Album Cover
High Res JPG
Biography
Domestic Press
PRESS AND REVIEWS (CLICK LINKS AND EACH WILL OPEN IN PDF FILE):
American Songwriter Review 2011
Music and Musicians Review 2011
Interview in TheRockClubUK.com, http://www.therockclubuk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=362:susan-james-interview&catid=14:interviews&Itemid=15!
REVIEWS FROM THE EU:
ROOTSY.NU (SWEDEN)
SUSAN JAMES »Highways Ghosts Heart & Home« (CD www.susanjamesmusic.com 11)
Ny bekantskap för mig men hon har släppt några CD sen förut och varit uppvärmare åt bla Bob Weir & Lindsey Buckingham. Hon backas av några av medlemarna från I See Hawks In LA och hon skriver fina folkliga melodier som man gärna vill höra mer av.
MUZIEKVENSTER.NL (NETHERLANDS-DUTCH)
Susan James afkomstig uit Californie heeft al een behoorlijke staat van dienst achter haar naam staan voordat ze met dit album komt. Ze toerde als solo artiest met mensen zoals Lindsy Buckingham, Son Volt, Billie Bragg en Richard Thompson, . Haar carriere kwam pas echt van de grond toen de legendarische oprichter van Apple Computer besloot haar financieel te ondersteunen voor het maken van haar eerste album ‘Live Between Two Worlds’. Nadien verschenen er nog 2 albums van haar hand. Tussendoor heeft ze een tijd in Engeland gewoond en is ze moeder geworden. Inmiddels is ze weer terug gekeerd naar de VS nu ligt er dus het album ‘Higways Ghosts Hearts & Home’. Een aangename release en het bevat maar liefst 11 songs . Briljant gitaar werk kenmerkt dit album en Susan wordt hierbij omringd door een aantal topmuzikanten zoals Paul Laques en Shawn Nourse, beiden afkomstig uit ‘I See Hawks In LA’. Het album werd geproduceerd door echtgenoot Fulton Dingley bekend geworden van o.a. Stereolab and the High Llamas. Het plattelands leven van Topanga Canyon Californie heeft haar kennelijk goed gedaan , een krachtig en verfrissend album dat naar mijn idee zeker aandacht verdient.
BILLYBOP.BE (BELGIUM)
HIGHWAYS GHOSTS HEARTS & HOME
Style : Americana
Rate (1-5) : 4
Legend tells us that Susan James was discovered when a legendary Apple Computer founder who after he heard her playing a Bay Area coffeehouse, handed over a paper bag of cash to finance her first album. The truth will be less romantic and more commercial but it was the start for Susan James. She financed her first album ‘Life Between Two Worlds’, released a second, was again discovered by some other people (this time involved in the music business) and start opening for big names like Lindsay Buckingham, Son Volt, Rufus Wainright, Billy Bragg and others.
After some traveling, a recently born baby and three albums Susan and her family relocated to funky Topanga Canyon in LA, where she started working on her newest album. Highways, Ghosts, Hearts & Home is certainly inspired by the country-side she is living now. Add to that the fact that some band members of the psychedelic country outfit “I Saw Hawks in LA” are playing on all tracks of the album and you certainly can say this long haired blonde folk-chick turned towards country. “Cold Moon on the Highway” or “Old Jug song” are very good proof of that. “Out of the woods” shows us the influences of the other musicians and turns this tune into something more psychedelic. More Country influences are found in “How To Fix an Broke Girl” but you have to wait until the very last song to discover one of the better tunes on this album. “Going To California” includes again some psychedelic country influences and bring back some fond memories to that scene that was highly influential and popular in the mid seventies.
The total outcome of the album is not really a full country record, but the many influences and hints towards the genre are clearly available! Susan James can’t deny her relocation to Topanga Canyon was influential in more then one way. Americana based country would indeed be a good moniker for the genre portrait on Highways, Ghosts, Hearts & Home.
Mr. Blue Boogie.
KEYSANDCHORDS.COM (BELGIUM/DUTCH)
Picture
In de jaren negentig is de uit Orange (CA) afkomstige zangeres en niet ongetalenteerde gitaarspeelster actief in de koffiehuizen van de Bay area.
