Review Summary: Out of obscurity, perfection can be found.
Harrod and Funck's only
Live album is unique in many respects. One, for the astounding personal impact it has in my life, another for the inordinate quality of the record's music, and finally for the almost crushing obscurity it faces.
Of these three factors, the easiest to pinpoint is the obvious personal bias I feel towards it. I've spent many a winter cooped up in my dad's apartment as he played the album over and over again on repeat. However, unlike his Level 42 and James Taylor CDs, I never complained when he put in a Harrod and Funck CD, this one least of all. Most Harrod and Funck fans (if you're lucky enough to ever come across one) consider this to be their defining work. It's hardly thought of as merely a live album, half the songs on here aren't on any of their studio cuts, and the two musicians never sound more fluid and complimentary than this this.
The two Chicago-based folk musicians first played together in 1990, before pushing out their fantastic debut
Dreams of the Color Blind (1992), and later their self-titled
Harrod and Funck in 1997.
Live would ultimately become their final album before they parted ways, Brian Funck leaving the music industry altogether to pursue a career in film editing, while Jason Harrod continued on in a solo project he still continues today.
The real question here is why virtually no one has heard of them. The duo's blend of Harrod's country-esque sun-dappled tunes and Funck's atmospheric and borderline alternative-funk pieces never managed to capture the public eye, which was most likely the cause of their break-up. They're obscure to the point of disbelief, especially when looking at the quality of their recordings and the glowing press they got from sources such as AllMusic and the Boston Globe.
But enough about the band, and on with the album.
The most obvious positive quality about the album is the seamless flow of the music. When the songs aren't gliding into each other with uncommon grace, the band members will interject short introductions or stories with a mixture of humility and humor. This good-nature can be seen throughout the record, whether it be in the twang of "Worn Out Welcome" or in the loving tribute "Houndini." What it doesn't do is negate the bite of the darkly humorous track "Grasshopper," a tale of autocannibalism, or the gorgeous melodicism that Funck imbues in nearly every track, not in the least on meditative songs like "Come Clean" and "All Fall Down."
I can say without hesitation that every song on here is great, but "Tidewater" stands out as the weakest link, using a slower pace used often on the album, and doesn't necessarily do anything new with it. Nevertheless, it's an extremely solid song, but crumbles only when looking at the sheer weight of the songs surrounding it. This small negative (if you could even call it that) is easily overshadowed by the two clear standout tracks. The T. Bone Burnett cover "After All These Years" is fashioned from longing vocals fixed between bursts of increasingly emotional instrumental passages. "Lion Song," Harrod's signature work and possibly one of the greatest folk songs of all time uses intertwining guitars to weave together and paint dense imagery in combination with Harrod's gentle crooning. The sound is at once minimalist and exceptionally full-sounding, creating an atmosphere far superior to the superfluous version on their self-titled. It simply needs to be heard to be believed.
Few albums touch me in a way that this one has in terms of pure honesty and emotion, and even fewer have pushed me so fully into a genre the way this one made me adore folk music. This is the ill-fated duo's crowning achievement, more than either of their previous efforts, and this is no insult.
There is a grace to this live effort that can be heard on no other, an atmosphere that comes from the perfect utilization of the space around them, in perfect sequencing, and perfect understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Perhaps the greatest part is that the audience seems to love it every bit as much as you do.
