The Green World

Great album!

Dar Williams is a simply first-rate songwriter, and in an era when the likes of Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette can fill stadia it still baffles me that her regular UK visits are mostly to quiet, low-key, little-known venues. Having said that, her music - normally acoustic-led, and normally quite wistful - lends itself far better to smoky bars and coffee houses than it would to stadia. "The Green World" is a more heavily produced album than any of its predecessors, with something of a "chillout" quality; but the songs are still in the main acoustic guitar-led, and have every bit of the emotional clout that has characterised her previous works.Slightly too young to have been a true hippie the first time around, much of Dar Williams' songwriting output on this album is an affectionate nod in the direction of the '70s bohemians who inspired her. The stand-out track, "Spring Street", is a back-handed salute to her personal Greenwich Village and her frustrated attempts to be an arty drop-out; now a little older and wiser, she is able to salute Spring Street with good-humoured irony, and with one of the most beautiful tunes she's ever produced. "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono", meanwhile, provides the only true "sing-along" piece on the album, and is an alternative - and rather kinder than usual - view of the woman credited with breaking up The Beatles.Not all of the songs hold up to this high standard, it has to be said. Her frequent reflections on the many strands of spirituality that have informed and influenced her are, to say the least, patchy; all are worthy attempts to say something about a world generally given short shrift in this materialistic age, but not all really work as well as they might ("Calling the Moon" sounding, to me, especially forced and a little bit embarrassing). Her forays into childhood nostalgia, from the heart-rending "After All" to the gorgeously quirky "We Learned the Sea" are, however, beautiful, and more than make up for the weaker tracks. There's also a foray into true hippie protest song territory with "I Had No Right" - the story of a Roman Catholic priest who defied the law and the US government to break into a federal office and burn a stack of Vietnam War draft papers. Given recent international events, the questions thrown up by this particular song - how to be true both to your God *and* your country - are more relevant than ever, and I defy any Christian with a social conscience to listen to this story and not be moved. The song reduced me to tears when I saw her perform it live a couple of years ago.To summarise: Three-quarters of this album is songwriting of a rare calibre, which deserves a much wider audience. At her best, Dar Williams could be a Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell for the new millennium. Even on her weaker tracks, there's still plenty to think about and music which will still touch a chord.

One of Dar's best albums. I can hum every song from memory easily, "Spring Street" and "I won't be your Yoko Ono" are firm favourites, but there's not a bad track on it.