I'm sitting here trying to write just a little something about Hal Willner and my mind is, well, not blank, but more like congested. It's just really hard (at least for me) to do proper justice to the musical force that is Hal Willner. I'll just say he's a producer who's been involved with innumerable interesting projects with an incredible number of performers and I'll let a New York Times feature on him from last year do the rest. As for the compilation below, I took a cut from each of the fifteen musical projects he produced including a track from the out of print soundtrack to Short Cuts. All of the stuff he's worked on has its charms - if I had to recommend one, though, I'd go with Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys.
| The Traitor | Martha Wainwright |
| As Long As I Live | Shannon McNally |
| Sango Montamaria | Hal Willner |
| The Great Hall | Henry Threadgill |
| Leaving Of Liverpool | Shane MacGowan |
| Lowlands Low | Bryan Ferry & Antony |
| Ulalume | Jeff Buckley |
| Monk's Mood | Sharon Freeman |
| Sugar Baby | Kate & Anna McGarrigle |
| Juliet Of The Spirits | Bill Frisell |
| Heigh Ho | Tom Waits |
| Jump Monk | Don Alias/Michael Blair/Art Baron/Bill Frisell/Gary Lucas/Greg Cohen |
| Warning To Young Couples | William S. Burroughs |
| Evil California (These Blues) | Annie Ross & The Low Note Quintet With Iggy Pop &Anthony Coleman |
| Lonely House from Street Scene | Betty Carter |
6 comments:
This is a curious mix! It's a film noir soundtrack that's been on a bender. Thanks for putting it together for us to hear. regards CJ
@CJ,
That's a really apt way of putting it!! And I think Willner would definitely like that characterization.
Ish
Nice one, thank you!
@art58koen,
Quite welcome - glad you like it!
Ish
You forgot Lou Reed's Ecstasy album.
@unknown,
I'm a little embarrassed to admit I didn't know Willner produced that album (and it's one I plan on listening to pronto.) However, even if I had know, I was largely sticking with Willner's work on project/tribute albums. But thanks for the heads up, regardless. And given Willner's production work with other artists, I may have to do a second volume.
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