Dreaming Of You (1971-76) (CD)
Barcode: 184923607529
Karen Black was boundless. An actor, singer, screenwriter, poet, and unyielding creative spirit, she was a prominent figure in the American New Wave, portraying a host of tender and labyrinthine women on screen. Her ability to submerge herself in each role marked her as a skilled character actor, one that translated into a real and imperfect person, not a polished emblem of Hollywood. In her best-suited and most vulnerable performances, she sang. Amid her meteoric rise, Black also wrote and recorded a host of original songs, many with two of the eras most prestigious producers, Bones Howe and Elliot Mazer. Co-produced by Cass McCombs and meticulously restored from the original tapes (including six of Howes recordings), Karen Blacks Dreaming of You (1971-1976) gathers for the first time the best of her recordings: 15 tracks that are a holistic depiction of her dreamy, introspective and earnest musical identity. Recalling the everywoman quality of Judy Collins and the quiet mystery of Billie Holiday, Black largely sings over simple acoustic guitar strumming, her voice a beacon amid tales of fantasy and heartache. Her range swings from fluttering highs to earthen lows, with a distinctiveness that evokes the enduring quality of early Asylum Records. When she wasnt on set, she scrawled hundreds of poems and lyrics, and set them to acoustic guitar or piano. As with acting, for Black songwriting was a study in confession and in character. She often completed multiple takes of a song exploring that relationship, changing her tone, phrasing or cadence in each. Blacks love of singing was a throughline in her acting career. Her breakthrough role in Five Easy Pieces (1970) was as small-town waitress and aspiring country singer Rayette, girlfriend of Jack Nicholsons lost and philanderous rich kidBobby Dupea. During casting, director Bob Rafelson worried that Blacks insatiable mind was too complex for the simplicity he envisioned in Rayette. Instead, she elevated the character from unknowing victim to captivating moral compass, emanating light amid Dupeas thunder of anomie. Her radiant singing, often improvised, became a calling card of a woman besmirched by devotion yet unyielding in goodness. As Parm, she serenaded George Segals Jay with an original song in Born to Win (1971). In Cisco Pike (1972) she was Sue, the free-spirited love interest of Kris Kristofferson, in his film debut. She upstaged him in an impromptu duet of Id Rather Be Sorry, before it became a hit in 1974. Robert Altman cast her as Connie White in his experimental opus Nashville (1975), a country star set on retaining her crown. She wrote the songs she performed in the film, including Memphis, Rolling Stone, and I Dont Know if I Found It in You. Though she never inhabited the traditional role of career musician, there was evidence of this desire throughout her films and public appearances. Two of the songs from the 1971 sessions of Dreaming of You (1971-1976) were l
- Release-Date: : 07/16/2021
- Format Detail: CD housed in full-color, four-panel wallet
- Format: CD
- Genre: Folk
