Long
has his heart so obviously in the right place. Furthermore, he's backed up what he preaches -- empathy with the downtrodden, environmental activism, and promotion of peace, tolerance, and international friendship -- with practice, doing good work for a variety of good causes at home and abroad. Does that make this a good album? No. It's tepid topical songwriting, whether telling the stories of struggling people of various backgrounds or addressing a particular injustice (as in
"Down With Ku Klux Klan"
). The melodies are unmemorable and
's vocals fairly timorous and colorless. He's gone to some lengths to vary the arrangements, employing about 20 musicians (
Peter Ostroushko
is the most renowned) in various styles, with tinges of reggae, bluegrass, easy listening tropical, gypsy folk, and light jazz. Fragments of a 1996
Pete Seeger
interview are used in
"Well May the World Go."
Combining topical songwriting with good art is a vexing proposition, one that the entire folk scene has struggled with since at least the end of the 1960s. As for how to do this, it's not an easy answer, but this record is not the answer. If topical songwriting is going to change the world on record as well as it does in schools, rallies, and community events -- which by all means
should continue to do -- there has to be more musical innovation, fire, and inspiration. ~ Richie Unterberger