The "Writers In The Round" concert series is a periodic uniting of several musician/songwriters performing acoustically at New York City's Bottom Line. Based loosely on similar concerts at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe, where waitresses have the authority to eject someone who repeatedly talks during the performances, these shows are geared for the music connoisseur who can appreciate a good *song*.
And this evening provided a plethora of quality songs. Regular hosts Jules Shear and Richard Barone were bookends on the stage in introducing Marti Jones and Doug Powell. Jones, who is the wife of producer/performer Don Dixon, sounds not unlike Mary Chapin Carpenter, while Powell harks from the "pure pop" era, with tips of the hat to such popsters as Ray Davies and (of course) the Beatles.
Each performer played four songs, for a total of 16 tracks - and they weren't necessarily the four "greatest hits" of each artist. For example, Jules Shear opened the show with "We Were Only Making Love' (from The Great Puzzle) which had all the earmarks of a Paul Simon or Bob Dylan track, while Marti Jones each played songs which are unavailable on any album; Jones' "Silent Partner", from a future album, and Doug Powell's ballad, "Can't Break My Heart". Powell's "Return To Sender", from his recent Ballad of the Tin Men, stood out as a timeless track even without traditional overdubs.
The artists also worked in tandem with each other; Barone played his "Clouds Over Eden" with Powell on piano; while Shear dueted with Marti Jones on a track which bore similarities to a countrified "Don't Pass Me By".
Shear and Barone did each play their best known song; in Jules' case, it was the Cyndi Lauper-covered "All Through The Night", and Barone took the Bongos' "Numbers With Wings", stripped it bare with a cellist, and re-worked the tune into a powerful crescendo.
The concluding track was a cover of the Beatles' "Free As A Bird". Shear introduced the song with an anecdote about how many writers feel Jeff Lynne's production to the track diminished its power. When these four artists, plus a cellist, "took the song apart and reconstructed it" (Shear's words), it sent goosebumps up this writer's spine. That almost *was* the Beatles on-stage, if just for a brief moment; Shear became Lennon while Powell's eyeglasses said Lennon but his vocals echoed George Harrison. A spine-tingling encore that was a spectacular ending to a fantastic evening.
