The CD is fine, the LP is even more' heavenly..'
An 'audiophile' standard for years. Hearing the beautiful sounds of Eva
brings tears to one's eyes. And the fact that she is no longer with us adds to that pain of knowing that we lost a true talented singer.
With "Autumn Leaves", Eva leaves behind a legacy for the ages.
A humbled singer who didn't 'hit the big-time' with all the pomp,pizazz and awards that accompanies the music industry. In her albums, there is the revelation of her soul, done to the perfection of angelic like quality. As mentioned in the header,by hearing Eva on a great sounding analog rig, the effect goes even deeper and reveals how wonderful an artist she was.
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Dr. Eva's Medicine for the Soul
I first stumbled across Eva Cassidy on a compilation of guitar songs for rainy days, singing "Autumn Leaves." A serviceable old standard to be sure, but I've heard it probably a hundred times by our most acclaimed singers, and wasn't enthused about hearing yet another version. But after listening I realized two things: that I'd never really heard Autumn Leaves before, or more accurately, I had never *felt* it, and that I had to know more about this singer who was able to bring so much new depth out of a familiar song. Why hadn't I heard of her before? Listening to others of her songs showed this effect was no fluke. Eva has a way of forcing us to slow down and feel, perhaps for the first time, what the songwriter was trying to tell us. 'Look what I found under this old leaf,' she seems to say, swaying her unerring metal detector from side to side and holding up the nugget you missed before.
And this was no accident. She reportedly chose her songs based on the effect the lyrics had on her, which gave her a somewhat eclectic but highly distilled repertoire. Some have said that Eva was unaware of her talent, but I am now convinced this was not the case, but rather she chose in her humility to subjugate herself in service to the message of the song, and its connecting power to the collective unconscious of our human condition. She bridges the synapse between songwriter and listener better than any other singer I have ever heard.
People speak upon first hearing Eva of being stopped in their tracks, waiters halted emerging from swinging kitchen doors holding plates of cooling food, of being unexpectedly and irresistably moved to tears.
At this Eva Cassidy has no peers. From what deep well of sadness she drew I can only imagine, but her airy incantations speak of what it means to be alive, to be human in a world not optimized for the care and feeding of sentient beings. You'll soon find out which of her songs do it for you. It is best, however, to take them sparingly, like a penicillin reserved for emergencies, to save your life, lest you become desensitized to the effect.
You'll know when: when life has taken all you have to give, and then it takes more; when you've lost someone you can't live without, but have to go on living anyway; when nothing can get into that hardened lump of coal that used to be your heart... Put on Eva, and turn out the lights, so it's just you, and a red dot glowing on the stereo, alone in the dark with your pain: take two sad songs, have a good cry, and call me in the morning.
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