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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

CD Review: Melissa Ferrick - Goodbye Youth


Melissa Ferrick - Goodbye Youth

2008, Right On Records

Melissa Ferrick has been the next big thing for better than ten years. A singer-songwriter in the image of Melissa Etheridge or the Indigo Girls, Ferrick has grown from the excitable and vibrant songwriter I remember from the mid 1990's to a mature and accomplished songstress. On her latest release, Goodbye Youth, Melissa Ferrick finds the perfect mix of her brash songwriting style and a tempered grace.

Goodbye Youth is a collection of eleven songs that are mostly Melissa and her guitar. The set opens with Heart Beat, a sultry and sensuous come on. Goodbye Youth is a coming to terms of sorts about the passing of time and the changing priorities it brings. This has a Dylan-esque quality to it and is one of the best songs I've heard Ferrick write. Be sure to check out the cover of Bush's Glycerine. I actually enjoyed this stripped down version more than the original.

I'm Going To Break Your Heart runs a close second to Goodbye Youth as one of the best songs Melissa Ferrick has written. Other highlights include the mildly jaunty Hypocrite, When Thom Sings (Lake Effect Snow), House On Fire and John's Field. Finally, make sure you check out Getting Over You. This heartbreakingly beautiful musical soliloquy should be a staple of Ferrick's live shows for as long as she continues to play.

Melissa Ferrick has weathered the years of being rock and now folks next... with style and grace. Rather than burn out like many young artists who live on the cusp, the fire and passion Ferrick openly displayed at the beginning still burns inside like the hot coals at the heart of a fire. Goodbye Youth is intensely moving and alive. It is by turns passionate, remorseful, taunting, sensuous and pugilistic, all tempered by a state of grace that is the gift of experience and perspective. Musically it is Melissa Ferrick's best recording to date. Goodbye Youth gets the highest recommendation we can give as a Certified Wildy's World Desert Island Disc.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Melissa Ferrick at http://www.melissaferrick.com/. Goodbye Youth is available as a digital download through iTunes as of September 16, 2008. If you want a CD copy of Goodbye Youth you’ll have to go to one of Ferrick’s shows, as that’s the only place (currently) to buy one.

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