Pick Your Poison

A Reason To Believe- Tim Hardin MP3


If I Were A Carpenter- Tim Hardin MP3

6/9/11

beeradvocate.com- B+

Two Brothers Hop Juice Double IPA- New Beer Distributors, Chrystie Street New York, NY-2 oz. bomber into a Pub Glass- 9.9 % ABV. About a two finger head which receded rapidly. Clear, dark orange in color. Not much lacing on the glass but a bit is left behind. Lightly carbonated. Beautiful mouth feel, heavy to medium bodied. I wish more beers had this mouthfeel especially some of the IPA's I have had. But the taste and aroma are not as good as I expected. The aroma to me was booze, pine and sweetness. Almost bordering on a barley wine but not quite. I don't detect any of the dark fruits of a barley wine but I definitely don't think the booze is well hidden in this and it was kinda of a poor choice for a steamy hot early June night. This beer would be good for a cooler night but doesn't quite hit the mark for me tonight.

Pick Your Poison…

On the turntable is Tim Hardin 3 Live In Concert- Tim Hardin- Recorded Live at the Town Hall, NYC in 1969- There are drawbacks to cheap records. This record in particular was very cheap but as you can hear it is in pretty rough shape. I would have to say it borders on unlistenable but the actual music is so engaging that I am willing to suffer a bit for it. I was unaware of this record when I found it and I was happy to come across it. When I saw its condition I was less happy and almost balked at buying it...but I am glad i did. Even after bringing it home and treating it with some high quality cleaning solution it still was in pretty poor form. Cleaning it may have even brought some more scratches which were previously hidden by grime.


Inner Gatefold Concert Photo

I could not post this record without including Hardin’s version of If I Were A Carpenter. That song was the first song my wife and I danced to at our wedding, albeit the June & Johnny Cash version. To be honest the June & Johnny Cash version of If I Were A Carpenter was probably the second Cash song I fell in love alongside Sunday Morning Coming Down. Both songs were on Johnny Cash’s Columbia Best of Vol. 2 which I bought on cassette, in about 1997, prior to a road trip. It was my official introduction to Johnny Cash, it was a spark that lit the fire, not just for Cash’s music but my general interest in early American roots music. That said this song holds a special place in my heart and needed to be included in the post despite its sonic short comings. I decide to post this song without audio restoration with the pops , clicks and scratches largely included but it leaves us with a fuller sounding file instead of one which was compressed to remove the clicks and pops. Though I must apologize for the last 15-20 seconds of House Carpenter which suffers from sum brief skips which are unavoidable.

Hardin was a contemporary of Fred Neil who I posted about recently and in a sense cut from the same cloth.A trailblazing singer-songwriter whose melancholy delivery often kept him along the fringes of fame and whose songs often ended up more popular delivered by other singers. Hardin has endured with a cultish popularity along the lines of Tim Buckley, Harry Nilsson and Leonard Cohen. His story didn’t have a happy ending and he died at the age of 39 in 1980 of a drug overdose in Los Angeles. Another tragic ending to a gifted songwriter. I hate to say this but some of the material I have on a Verve Records CD career retrospective is a bit redundant arrangement wise but this record allows for Hardin to really stretch out vocally and instrumentally. I consider it a precursor to some Van Morrison's work especially the jazzy, live LP Its To Late To Stop Now anchored much like this LP by musicians who were talented enough to allow their front men to get loose and relax. If you have a chance to listen to this record it has a breezy, bossa nova feel in places aided by clavinet and jazzy upright bass alongside simple songs with a folky appeal. Songs like Black Sheep Boy, Red Balloon, The Lady Came From Baltimore and the above mentioned Carpenter and A Reason To Believe, included here as an MP3, originally written by Hardin but popularized by Rod Stewart, all really shine here and highlight Hardins ability as both a performer and writer.