo and the Bunnymen, Scott Walker, Nico...
Hardin's music has been covered by countless icons of contemporary
counter-culture. Now that tradition is set to continue with the release
of
Reason To Believe, a tribute album collecting specially recorded cover versions from the impressive likes of
Screaming Trees legend Mark Lanegan, the beguiling
Hannah Peel, indie favourites
Okkervil River and many more.
Patti Smith expressed her admiration for Tim Hardin’s music in her memoir
Just Kids,
for instance: "My brother gave us a new needle for our record player...
we happily listened to Tim Hardin, his songs becoming our songs, the
expression of our young love." (p.44) and “I played Tim Hardin songs
for my lovers and told them of you." (p.274) referring to Mapplethorpe.
“So many people's entry point to Tim has been through cover versions,”
says Full Time Hobby co-owner Nigel Adams, responsible for the release.
“It felt fitting to bring his songs up to date with contemporary
artists approaching his music with the hope listeners would then go
beyond the well known and dig into some of the wealth of songs he wrote
and recorded”. The album comes as a sequel of sorts to the label's
2006 release,
Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley,
and is the next in a gradual series of releases that puts the spotlight
on artists whose impact was more profound than their fame would
suggest, whose names may have drifted into obscurity but continue to
burn brightly in the hearts and record collections of many music lovers.
But
Reason To Believe
is more than an opportunity to pay lip service to one of the most
gifted and overlooked talents in generations, with its artists (in the
true spirit of Hardin) getting creative with the songs. The record
begins with Wellington cinematic-pop types The Phoenix Foundation and a
dazzling reworking of
“Don't Make Promises You Can't Keep”,
the '60s groove and strummed guitar of Hardin's original replaced by a
tsunami wash of post-rock pianos and airy vocals. From there, the good
times keep tumbling. Sam Genders’ Diagrams turn the tender
“Part Of The Wind”
into an electronics epic guided by 16-bit bleeps and ghostly synths,
while Smoke Fairies offer a broody, smokey, intense take on
“If I Were A Carpenter” that burrows its way into your psyche.
With artwork by Jack White's former collaborator
Miles Johnson at Third Man Records and extensive linear notes by Rock’s Backpages music critic and highly respected author
Barney Hoskyns,
Reason To Believe is too good to miss.
“I
did get a chance to tell him [Tim Hardin] how much I loved his songs –
Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep … is a great, great song. I asked
him to play it for me, and he did”.
- Leonard Cohen, speaking in a Nov 18, 1992 CBC Radio Morningside interview with Peter Gzowski
“lost genius of music” - Joe Strummer
“the greatest songwriter alive today” -
Bob Dylan
Reason To Believe – The Songs Of Tim Hardin (out 2/12/13 on Full Time Hobby) Tracklisting:
1. The Phoenix Foundation - Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep
2. The Sand Band - Reason To Believe
3. Mark Lanegan - Red Balloon
4. Diagrams - Part Of The Wind
5. The Magnetic North - It’s Hard To Believe In Love For Long
6. Alela Diane - How Can We Hang On To A Dream
7. Snorri Helgason - Misty Roses
8. Sarabeth Tucek - If I Knew
9. Okkervil River - It’ll Never Happen Again
10. Smoke Fairies - If I Were A Carpenter
11. Gavin Clark - Shiloh Town
12. Hannah Peel - Lenny’s Tune
13. Pinkunoizu - I Can’t Slow Down
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Reason To Believe – The Songs of Tim Hardin
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