A Review of the CD
"Visions Of Plenty"
by Kate Campbell
"Visions Of Plenty"
by Kate Campbell
copyright 1998 - 7 4251 2
Compass Records
117 30th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
ph: (800)757-2277
fax:((615)320-7378
http://www.compassrecords.com
mailto:info@compassrecords.com
This review is written by Kevin McCarthy, 6/99
"Kevin and Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews"
http://www.icogitate.com/~celticfolkmusic/index.html
mailto:celticfolkmusic@icogitate.com
From the opening strains of the title cut "Visions Of Plenty," where
the bounty in the cotton fields is being overshadowed by the lure of easy
lucre in the casinos, to the closing "Sing Me Out," a classic weeping,
Gothic-like tale, Kate Campbell plows the history and culture of the South,
vividly illuminating the past and present in her latest release.
Possessing a charming, homey drawl that authenticates her chronicles,
Campbell doesn't stridently take sides on the litmus issues--integration,
busing, race relations. Instead, she presents direct experiences and feelings
that resonate stronger than the most vociferous rantings and ravings. Her
ability to envelop the listener in the time and moment she is recounting
is remarkable. She also tosses a bit of humor into the mix for leavening.
In the new South, a casino full of dreams has replaced the legendary
cotton field of dreams in "Visions Of Plenty." Campbell sings:
"Visions of plenty
Roll across my mind
Still my hands are empty
And the system's going dry
I keep thinking 'bout my children
What's left down here for them
Just a cotton field of dreams
Just a billboard full of dreams
And everybody's dreaming
Everybody's dreaming
Dreaming just like me..."
After trying her luck and succumbing to the ploys in the casino, she adds:
"...Sometimes I win most times I lose
These lights are so much brighter than I thought they'd be
And they make me think I'll see my dreams come true"
Covering the racial relations boiling pot of the 1960s, "Crazy In Alabama"
is the most striking cut on this release. Campbell emotively sings:
"...It was crazy there were grown men fights
Over segregation and civil rights
Martin Luther King and the KKK
George C. Wallace and LBJ
And when the National Guard came in
I thought the world was gonna end
It was crazy in Alabama...
We spent hot summer afternoons
At the public swimming pool
Where the privileged and the few
Played on their island of cool blue
Brown children watched outside the fence
It never made one lick of sense..."
The chorus goes:
"But the train of change
Was coming fast to my home town
We had the choice to climb on board
Or get run down..."
Backed by tasteful flourishes of a recorder and awash in sublety, "This
Side Of Heaven" provides immediate respite from the upheaval in "Crazy
In Alabama." Encompassing the yin and yang of faith and doubt, Campbell
offers:
"This side of heaven
There's not much to go on
You never know
Which way the wind will blow
One day there's caviar
The next a soup bowl
And you're left wandering alone
This side of heaven...
This side of heaven
The train is always late
All I seem to do
Is stand here at the gate
Listening for the whistle
And waiting for the day
I won't be left wandering
This side of heaven..."
"Bus 109" is a fairly understated but still strong depiction of forced
busing providing the genesis in changing a young white woman's perspective
on life. A blooming friendship develops with a young black woman from the
projects because of this coerced commingling, a bond that would not have
been forged without the busing conduit.
The spiritual-like "A Perfect World," backed primarily by piano, is
a delightfully winsome tune about the refuge love provides in dealing with
the omnipresent realities of everyday life. Campbell sings:
"Shadows fall across the land
prophets say the end's at hand
More bad news everywhere I turn
But in your arms it's a perfect world
Rebels rage and lions roar
Everyday it's a brand new war
Lines are crossed and bombs are hurled
But in your arms it's a perfect world
When your love wraps around me tight
I believe in paradise
There's one place where my heart's secure
Here in your arms it's a perfect world..."
The lamentation "Deep Tang" packs a quietly forceful environmental wallop.
In its entirety:
"Rust hills
Red clay
Steel mills
Deep tang
Lime stone
Iron veins
Loose coal
Deep tang
Birmingham
Birmingham
Beneath the haze
Your skies once blue
Now deep tang
Smoke stacks
Orange flames
Gray slag
Deep tang
Burnt sun
Brown rain
Black lung
Deep tang"
On a lighter note, Campbell artfully depicts the victual scene right after
someone passes on in "Funeral Food"--the perfect bookend to Cheryl Wheeler's
"Estate Sale." With tongue-in-cheek, she sings:
"...There sits mean ole Uncle Bob
Gnawing on a corn on the cob
And who's that walking through the door
I don't think I've ever seen him before
Isn't it a shame she passed away
She made the best chocolate cake
Let's hit the line a second time
We sure eat good when someone dies..."
Let Campbell take you on a tour of Dixie--her Southern hospitality makes
her a most ingratiating host.
Track List:
-
Visions Of Plenty (4:16) Kate Campbell, Tricia Walker
-
Bowl-A-Rama (4:32) Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce
-
Jesus And Tomatoes (4:20) Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce
-
Crazy In Alabama (4:42) Kate Campbell, Kenya Slaughter Walker
-
This Side Of Heaven 3:18) Kate Campbell, Kevin Gordon
-
Suit Yourself (3:27) Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce
-
Bus 109 (3:39) Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce
-
Deep Tang (4:28) Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell
-
Funeral Food (3:23) Kate Campbell, Ira Campbell, Johnny Pierce
-
A Perfect World (3:30) Kate Campbell, Mark Narmore
-
Sing Me Out (4:08) Kate Campbell, Kevin Gordon
Copyright © 1998-2008 Kevin & Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews. All rights reserved.
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