Ring the Living Bell: A Collection

by

Melanie

Edit

I haven't purchased a Melanie album for over 15 years. I think the last one was Phonogenic: Not Just Another Pretty Face. And I don't believe I have listened to Melanie for about the same amount of time. Not that I don't like her, but to me she was more a novelty of my single-digit years. My mom was a fan and I learned Brand New Key, Look What They Done To My Song, etc. but not much beyond that period. My coming across this CD was a random event and I purchased it for nostalgic reasons only. I couldn't be luckier. What a find. Not every track is great, but the vast majority are and they clearly are the work of a committed, sincere artist. So what if she's not recorded using state of the art technology. I'm glad that is not the case. So many tracks have an intimate feel that almost gives me the sense that Melanie is singing for me alone in my living room. Her thoughtful lyrics and renditions of others' songs are so reflective of the humanity in all of us. Music that touches and soothes the soul. I guess I am lucky not to be too familiar with her old hits, for Beautiful People is brand new to me and evokes such strong emotion that I fear might not be evoked with thirty years' familiarity. Buy this if you want music that will move you. So real, so genuine, so unlike anything you will hear on radio or coming out of a state-of-the-art studio.

For whatever reason, Melanie and her powers that be decided to release yet another version of her "Silver Anniversary" CD recorded back in the lower middle part of the decade which was released overseas on an extremely limited basis. How many does this make? Let's see; there's obviously "Silver Anniversary," then there's "Unpluggled," "Acoustic Blue," "The Very Best of Melanie," and "Melanie Magic," which are all abridged versions of the original. Then there are "special bonus tracks" of some of this material on Melanie's last studio album released in the U.S. in 1993(!), "Freedom Knows My Name," as well as her CD, "Old Bitch Warrior," which never made it over to this side of the Atlantic. Now we have "Ring the Living Bell: A Collection" with tracks that are available on these other previously released CDs, except for maybe "Long Train Runnin'," and "Some Say I Got Devil." Even "Every Breathe You Take," and "Missing You," are on a limited edition CD entitled, "Unchained Melanie," and these versions are tired and pointless. And do we really need another Melanie CD with "Brand New Key," "Candles in the Rain," and "Look What They've Done to my Song, Ma?" on it? Realizing that most of Melanie's more recent recordings dating back to the late 1980s have not been released in the U.S., and Melanie fans are starved for new material, unfortunately, this collection will not make anyone jump for joy. These cuts are entirely acoustic with varied qualities of musicianship. Melanie's vocals for the most part are excellent, particularly on her cover of "Long, Long Time," and her own, "Peace Will Come," and some of the background vocals are quite nice however uninspired, but this collection is just another throw away that won't attract the attention of any new potential fans and will mostly be redundant for her steadfast followers. So the question at this point in time must be: What is the point here? It's obviously not for commercial & monetary gain as this is a collection that only Melanie fans will buy. Is it for artistic expression and if so, what exactly is being expressed? The recordings of the song writer's older material do not put enough of a spin on the songs to bring them up to date or make a tiny bit of difference. Melanie's followers will exclaim that this collection is brilliant and they don't understand why the rest of the world doesn't agree so they will continue to play the role of "poor little hairy kids out on their own," and "beautiful people," and the "chosen few." But the rest of us will just wonder what the #@$^@& is going on and why doesn't someone record Melanie properly with state of the art equipment, superior musicians and arrangements, and the professional guidance that this truly gifted singer/song writer deserves!!