OLLABELLE
''RIVERSIDE BATTLE SONGS''
AUGUST 1 2006
52:11
1/See Line Woman/Bass, Simone, Traditional/2:51
2/High on a Mountain/Reed/3:19
3/Heaven's Pearls/Isaacs, Ollabelle/4:50
4/Fall Back/Ollabelle/3:27
5/Dream the Fall/McBain, Ollabelle/4:30
6/Blue Northern Lights/Ollabelle, Patscha/4:50
7/Reach for Love/Leone, Ollabelle/3:53
8/Troubles of the World/Traditional/3:23
9/Riverside/Traditional/3:52
10/Northern Star/Helm, Isaacs, Ollabelle/5:07
11/Gone Today/Isaacs, McBain, Ollabelle/3:31
12/Everything Is Broken/Helm, Hopkins, Ollabelle/3:38
13/Last Lullaby/Ollabelle, Patscha/5:00
Larry Campbell/Arranger, Banjo, Cittern, Fiddle, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Lap Steel Guitar, Pedal Steel, Producer
Amy Helm/Mandola, Vocals
Byron Isaacs/Bass, Dobro, Vocals
Tony Leone/Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Fiona McBain/Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals
Glenn Patscha/Accordion, Keyboards, Vocals
Jimi Zhivago/Arranger
REVIEW
by Andy Whitman
Ollabelle's second album, Riverside Battle Songs, arrives on the heels of 2004's self-titled debut, one of the more celebrated Americana releases of the new millennium. That album combined classic gospel material with T-Bone Burnett's sparkling production and a fresh vocal approach featuring five gifted singers who could shine both individually and collectively. Where the debut album was skewed toward traditional songs with a smattering of originals, Riverside Battle Songs reverses the ratio. Nine of the 13 songs are Ollabelle originals. The traditional songs fare best here. Namesake Ola Belle Reed's "High on a Mountain" is given a spirited reading, while the familiar spiritual "Down by the Riverside" is updated with ambient touches that recall Daniel Lanois' production work. The Appalachian gospel song "Gone Today" arrives via spine-tingling a cappella singing, departs via a fiddle and Dobro hoedown, and is one of the album's highlights. The originals are more problematic. The mournful "Everything Is Broken" is a starkly lovely ballad, while "Troubles of the World" offers an impressive and surprising raga-tinged coda on what is otherwise a standard gospel song. However, producer and multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell adds some too-familiar alt-country pedal steel work on "Heaven's Pearls" and "Blue Northern Lights," songs that are certainly pretty, but which overstay their welcome. More disturbingly, the five members of Ollabelle simply sound too polite and well-mannered for songs that are intended to convey spiritual desperation and heavenly joy. It's a charge that could have been leveled at the debut album, but the universally strong material offset the lack of funk and fire. But Riverside Battle Songs, with slightly weaker material, is The Gospel According to NPR and PBS, and as such it will appeal mostly to fans who like their fire and brimstone diluted with a strong dose of slick professionalism and urbane refinement. Undeniably well crafted and well sung, and occasionally moving, Riverside Battle Songs is nevertheless something of a disappointment.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andrew Leahey
Named after Appalachian folksinger Ola Belle Reed, Ollabelle are a Manhattan-based band whose music puts an urban spin on Southern genres like bluegrass, gospel, and country. Despite their rootsy influences, the five bandmates first got together in the decidedly non-rootsy East Village, where a local bar called 9C began holding weekly gospel music sessions during the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What began as a side project for six of the bar's patrons -- singer Amy Helm (the daughter of legendary Americana musician Levon Helm), guitarist Fiona McBain, bassist Byron Isaacs, drummer Tony Leone, keyboardist Glenn Patscha, and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Zhivago -- quickly turned into a full-fledged group, with label interest from Sony Music and support from fellow roots revivalist T-Bone Burnett, who produced the band's 2004 debut. Performances at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival and Alison Krauss' Great High Mountain Tour helped drum up support for Ollabelle's self-titled album, as did the resurgence of old-timey Americana music.
For their second album, 2006's Riverside Battle Songs, the band enlisted the help of former Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell, who agreed to co-produce the record. Riverside Battle Songs, like the album before it, featured the band's unique spin on traditional songs, but it also showcased more of their original compositions, which were molded in the style of their influences and recorded without guitarist Jimi Zhivago (who'd left the lineup, thus slimming Ollabelle down to a quintet). The group continued to tour, recording its performances all the while and releasing a strong live album, Before This Time, before heading back into the recording studio for 2011's Neon Blue Bird.
