Not long after John Denver’s death last year (and after I wrote
\na review of
\nPoems, Prayers & Promises<\/i>), I received an e-mail from
\nsomeone aho had heard about the review from the alt.fan.john-denver
\nnewsgroup. I wish I still had your name – sorry, but I wiped out my
\nJuno account – but you basically said to me, “Pick up
\nThe Wildlife Concert<\/i> and review it. If you don’t like it,
\nI’ll gladly buy it off of you.”<\/p>\n
Sorry, pal – you’re going to have to pry my cold, dead hands off
\nof the tape first. This two-tape set (believe it or not, I could
\nonly find it on tape at Borders) features Denver sounding richer
\nthan he ever has before, and is a brilliant, though flawed,
\nportrait of the artist trying to prove to us he still has
\nsignificance. (Warning to those who have come to this review via
\nthe newsgroup: Please hold off on your flame mail until after I’ve
\nexplained the “flaw”.)<\/p>\n
In 1995, John Denver was facing a “fresh start” on his musical
\nlife. He was given a contract by Sony Music, and launched his
\n“comeback” by performing a retrospective of his career live. (For
\nthose who had the brilliance that other like myself didn’t have,
\nthey knew that Denver had never gone away – he had fallen out of
\nfavor with the times and radio.) With an audience of friends and
\nfans and championing The Wildlife Federation, a cause close to his
\nheart, Denver took the stage and poured his entire being into the
\nshows which were taped for audio and video release.<\/p>\n
Commercially, the “comeback” didn’t happen – through no fault of
\nDenver’s or the crack band of musicians he had assembled for this
\nshow. Taste-wise, we (the un-believers) were still skeptical, and
\nweren’t willing to give Denver another chance. Only after his death
\ndid people like myself realize just what we had been missing – dear
\nGod!<\/p>\n
Now 50, Denver’s voice had taken on a richer tone than on his
\noriginal albums, but it also seemed to add the sound of experience
\nto the songs he presented. The opening song, “Rocky Mountain High,”
\ncould have said it all for this album. Denver sounded like he was
\nonly out to please himself and the people who had gathered to hear
\nhim, comeback be damned. The result: a very relaxed atmosphere, and
\nincredible singing and playing. (If there was ever a doubt about
\nDenver’s talents on guitar,
\nThe Wildlife Concert<\/i> will erase them.)<\/p>\n
While this collection features most of the hits that one would
\nexpect (“Country Roads,” “Back Home Again,” “Sunshine On My
\nShoulders”), Denver also has some surprises to pull out of his hat.
\nA cover of David Mallett’s “You Say The Battle Is Over” is an
\nincredible number featuring only Denver’s vocals and guitar work. A
\nnew song, “A Song For All Lovers,” is one which nearly puts me in
\ntears each time I hear it because of its simplicity and beauty. If
\nyou have the video, just the sight of Denver singing the last note
\nwith his eyes closed speaks volumes. (Paul Horn’s flute work here
\nis breathtaking, though I can’t say I liked him overdoing it on
\nsaxophone on “Sunshine On My Shoulders.”)<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, the songs with which I was not familiar were the
\ngreatest surprises on
\nThe Wildlife Concert<\/i>. “Matthew” is a powerful song which
\nshould have been a hit for Denver, and is one I constantly find
\nmyself going back to. “For You,” the song which was supposed to put
\nDenver back on the radio, features him on piano backed by a string
\nquartet pouring out his heart in a song that says more about love
\nthan anything he’s written. (I also wish I had known about this
\nsong when I got married back in 1995.) “Wild Montana Skies” is a
\ncross between country and rock featuring the vocal talents of Pat
\nHawk, while “The Harder They Fall” throws Denver feet first into
\nthe world of rock, with incredible results.<\/p>\n
Are there a few mis-fires on
\nThe Wildlife Concert<\/i>? To my ears, yes – but not many.
\nGrowing up knowing about “Me And My Uncle” courtesy of The Grateful
\nDead, Denver’s version, while it may be closer to the bone, just
\ndoesn’t sound right. And as much as I try, I cannot build up a
\ntolerance for “Darcy Farrow” – sorry, gang, just not my cup of
\ntea.<\/p>\n
The closing numbers of
\nThe Wildlife Concert<\/i> are the most powerful. Denver’s
\nrendition of “Poems, Prayers & Promises” is sad to hear
\nconsidering his untimely death (“I have to say it now, it’s been a
\ngood life, all in all…”), while “Calypso” and “Amazon” create
\ngrooves that suck you in. It is also amazing to hear Denver hit the
\nhighest notes on “Calypso”, making it sound almost effortless. The
\nfinale, “This Old Guitar,” is as good a closer as I can
\nimagine.<\/p>\n
So with all this praise, you ask, how could I call this flawed?
\nTwo reasons, both of them minor. First, having first saw the home
\nvideo (courtesy of A&E), I became used to hearing more banter
\nin between the songs. (It was funny to see after “The Harder They
\nFall” Denver say, “Who woulda thunk it? Johnny Denver doin’ rock
\n‘n’ roll.”) I missed hearing some of these on the album. Second,
\nthere are songs on the album that aren’t on the video, and vice
\nversa. Inasmuch as I can appreciate Sony wanting to create enough
\nof a difference to make us want to buy the two items, I would have
\nloved to heard songs like “I’d Rather Be A Cowboy” on the album,
\nand seem performances like “Matthew” and “Dreamland Express” on the
\nvideo.<\/p>\n
For that matter, the one song I would have killed to heard on
\neither of these was “My Sweet Lady”… oh, well.<\/p>\n
\nThe Wildlife Concert<\/i> should have been Denver’s ticket back
\ninto the spotlight, had most of us only taken the time to sit and
\nlisten for two hours. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t, and Denver
\nnever regained the fame he once enjoyed. Fortunately, we still have
\nthe audio and video of these magical nights to enjoy. Rumor is that
\nthe upcoming DVD will include more performance footage – reason
\nenough to waste $500 and buy the newest and greatest electronic
\ntoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5879],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38725","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-john-denver","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38725"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}