Tijdens één van die clubconcerten wordt Susan opgemerkt door één van de oprichters van Apple Computers die zo onder de indruk is dat hij besluit haar debuut te financieren. Of dit waar is of niet, er worden afhankelijk van de bron verschillende namen vermeld voor de genereuze fan, met ‘Life Between Two Worlds’ levert Susan James haar muzikale visitekaartje af in ’92. Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) en Rob Wasserman besluiten het jonge zangeresje een kans te geven en namen haar mee op tournee. Vier jaar later volgt ‘Shocking Pink Banana Seat’ en met ’Fantastic Voyage’, een intrigerende muzikale collage opgedeeld in een vocale en een experimentele instrumentale cd, levert ze haar sterkste werkstuk af.
Dat is ondertussen zo’n twaalf jaar geleden. ‘Highways, Ghosts, Hearts & Home’ luidt een wellicht glorieuze comeback in van de zangeres die niet enkel omwille van haar blonde haardos met Joni Mitchell vergeleken wordt. Haar rijk geschakeerde en octaafrijke stemtimbre komt bijwijlen aardig in de buurt (‘A Weed Is Not A Weed’) van La Mitchell en in James’ songwerk schuilt een vergelijkbare inventiviteit. De begeleiding door leden van I See Hawks in LA , occasioneel aangevuld met fiddle en orgel, vertoont onmiskenbare countryrock trekjes in ‘Thank You Tomorrow’ en ‘Cold Moon On The Highway’. Het door banjo en steelgitaar ondersteunde ‘Old Jug Song’ is bluegrass van het zuiverste bergrivierwater. Eveneens bijzonder fraai klinkt het psychedelisch getinte ‘Out In The Woods’, terwijl de openingssong ‘Airstream Girl’ en de Beatleneske twang van ‘On Your Side’ onbeschaamd solliciteren naar airplay op de radio. ‘Calling Mr. Zimmerman’ gaat niet over dat wonderlijke uurwerk in Lier, maar een telefoontje of smeekbede om de hulp van de grootmeester in te roepen lijkt ons alsnog overbodig.
Cis Van Looy (4)
Szívtárs SZIVTARS.HU (HUNGARIAN)
A kaliforniai származású énekes-gitáros-dalszövegíró, Susan James az önéletrajza tanúsága szerint nyolc éves korában vett először gitárt a kezébe. James zenei karrierje mondhatni meseszerűen indult. Ugyanis a ’90-es évek második felében kávéházakban lépett fel rendszeresen. Egy ilyen fellépés alkalmával látta meg és hallotta őt egy jómódú üzletember. Annyira megtetszett neki az énekesnő produkciója, hogy azonnal anyagi segítséget ajánlott fel James hőn áhított bemutatkozó albumának elkészítéséhez. Így született meg a Life Between Two Words, amelyet később a Shocking Pink Banana Seat követett. A folytatás egy dupla korong volt Fantastic Voyage címmel. Az idei évben került a boltokba a negyedik Susan James hanghordozó, ami a sokat sejtető Highways, Ghosts, Hearts & Home címet kapta.
Az albumon 10 dalnak jutott most hely – valamennyi James saját szerzeménye. A nagyon beszédes című kompozíciók (pl. a Cold Moon On The Highway, az Out in the Woods, a How to Fix a Broken Girl és a Goin’ to California) igazából nyugodtan nevezhetőek apró történeteknek is. Hűen lefestik azt, amit egy szinte állandóan úton lévő muzsikus lát, hall és tapasztal. Bár erre vonatkozó információ nincs, mégsem hatna meglepetésként, ha kiderülne, hogy a dalok jelentős része utazás közben született.
A Susan James által képviselt zenei stílust leginkább a „modern folkzene” kategóriába lehetne sorolni. Az énekes-muzsikus legújabb albuma azoknak szól, akik szeretik a szövegközpontú, gazdag háttérvokállal fűszerezett gitárzenét.
