Review of "Tracy Grammer"

Tracy Grammer

Flower of Avalon

The songs, with the exception of the one cover, are all songs that Dave and Tracy hadn't got around to recording when Dave died. If I were rating the album on the song quality alone, it would get a 10. Unfortunately, it was so over-produced that some of the songs sound horrible. the mixing was poor and Tracy's voice often sounds very detatched from the rest of the mix.

So a 10 for the songs and a 3 for the execution brings it to a 6.5, which I'll round up.

The whole Tracy Grammer thing was sweet for the first year or so after Dave died. But he's been gone for three and a half years. It's almost uncomfortable to watch her still riding on his music, like watching some sort of private grieving process that's going on a bit too long. She still tours playing his songs (and not as well as he did), and records albums of his songs. The only song she's written was.. that's right, a tribute to Dave. I feel kinda cold saying this, but she's just not very good.

this could have been so, so, so much more. but god, the production absolutely kills what were originally some amazing classic dave carter songs. dave deserved much better.

(eta: josh? i've been wanting to say that for a while now but i've been afraid of being flamed. i'm glad i'm not the only one.)

I'd agree with everyone generally but despite the so-so production the songs songs still stand out so I go along with Lawrence

Dave Carter remains one of the absolute best songwriters of his generation. That Tracy Grammer is not his equal as a songwriter seems to me beside the point - especially for an album with none of her compositions. Simply put, this album is flooring - from the quiet melancholy of "Winter When He Goes" and "Mother I Climbed" through the creepy soundscape of "Shadows of Evangeline" through the breezy folk of "Gypsy Rose," this is one of the few albums I have where I can honestly say I adore every song. Does the album sound like a Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer album? No. But the songs are unmistakably Dave Carter, and are among the best he wrote. That alone makes the album a gift.

And truth be told? He may have only written four CDs worth of songs, but those four CDs are, simply put, all among the greatest folk music of the last decade. There are worse artists to make a career out of honoring the legacy of.