''RIVERSIDE BATTLE SONGS''
AUGUST 1 2006
52:11
1/See Line Woman/Bass, Simone, Traditional/2:51
2/High on a Mountain/Reed/3:19
3/Heaven's Pearls/Isaacs, Ollabelle/4:50
4/Fall Back/Ollabelle/3:27
5/Dream the Fall/McBain, Ollabelle/4:30
6/Blue Northern Lights/Ollabelle, Patscha/4:50
7/Reach for Love/Leone, Ollabelle/3:53
8/Troubles of the World/Traditional/3:23
9/Riverside/Traditional/3:52
10/Northern Star/Helm, Isaacs, Ollabelle/5:07
11/Gone Today/Isaacs, McBain, Ollabelle/3:31
12/Everything Is Broken/Helm, Hopkins, Ollabelle/3:38
13/Last Lullaby/Ollabelle, Patscha/5:00
Larry Campbell/Arranger, Banjo, Cittern, Fiddle, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Lap Steel Guitar, Pedal Steel, Producer
Amy Helm/Mandola, Vocals
Byron Isaacs/Bass, Dobro, Vocals
Tony Leone/Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Fiona McBain/Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals
Glenn Patscha/Accordion, Keyboards, Vocals
Jimi Zhivago/Arranger
REVIEW
by Andy Whitman
Ollabelle's second album, Riverside Battle Songs, arrives on the heels of 2004's self-titled debut, one of the more celebrated Americana releases of the new millennium. That album combined classic gospel material with T-Bone Burnett's sparkling production and a fresh vocal approach featuring five gifted singers who could shine both individually and collectively. Where the debut album was skewed toward traditional songs with a smattering of originals, Riverside Battle Songs reverses the ratio. Nine of the 13 songs are Ollabelle originals. The traditional songs fare best here. Namesake Ola Belle Reed's "High on a Mountain" is given a spirited reading, while the familiar spiritual "Down by the Riverside" is updated with ambient touches that recall Daniel Lanois' production work. The Appalachian gospel song "Gone Today" arrives via spine-tingling a cappella singing, departs via a fiddle and Dobro hoedown, and is one of the album's highlights. The originals are more problematic. The mournful "Everything Is Broken" is a starkly lovely ballad, while "Troubles of the World" offers an impressive and surprising raga-tinged coda on what is otherwise a standard gospel song. However, producer and multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell adds some too-familiar alt-country pedal steel work on "Heaven's Pearls" and "Blue Northern Lights," songs that are certainly pretty, but which overstay their welcome. More disturbingly, the five members of Ollabelle simply sound too polite and well-mannered for songs that are intended to convey spiritual desperation and heavenly joy. It's a charge that could have been leveled at the debut album, but the universally strong material offset the lack of funk and fire. But Riverside Battle Songs, with slightly weaker material, is The Gospel According to NPR and PBS, and as such it will appeal mostly to fans who like their fire and brimstone diluted with a strong dose of slick professionalism and urbane refinement. Undeniably well crafted and well sung, and occasionally moving, Riverside Battle Songs is nevertheless something of a disappointment.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andrew Leahey
Named after Appalachian folksinger Ola Belle Reed, Ollabelle are a Manhattan-based band whose music puts an urban spin on Southern genres like bluegrass, gospel, and country. Despite their rootsy influences, the five bandmates first got together in the decidedly non-rootsy East Village, where a local bar called 9C began holding weekly gospel music sessions during the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What began as a side project for six of the bar's patrons -- singer Amy Helm (the daughter of legendary Americana musician Levon Helm), guitarist Fiona McBain, bassist Byron Isaacs, drummer Tony Leone, keyboardist Glenn Patscha, and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Zhivago -- quickly turned into a full-fledged group, with label interest from Sony Music and support from fellow roots revivalist T-Bone Burnett, who produced the band's 2004 debut. Performances at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival and Alison Krauss' Great High Mountain Tour helped drum up support for Ollabelle's self-titled album, as did the resurgence of old-timey Americana music.
For their second album, 2006's Riverside Battle Songs, the band enlisted the help of former Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell, who agreed to co-produce the record. Riverside Battle Songs, like the album before it, featured the band's unique spin on traditional songs, but it also showcased more of their original compositions, which were molded in the style of their influences and recorded without guitarist Jimi Zhivago (who'd left the lineup, thus slimming Ollabelle down to a quintet). The group continued to tour, recording its performances all the while and releasing a strong live album, Before This Time, before heading back into the recording studio for 2011's Neon Blue Bird.
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