Malvina Reynolds – Sings the Truth (1967/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Malvina Reynolds – Sings the Truth (1967/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 36:09 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

Malvina Reynolds was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her songwriting, particularly Malvina was one of the great satiric songwriters in folk-she wrote Pete Seeger’s hit Little Boxes and saw her songs sung by everyone from Joan Baez to The Searchers.

How many other musicians made their major-label recording debuts as grandmothers in their mid-sixties, as Malvina Reynolds did on this circa late-1966/early-1967 LP, produced by John Hammond? But those were different times, which saw ridiculously uncommercial, avowedly antiestablishment albums released by the labels of large corporations. And this is certainly an uncommercial record, Reynolds’ wavering voice – even the liner notes disclose how “she admitted to one critic that she had a semi-permanent frog in her throat” – backed by plain acoustic guitar-dominated instrumentation, though it sounds like a bass is in the mix at points. As froggy as it is here, though, her voice was in better shape than it would be on her 1970s recordings for the small Cassandra label. And this does give you the chance to hear Reynolds’ own versions of her two most famous songs, which were primarily associated with other performers on record – “Little Boxes” (which was a small hit for Pete Seeger) and “What Have They Done to the Rain?” (a hit for the Searchers, and also recorded by Joan Baez, Marianne Faithfull, and the Seekers). Those two compositions, particularly “What Have They Done to the Rain?,” are the best songs on the LP, which otherwise ranges from moving and inspirational ’60s folk (“I Don’t Mind Failing,” the melancholy closer “Bitter Rain”) to unappealingly didactic folk protest. In part because of that streak of blunt righteousness, and in part because the melodies and singing often aren’t that strong, much of this hasn’t dated well, even if the spirit of Reynolds’ anger and satire – targeting bigotry, suburban conformity, religious fundamentalism, and overdevelopment – remains right-on and commendable in many ways.

Tracklist:
1. Malvina Reynolds – The New Restaurant (01:59)
2. Malvina Reynolds – What’s Goin’ On Down There (03:58)
3. Malvina Reynolds – Little Boxes (01:38)
4. Malvina Reynolds – Battle of Maxton Field (05:05)
5. Malvina Reynolds – God Bless the Grass (02:04)
6. Malvina Reynolds – I Don’t Mind Failing (04:39)
7. Malvina Reynolds – What Have They Done to the Rain? (01:55)
8. Malvina Reynolds – The Devil’s Baptizin’ (02:36)
9. Malvina Reynolds – Singing Jesus (03:29)
10. Malvina Reynolds – The Bloody Neat (02:01)
11. Malvina Reynolds – Quiet (03:04)
12. Malvina Reynolds – Love Is Something (The Magic Penny) (01:27)
13. Malvina Reynolds – Bitter Rain (02:09)

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