WHAT THE PRESS SAYS:
“…In her 45-minute opening set, James shows that she is already a master at exploring the emotional and sonic possibilities of the minimalist format of voice and acoustic guitar …James’ long blond hair and folk-based songs have caused her to be compared to Joni Mitchell. The inventiveness of her eight–song set, however, showed that James is perhaps most like Mitchell because she is like no one else…”-Los Angeles Times
“The first disc, dubbed “Lovesick” lives up to its billing with a series of heart-torn songs that are clever, defiant, amusing and poignant by turns…James, certainly isn’t one to mince words when addressing a lover’s betrayal, yet she’s too gifted a lyricist to settle for venting her anger with a mindless rant.” – Washington Post
“Susan James is the best of the new breed of women musicians…I think she`s the new Ani Di Franco!” – Rodney Bingenheimer; KROQ-Radio Los Angeles
“A series of heart-torn songs that are clever, defiant, amusing and poignant by turns…have similar early-Joni Mitchell intelligence and poetic flair.” -The Washington Post
“Fantastic Album!” Rolling Stone USA; David Fricke
“Susan James is a young discovery, a dynamic triple threat. Like Venus springing full-blown from the forehead of Zeus, she`s an artist who has emphatically managed to establish her signature as a singer, songwriter and powerful acoustic guitarist. The achievemnt speaks well both for her unwavering commitment and her future.” – Dramalogue; Jason McCloskey
“The loveliest album I have ever heard ! Mixing a powerful sexy voice to her own acoustic fingerings, James achieves an artistic sound without being harnassed by major label overproduction.” – Vanguard; Kimberly Adams
“To hear her is to like her ! In a field of starry-eyed, post-Lilith female folkies it`s getting harder to scythe the wheat from the chaff. Which is why the latest entry from crafty Californian Susan James comes as such a brow- wiping relief: it doesn`t whine, it doesn`t jangle, it doesn`t mask vague Naomi Wolf-ism in vitriolic hyperbole. Instead, it slithers along on its muscled Gothic belly via murky Joy Division chords, confident straight-from-the heart vocals and metaphors plucked from everyday existence, not some snooty college textbook.” – Musician; Tom Lanham
“If you can imagine Leo Kottke and Jeff Buckley jamming with Stereolab, then you`ve only just begun to live and riotously rock your way through the wobulus world of Susan James. The production certainly sounds like a perfect marriage between analog and digital and I wish more records today had that balance and feel. The album only can be described as fantastic. Bravo!” Yeah Yeah Yeah; – Morley Bartnoff
“A west coast folkie with a voice like Sinead O`Connor and a sensibility to Liz Phair. Fantastic indeed.” – Creative Loafing; Gregory Nicoli
“Loaded with talent. A boffo set of pop tunes graced with pungent words,imposing chops and some of the most head-curving arrangements ever heard from a `singer/songwriter`”. – L.A. Weekly; John Payne
“One listen is likely to wake up your ass right up. James` puts a unique spin on her influences, drawing on World Music at least as much as she does on Western Folk and from a variety of individual musicians that transcends gender, genre and instrument. All of this marrid to a decidedly pop aestethic. Sound weird ? It is.-Susan James is unpredictable, unexpected and exactly what you`ve been waiting for!” – Weekly Alibi; Michael Henningsen
“She`s a stunner…but it was her music that was the magnet. Her voice rises and falls like a gentle waterfall. She strummed with gusto as well as grace”. – Cleveland Plain Dealer; Jane Scott
“Riveting !” – San Francisco Bay Guardian; Derek Richardson
Zillo:
“Betörende Folksongs voller Kraft und Phantasie – eine Songwriterin der absoluten Oberklasse !”
Spex:
“Fans von Penelope Houston und Sonya Hunter sollten unbedingt reinhören !”
Intro:
“Eine exzellente und eigenständige Songschreiberin. Punkt ! Schöne Platte. Ehrlich !”
ME/Sounds (4 Sterne):
“Stark und hochgewachsene Folkrocker. Bei den kunstvollen aber ausgelüfteten Arrangements bekommt ihr selbstbewusster, bald experimenteller Gesang erst wirklich den Raum, den er benötigt. Dann darf Susan James hellauf strahlen !”
Saarbrücker Zeitung (Heisse Scheibe):
“Vielseitig und vielschichtig mit Stil und Emotion – ergänzt durch jene erfrischende Portion Kraftbürstigkiet, die man Charakter nennt .”
Onstage:
“Schnittmenge von P.J. Harvey, Dolly Parton und Jeff Buckley. Klingt irgendwie komisch, ist irgendwie aber auch sexy.”
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung:
“Zuhören muss man schon, um die Schönheit der skurillen Lieder zu erfassen !”
Kieler Nachrichten:
“Joni Mitchell für die Post-Nirvana-Generation oder auch Jeff Buckley als Mädchen.”
Dresdner Neue Nachrichten:
“Ein nachhaltiger Beweis dafür, das sich die Szene über fehlende interessante und zudem neue Frauenstimmen nicht beklagen muss ! Lädt zum Entdecken ein, wenn man hinter Töne und Akkorde zu steigen in der Lage ist !”
Nahe-Zeitung:
“Ein Super-Talent !”