From SSLABS Epinion Review of "The Window"
http://www0.epinions.com/review/The_Window_SACD_-_David_Elias/content_114246323844
The music pouring through The Window
After taking in about 20 seconds of The Window I realized just how mainstream my tastes have become in the past few years. Like someone walking into a theater after the flick has already started, I allowed my ears time to adjust. Now that I’ve had all this time to get acquainted, there are tracks that speak to me more than others. The Window is difficult to categorize, slapping it in the folk category is easy only because that is the nearest description, but it isn’t always completely fitting.
The first half of The Window is definitely a mix of the upbeat, quiet, and sometimes somber side of little guitar strumming stories. Freedom on the Freeway a straight up and down guitar pluckin’, harmonica playin’ tune kicks things off. Freedom, a little ditty about traveling, and life on the road has Elias showing his rascal side with bits like ‘I’m just the kind of guy that that drives away, I’m only here to disappear. Yet Elias shares his low maintenance side with lines like “I love my Chevron coffee..... suits me fine. The following tracks, like Summer Wind and Go Down Easy are easy to overlook. A little conventional in sound, and in presentation, these folk-y numbers tend to reward anyone with the liner notes in hand. There are great little observations about life in America to be appreciated here, nothing heavy, more reminiscing and bits of Americana than anything else.
The Old King sounding somber and reflective, leans more toward the songs (lyrically) on Jewel’s Spirit that never gained any airplay, but grabbed ahold of some fans really tight (like me) and never let go. The intro to Half An Hour Away has what I personally wanted to hear more of on The Window. With just a hint of something sinister (in sound) around the edges that say, Natalie Merchant would churn out; like St. Judas, Half an Hour Away is where my ears really started to dig in. Following the intro, Half an Hour Away is where Elias plays a bit, a little Alice in Wonderland with musings like ‘I wish I had a field of corn... Or half a rag to keep me warm...... A bag of bones to blow my horn.......... Time to fade away.”
Her name is A. is the only true love song here. And after getting rather close to this tune, Elias has me wondering just who this mystery woman is. Would a full name cause controversy? Or is it more like controversy in his own mind that is being avoided? A defense mechanism perhaps? Maybe I have to stop thinking about every little thing so much and simply accept this sad song that I’ve befriended.
The Window (intro) is a free style of sorts. Various stringed instruments sigh and wince in pain. And later, post intro, a guitar drips with the sounds of a showdown between two men in the old west. It's like a warm up session on drugs that finds the mind clearing up once the intro track fades away. The Window finds Elias showing a little bit of doom and gloom. There seems to be a “what has the world come to” vibe here when Elias sings “I own nothing that’s holy........ Except ideas yet to come.” At times even though the feeling is extremely vague, Loreena McKennitt's The Book of Secrets seems to haunt this brace of tracks, and maybe even the intro to Half an Hour Away to some degree was well.
It's possible that I'm audibly witnessing the next step in mixing music in surround. I've had this idea in my mind concerning “phantoms" and I was wondering just how long it would take for my theory to actually materialize. Like engineers mixing music in stereo, creating “phantom" vocals in the center for example, so that a singer seems to come from the middle rather than from two separate speakers is old news.
People hear this all the time in stereo music, and are totally oblivious to it. Now it seems that this technique has finally jumped into multi-channel music. It sounds like (to these ears anyway) Skinas used a front, center and rear channel to create a “phantom" source for instruments on The Window/intro. But rather than create a center phantom, it seems to be pulled back, more between the listener and the front sound stage. It's a bit strange, but wonderfully spacious. Either Skinas figured out how to mix music in 3-D taking into account the vast number of “phantoms" that could be created (like between the center, and left rear for example) or these guys set up a bunch of microphones and let everyone jam and I'm burning brain cells contemplating something that never even happened.
It could be a little bit of both, but regardless, the result is one of the most musical, detailed, and spacious recordings I've ever come across. I'm sure David Elias had a personal reason for using The Window as a title. For me however, the title is very fitting when referring to square hole in a wall with a band jamming on the other side. It sounds that good, and if you're a SACD fanatic, The Window deserves a slot in your collection.
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David’s original work and contributions as a pioneer in the unsigned artist’s world of self-produced CD’s put him in front of the folk community nationally and worldwide at a very early Internet age (1995). He achieved numerous and frequent #1 charting on various large musical web communities such as MP3.com, Besonic, SoundClick, Mixposure, and IndieHeart.com (currently #1 artist for most plays) as well as others.
Not restricting his exposure to online outlets (breaking ground with CD Baby in 1998 and eventually Amazon, iTunes and 50+ others) David also attracted the discriminate audiophile community as an innovator in hi-def 5.1 surround sound recordings (SACD’s “The Window”, 2003 and “Crossing”, 2005). This met with industry recognition for excellence, including the Brutus award from Positive Feedback Online for both SACD’s.
