Beth Orton: Classic or Dud?

Okay, not probably.

He was pants.

Parishioner David Quantick: "Mention of Terry Callier reminds me of his one -time collaborator, honking fake folkie Beth Orton, whose Loose Ends debut was marred, not by her cawing Nick Drakeisms, but by a spectacularly inept interview by Ned Sherrin, whose knowledge of Heavenly Records' recording artistes might be even slimmer than one suspects.

NED: Beth Orton ... come and join us, Beth.

BETH: Fanks.

NED: So ... you're a country and western singer, rather unusual for these times?

BETH: No. No, I'm not a country and western singer.

NED: I ... see. (angry look at researcher behind glass, rustle of papers). Now, your new album is influenced by a variety of other country and western singers, isn't it?

BETH: I'm not a country and western singer. I don't really like country and western.

NED: I see ... must have a word with my, ha ha ha, researchers ... (angrier look than before, long pause). So ... which country and western acts have been the biggest influence on you?

BETH: Er... I'm not a country and western singer...

I've never actually heard Beth, but she's really cute.

http://www.beth-orton.co.uk/BethPics/Plants.jpg

Although, I'm always gonna have a soft-spot because physically she reminds me of an old summer love. I think even her speaking voice/accent are similar to the gurl in question. (Not a wholly defensible take on her, I'll admit.)

This could be the big(ger) one...

Will you marry me, Beth?

she has a terrible following in the US, her live show two years ago was populated by drunk blonde yippie yuppie women who talked through the whole thing.

im excited if this four tet thing is legit. i tend to favor her folktronic songs (ugh I just said that) more than some of her straight up traditional kinda stuff.

i think something new is supposed to come out on ANTI- this year. i hope so. i've been listening to the last one a lot lately (comfort of strangers) which is really so good. just heartbreakingly beautiful at times.

like i don't know how comfort of strangers was missed on ilx when it came out? maybe ppl talked about it on another thread... idk

Time moves so sure
Runs rings around the trees

Glad to learn this revive did not mean she was dead.

oh my god that would been terrible

i like beth, but i wonder whether she'll ever top "she cries your name" -- nothing else I've heard really comes close, but I should probably listen to comfort of strangers again.

I don't think she's ever been better than on Water From A Vine Leaf.

it's been a long time...

She did 'dig it' on a Mojo 'tribute to Let It Be' album, 'rocking out' actually suits her she should do it more often..

listening to central reservation tnite. pretty great.

8 years pass...

folk...tronica

"central reservation" was great. it really captures that moment

i just heard/found out about this for the first time like two weeks ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wZrBVWTn8c&feature=related

She popped up at a Sam Amidon concert I went to a couple of months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJzbkvGkQ3g
Still not singing her own songs though.

Well, I knew the track but I never knew about that video for the "Spill" track!

http://i2.cdnds.net/12/28/618x618/music_beth_orton_sugaring_season.jpg

is there a date?

UK=1st Sept, USA=2nd sept.

'Magpie'
'Dawn Chorus'
'Candles'
'Something More Beautiful'
'Call Me The Breeze'
'Poison Tree'
'See Through Blue'
'Last Leaves of Autumn'
'State of Grace'
'Mystery'

i'm excited!

Yaaaay beautiful Beth

New single, "Something More Beautiful". Nice late-summer vibe, but nothing amazing. Still...

http://youtu.be/028lDfUo5MQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il3tU0-qsCM

pretty good! john martyn-y.

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/23/161272941/first-listen-beth-orton-sugaring-season

yeah geoffreyess otm about that piece. ilm had already piqued my interest but reading that made me listen to the album

'Pass in Time' from Central Reservation is about her mum and is absolutely beautiful (features Terry Callier too, resonating like a cathedral around her).

a Martyn-esque vocal, that one

Aye, for sure. Almost disappointed to realise it's not Danny Thompson playing bass.

Should probably be a thread for this, but her whispered 1-2-3, 2-2-3 on 'Pass in Time' is one of the finest I can think of.

My vinyl copy came today. It sounds glorious. 'Friday Night' has gone instantly into the 'songs that nail the comfort/painful nostalgia of middle age*' canon. I find it a difficult listen.

*which is actually a pretty shallow canon, come to think of it. Thread idea?

'Shallow canon' seems like a mixed metaphor, but I can't think of the right adjective.

Have ordered. Not sure I would have heard the album without this thread (and then a handful of plays on Spotify).

i haven't heard the album yet but that video for "friday night" is the best thing i've seen in years?

Chinaski, you'll need to elaborate on what you mean by "comfort/painful nostalgia of middle age". Or maybe just list a few more titles?

I'm sure it sounds gorgeous on vinyl, but I have a hard time committing to dynamic albums with lots of quiet passages on LP. Even with a good clean, the odd pop or crackle always seems to arrive at the wrong moment and shake me out of the spell. It was a toss up, but I ended up ordering the CD.

loving the album. it feels really light and comfortable overall.

For me "comfort/painful nostalgia of middle age" is whatever I'm listening to rn.

[checks what's playing on the stereo, realizes it's Roxy Music and is forced to concur with Ghost Club]

For me "comfort/painful nostalgia of middle age" is whatever I'm listening to rn.

Hahaha. Yes, this.

'Friday Night' as I read it, is about Orton escaping the Friday night cycle of booze and regret, but there's an ache of nostalgia in the 'Friday night' refrain.

