I Wouldn't Call This a Review, but Something Like That...
I think that The Beekeeper grew on me a lot quicker than Scarlet's Walk did. It's more melodic, I picked that up from the first listening, unlike how I felt with SW: I found it to be almost all Americana humdrum until I listened more closely and intently.
I was having a conversation with a British friend of mine who a bit of disappointment in what he had heard of this album, saying it lacked the fire of Pele etc. I would have to disagree in a lot of ways. This album has a lot of the same questioning vibe towards religion, it's only that the person interpreting the rebellious thoughts is more grown up - has grown past the yelling and raging that comes from fresh heartache. In Original Sinsuality - if you dig into what she sings, you will realize that she's dealing with Gnostic Christianity - something far more complex and less known than one of her more usual subjects in song - Mary Magdalene...
Within The Beekeeper - there are songs that you'll immediately like because they're more accessible... I liked Sweet the Sting and Ireland the first time I heard them - those are the easier songs... My favorite so far has to be Jamaica Inn:
"There's a song, Jamaica Inn, that I wrote as I was driving along the cliffs in Cornwall on a 'beautiful' English day. And all of a sudden the gales started to come in. My mind started to wander and I pulled over on a cliff. I started to think about the story that I'd been told by some of the locals. When a ship would run a ground the wreckers would come in and take everything. I started to think about this story that was taking over my car in that moment. Jamaica Inn walked into my Saab and she said, 'You might not like my story because I'm not gonna tell you how it ends yet. You need to travel it with me and we're going to have to explore your deepest fears.' What always stops me is betrayal. And what scares me is if I betray someone."
I was having a conversation with a British friend of mine who a bit of disappointment in what he had heard of this album, saying it lacked the fire of Pele etc. I would have to disagree in a lot of ways. This album has a lot of the same questioning vibe towards religion, it's only that the person interpreting the rebellious thoughts is more grown up - has grown past the yelling and raging that comes from fresh heartache. In Original Sinsuality - if you dig into what she sings, you will realize that she's dealing with Gnostic Christianity - something far more complex and less known than one of her more usual subjects in song - Mary Magdalene...
Within The Beekeeper - there are songs that you'll immediately like because they're more accessible... I liked Sweet the Sting and Ireland the first time I heard them - those are the easier songs... My favorite so far has to be Jamaica Inn:
"There's a song, Jamaica Inn, that I wrote as I was driving along the cliffs in Cornwall on a 'beautiful' English day. And all of a sudden the gales started to come in. My mind started to wander and I pulled over on a cliff. I started to think about the story that I'd been told by some of the locals. When a ship would run a ground the wreckers would come in and take everything. I started to think about this story that was taking over my car in that moment. Jamaica Inn walked into my Saab and she said, 'You might not like my story because I'm not gonna tell you how it ends yet. You need to travel it with me and we're going to have to explore your deepest fears.' What always stops me is betrayal. And what scares me is if I betray someone."