CD Review

Christine Lavin
The Bellevue Years
Philo/Rounder

Christine Lavin fans will be thrilled to be able to get this collection of songs from her early years in New York City. Christine was one of the first of the New York songwriters to quit her day job and dive into the music business full time nearly 20 years ago, and she has never turned back - and never had to. Through her comic genius and her unerring sense of how to show an audience a good time (she once told a group at a performance workshop that a concert is like a date with the audience), she has earned the love and devotion of more fans than perhaps any other performer on the folk circuit. While building a one-woman musical empire, she has made a whole second career creating ways to share the limelight. She was responsible for getting Julie Gold's "From A Distance" to Nanci Griffith - which eventually led to its being recorded by Bette Midler resulting in a Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991. She then started On A Winter's Night - a beautiful compilation of seasonal songs that turned into a perennial holiday tour. Then she created the Martha's Vineyard Songwriter's Retreat, which resulted in several CDs, introducing, among others, John Forster and James Mee to the folk scene. Then she created the Four Bitchin' Babes which, years later, still goes on without her. The list of her projects is endless.

But back in the early years, she was just Christine, a very funny woman with a guitar and a subway token, and it's fun to hear the sparkle and energy she emitted even in the beginning, while she was inventing the concept of Sex in the City before its creators were even out of grade school. This CD includes six songs from her original 1983 EP, Husbands and Wives, including "If You Want Space, Go to Utah" and "Another Woman's Man." Even back then, you can see that her focus was on the ins and outs of modern urban relationships.The new collection adds funny classics like "Cold Pizza for Breakfast," "Camping," and "Artificial Means." There's also a version of her sentimental classic, "The Moment Slipped Away." I have to say, I miss "Don't Ever Call Yor Sweetheart By His Name," the song that got her kicked out of the Mayor Koch's residence at Gracie Manor, where she used to be invited to entertain from time to time.

The upside of the collection is that tracks 7-17 are mainly live performances, most on the radio, which capture Christine at her best. The downside is that several of these tracks include DJ introductions or snippets of DJs conversing with Christine - with two of them dedicated to WRSU DJs offering news and commentary about Rutgers' Lady Knights basketball team. Even if Christine's sister was a star on the team at the time (she was), this local color just isn't anything close to Christine's brilliance. It's a rare instance where her attempt to get other people into the act just doesn't work. Get this album for the rare early songs and for the live versions of some of her classics. -HB

Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com