Rosanne Cash – The Wheel (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:29:38 minutes | 1,80 GB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia Records
In 1990 Rosanne Cash was moving to New York City, divorcing Rodney Crowell, and looking for a songwriting partner. She reached out to guitarist John Leventhal who’d written songs and produced albums with Shawn Colvin, Jackson Browne and Crowell. Collaborating on songs soon turned to making an entire album, a budding romance and finally a marriage in 1995. The resulting album is an emotional whirlwind full of strong songwriting that chronicles the journey between leaving one marriage and getting into another. It’s headlined by the brisk, tuneful title track which features Patty Larkin and Mary Chapin Carpenter on background vocals. In “Change Partners”—with Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers on piano—Cash goes full autobiography: “. Somehow I break free/ Someone becomes me/ And when I stand upright/ I’m filled with a new light/ I’m given one more chance/ So I change partners/ In this new dance.”
Cash knows how to use her voice to its best effect, which is most often an earnest alto that excels at low key duets—like the one with Marc Cohen on “Sleeping in Paris.” Originally recorded and mixed at several N.Y.C. studios, this 30th anniversary remastering has added a lot of audible clarity to the occasionally sonically-muddy-in-spots original. The midtempo gallop of “You Won’t Let Me In” has a new snap; the same is true for “Roses in the Fire.” “From the Ashes,” which also features personal lyrics (“I feel inspiration when all may be lost/ I claim resurrection no matter the cost”), has added depth in the new mix. After the improved sound, the other new additions are 11 live tracks taken from a 1993 Austin City Limits set and a stripped-down acoustic performance for the Columbia Records Radio Hour recorded that same year. A cover of Lucinda Williams’ “Crescent City” in the Austin set is a nice surprise. And her version in the Columbia performance of the melancholy “Seventh Avenue,” one of the first songs she wrote for The Wheel, is definitive.
Like the dark, cathartic Interiors, The Wheel is an introspective, soul-searching set of confessional songs revolving around love and relationships. While many of the themes and emotions of Interiors are repeated on The Wheel, Rosanne Cash hasn’t repeated herself, either lyrically or musically. Working from the same combination of folk and country that has fueled her songwriting throughout her career, she has created an album of subtle, melodic grace that helps convey the deep feelings of her lyrics. It’s an immaculately produced album, but that never detracts from the emotional core of Cash’s music. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracklist:
1-01. Rosanne Cash – The Wheel (2023 Remaster) (04:20)
1-02. Rosanne Cash – Seventh Avenue (2023 Remaster) (05:13)
1-03. Rosanne Cash – Change Partners (2023 Remaster) (03:41)
1-04. Rosanne Cash – Sleeping In Paris (2023 Remaster) (04:09)
1-05. Rosanne Cash – You Won’t Let Me In (2023 Remaster) (04:34)
1-06. Rosanne Cash – From The Ashes (2023 Remaster) (03:58)
1-07. Rosanne Cash – The Truth About You (2023 Remaster) (02:28)
1-08. Rosanne Cash – Tears Falling Down (2023 Remaster) (03:27)
1-09. Rosanne Cash – Roses In The Fire (2023 Remaster) (03:25)
1-10. Rosanne Cash – Fire Of The Newly Alive (2023 Remaster) (04:28)
1-11. Rosanne Cash – If There’s A God On My Side (2023 Remaster) (04:53)
1-12. Rosanne Cash – The Wheel (Live From Austin City Limits 7/26/1993) (04:43)
1-13. Rosanne Cash – Seventh Avenue (Live From Austin City Limits 7/26/1993) (05:59)
1-14. Rosanne Cash – I’ll Change For You (Live From Austin City Limits 7/26/1993) (04:38)
1-15. Rosanne Cash – Crescent City (Live From Austin City Limits 7/26/1993) (03:26)
1-16. Rosanne Cash – Sleeping In Paris (Live From Austin City Limits 7/26/1993) (04:24)
1-17. Rosanne Cash – Seventh Avenue (Live From The Columbia Records Radio Hour 5/16/1993) (04:22)
1-18. Rosanne Cash – Roses In The Fire (Live From The Columbia Records Radio Hour 5/16/1993) (03:37)
1-19. Rosanne Cash – The Truth About You (Live From The Columbia Records Radio Hour 5/16/1993) (02:38)
1-20. Rosanne Cash – What We Really Want (Live From The Columbia Records Radio Hour 5/16/1993) (04:07)
1-21. Rosanne Cash – Wouldn’t It Be Loverly (Live From The Columbia Records Radio Hour 5/16/1993) (02:36)
1-22. Rosanne Cash – The Wheel (Live From The Columbia Records Radio Hour 5/16/1993) (04:24)
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