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Editorial Review:
Emmylou Harris has always had a way with woe. On All I Intended To Be, she seems more maudlin than ever as she sings her way through songs about loss, heartbreak, even the odd funeral. Of course, this is the kind of material Harris has always been comfortable with, but as her career and years advance gracefully, so her gliding soprano seems to breathe ever more refinement and soul into her material. All I Intended To Be has been produced by Brian Ahern, her former husband and the man behind her first 11 albums--another reason the album sounds so comfortable and accomplished. Joined by a virtuoso set of players including keyboardist Glen Hardin and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan, plus vocalists Vince Gill, Buddy Miller, and Dolly Parton, Harris blends a handpicked selection of cover versions with her own material. Tracy Chapman's "All That You Have Is Your Soul" gets a honeyed reworking, as does Merle Haggard's "Kern River" and Mark Germino's "Broken Man's Lament". Billy Joe Shaver's "Old Five" and "Dimers Like Me" both get respectfully and sublimely covered too. But her own songs - in particular "Sailing Round the Room" and "Gold" - stand up well to these evergreens. An eclectic and profound set, All I Intended To Be is also one of Harris’ best in recent years.--Danny McKenna
Harris is as proud, painful, and plaintive as ever here, dripping with life and dealing in dire certainties.' * * * * (stars)
The eternal rose of Nashville proffers beauty, fragrance and thorns.' * * * * (stars)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Just Beautiful Takes a couple of listenings, but after that it just blows you away. Several standout songs, particularly "How she could sing The Wildwood flower" (which I took to be a reference to an earlier generation of the Carter Family rather than June Cater and Johnny Cash) "Gold" is just beautiful, but particularly the magnificent "Sailing Round the Room". Anybody remember the last poor, or even average, album Emmylou made?
Touching The Sublime The title : a fanfare, a declaration and a manifesto. This collection of thirteen new recordings brings us
to some kind of pinnacle in Ms Harris's long career. She must know this to be true. The evidence is there for us to hear. After the dry, rasping austerity of 'Red Dirt Girl' (2000);
the warm, reassuring classicism of 'Stumble Into Grace' (2003)
and the uncomfortably eneven collaboration with Mr Knopfler,
'All The Road Running' (2006); 'All I Intended To Be' is a... more info
A disappointment Not rubbish. How could any Emmy Lou Harris album ever be, but be returning to producer Brian Ahern, she has effectively gone back to the sound if her 1976 album "Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town", and that's one step too far back to the future. After the progressive nature of her last three albums, Emmylou has obviously decided she doesn't want her rock fans any more, and to say the same thing again,she's gone backwards. Make no mistake though, this album is beautifully played and exquisitely sung (who... more info
Exceptional Rapidly shaping up to be one of the best of 2008, this is probably Emmylou Harris's best record since Spyboy, although stylistically it is closer to Wrecking Ball, and I have to add that there was nothing at all wrong with the intervening works. It was a well-placed, curiosity-pricking ad for Spyboy, Harris's 1998 live album, that got me started. Until then I'd only had a vague regard for the "country" genre. After, I was hooked, and was amazed at her ubiquity, finding her making appearances with... more info