As a specific category, it was a vague thought about a particular kind of song, from an artist of a particular age, looking back from a place of safety at a time of wildness. I'm sure there must be a raft of examples. "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem, probably.

I long for the days of disorder. I want them back, the days when I was alive on the earth, rippling in the quick of my skin, heedless and real. I was dumb-muscled and angry and real. This is what I long for, the breach of peace, the days of disarray when I walked real streets and did things slap-bang and felt angry and ready all the time, a danger to others and a distant mystery to myself.

I like this album a lot. Haven’t heard anything by her since the very good Comfort of Strangers. Given her always obvious roots in the British mystic-folk lineage the orchestral arrangements feel like a natural evolution. Hits some of the same spots the Cassandra Jenkins album did for me.

I was/am looking forward to seeing her live in November; the last time I saw her was after Daybreaker and she was good but it was a radio station sponsored show with a bunch of yahoos at it and the crowd really ruined it for me. HOWEVER: checked out some recent youtubes and wow her voice is in very very bad shape. It sounds rough on the album, but sandpaper rough, in a good way; but dare I say the clips I saw of her live she wounds significantly worse than even bryan ferry did live this week. Is this the effect of whatever medication she's started due to her epilepsy?

The last YouTube's I saw ahead of this new album was the tour with Mercury Rev where she sang all the Bobbie Gentry tracks, mostly from "The Delta Sweete" and she sounded fine there.

I really think her sightly ragged vocals on Weather Alive are what really make the album.

Slightly*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYH1JG-7Hj0

this isn't abjectly terrible, but she's displaying some significant degradation in her vocal abilities; there are some more recent ones with a band that are more troubling. some of it also seems kind of like nervousness (her hands seem to be trembling as well), so maybe this will improve as she plays out more again.

yeah on recent live videos her voice is very very rough. she made the it work on the album at least

“This is how I sing. This is my voice now,” she said. “This is who I am and this is what life has made of me.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/arts/music/beth-orton-weather-alive.html?smid=url-share&fbclid=IwAR04XuzWFeXkOcEivXxBfgQC2orGuFi6xDTeGCYYpwgchSmQJM0zs1pZBAc

Ach, paywalled

https://archive.ph/ivmzW

this isn't abjectly terrible, but she's displaying some significant degradation in her vocal abilities; there are some more recent ones with a band that are more troubling. some of it also seems kind of like nervousness (her hands seem to be trembling as well), so maybe this will improve as she plays out more again.

― akm, Saturday, October 1, 2022 11:51 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i'm sorry but this is a bizarre post. she seems fully in control of her abilities in that video to me.

Has some good Marianne Faithfull vibes. Had me wanting to put on Destroyer’s “Kaputt” and some Blue Nile right after.

wow I love this album

it is something else. edged out the shearwater album in number of plays this year for me; they're very similar in ways.

Does the melody of 'Friday Night' remind anyone else of Springsteen's 'Incident on 57th Street?'.

I get Downtown Train

album of the year for sure

xxpost it's After the Gold Rush isn't it?

I hear ATG on (some of) the verses, and DT on the chorus; "well, I've been dreaming" certainly could be a deliberate nod to the former

amazing live show. i'd say catch it but apparently it was the last night of the tour

i lucked out and caught it on a complete whim. i was on a cross-town bus on my way home around 8pm, saw her name on the marquee through the window, got out at the next stop and bought a ticket

person sitting next to me was a middle-aged dude who'd also come alone, and had a bouquet of flowers in the seat next to him which he gave to beth when she took the stage. he sang along to all the older material and repeated "wow. superstar. wow" to himself in between each song

her band were incredible and completely adorable. beth is the cool gen x aunt leading a group of shaggy group of sick chops millenials

she played the whole new album, and a bunch of back catalogue stuff. took requests and played some stuff solo too. the last song of the encore was a super rocking version of "shopping trolley" off comfort of strangers, which she says she regrets never touring (since she "got preggo" right after it came out)

lovely write-up

I love the idea that someone might get so much enjoyment from an artist that they'd be thinking "Wow. Superstar. Wow", though I do wonder how the artist might feel about someone bringing flowers (not that practical, unless it was their home-town show ... and maybe not even then).

Note: love this album while not thinking of myself as a massive Beth Orton fan.

yeah I saw her SF show and it was excellent, and my concerns about her voice not quite holding up were mostly unfounded, I think it's gotten stronger with this tour and the new album held up surprisingly well when performed live.

Nice conversation between Beth and Alabaster DePlume: https://www.talkhouse.com/beth-orton-talks-with-alabaster-deplume-on-the-talkhouse-podcast/

For no particular reason, have been loving/rediscovering the album this week.

She's playing this if it hasn't been noticed: https://events.bl.uk/events/late-at-the-library-the-night-garden-party (and hopefully selling t-shirts reading "Wow. Superstar. Wow!"

I wonder how it was?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYUXWwMWbGE

It's a beautiful track, isn't it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Msg99FydI

new single is phenomenal

In her older age, Orton's voice now really reminds me of Sarah Mary Chadwick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75z_tNiKsg

wow that is intense

Then you kissed me
And I knew what I was for

I got a sneak preview of these songs a few months ago and Beth's voice-arc strikes me as following the same curve as that of Neil Young, the creaks make things less-pretty but serve the lyrics that much more

Great track.