David’s songwriting achieved early recognition from the likes of Billboard magazine (honorable mention folk award in 1998) and hundreds of reviews and comments online from fans, musicians and industry professionals. He has been compared to many great songwriters ranging from Jim Croce to Nick Drake to Tom Petty to Dan Hicks to Arlo Guthrie to Bruce Cockburn, Paul Simon, Dylan, Neil Young, among numerous others. His productions continue to be recognized for their outstanding articulation and impact, both lyrically, musically and sonically. He has indeed been referred to as both musician’s musician and a songwriter’s songwriter.
It is somewhat challenging to try to characterize the scope and impact of David’s work either chronologically or in a complete fashion. Working as an independent artist for 15 years, he has been part of the dawn of many new discoveries in music and DIY approaches to sustaining art. Performing in the vicinity of 1000 shows, give or take, since 1994 and teaming up with dozens of different casts of characters from the deep roots of the Irish and Scottish to the quietude or rants of Americana and folk to the eclectic, bluegrass, rock and pop realms of those such as Jane Siberry (Issa), Sally Van Meter, and Roger Powell, David has spun many homegrown musical tales for the environment, local education and businesses, benefits galore, art shows, fairs and festivals, warehouses and lofts, beach parties, pubs and eateries, music halls and local cafes not to mention his own 7 released recordings and endless other collaborations. Perhaps it is summarized best as one fan online wrote: “…music for the heart and soul”.
More details below or see http://www.davidelias.com
• Independent singer-songwriter musician with first self-produced CD “Lost in the Green” released in 1995, with the initial wave of the Internet. This CD got immediate attention and play on hundreds of public and college folk programs across the US and overseas as far as Hong Kong. Original coffeehouse acoustic sounds for both lyrical/poetical impact and musical composition and quality were associated with early Dylan, John Prine, Paul Simon, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and other folk icons.
• Second CD release “Time Forgets” went online with the initial artist subscribers to CD Baby in 1998. “Christmas Blue” from this disc became #1 on the original MP3.com Folk Rock chart in 1998. CD Baby founder Derek compared this disc to John Prine’s music as something loveable. The “Freedom on the Freeway” track received an Honorable Mention from Billboard magazine. David’s songwriting skills were also recognized by the Napa Valley Music Festival as a finalist.
• Also released in 1998, “The Blue Planet” featured a title track used in the Musician’s United to Sustain the Environment (M.U.S.E.) first compilation. This marked the beginning of many contributions to compilations and other non-profit and for profit projects including independent films such as Jason Ward’s “I Want To Blow Up Silicon Valley”. Both special and regular radio performances began during this time and continued on Bay Area stations including KSUP Santa Cruz, KPIG Watsonville, KZSU Stanford, KKUP Cupertino and KALW and KYOU in San Francisco.
• 2001 included the CD release of the ambient folk recording “Half An Hour Away” featuring an acoustic trio (guitar, mandolin, flute/tenor sax) known as David Elias & The Great Unknown. The title track of this song would also be included on the release of the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers’ second CD. David toured Scotland with the 18-piece Fiddlers orchestra that year performing 14 shows as a supporting guitarist and featured songwriter.
• Working early with Hi-Def recording in the beginning of Sony’s development of the Super Audio CD (SACD) David ultimately released the world’s first hybrid multichannel (5.1) SACD in 2003. “The Window” was a final nominee at the Beverly Hills Surround Music Awards that year in the Emerging Artist category. That same year Pink Floyd’s remixed and remastered “Dark Side of the Moon” was recognized as the best new surround hi-res recording. Over 4000 SACD titles would follow from various labels in recognition of this new high definition format.
”The Window” has been recognized by audiophile experts as a reference quality recording for its superior sonic merits. It also has been awarded for its folk music value. As Stuart Robinson from High Fidelity Review commented: “Every great recording requires great music, and that’s what this disc is all about.”
Recorded live at Immersive Studios in Boulder and released without edits or overdubs, it features numerous luminary backing artists including Sally Van Meter, John Magnie (Subdudes), Matt Flinner, Eric Thorin (Open Road Bluegrass, Drew Emmitt) and Marc Dalio (Erin McKeown).
“The Window” has been compared to folk and bluegrass icons’ work such as Jorma Kaukonen’s “Blue Country Heart” also a 5.1 SACD which was nominated for a Grammy in 2002. “The Window” has received longstanding recognition in the audiophile community for its songs, performances and audio qualities.
• Continuing to record in the Hi-Def domain using Direct Stream Digital (DSD), an acoustic trio consisting of Charlie Natzke (guitar/backing vocal), Chris Kee (upright bass) and David recorded a live studio set entitled “David Elias & XING” (pronounced “crossing”) for an iTunes promotion in 2005. This 50-minute, 11-track podcast was named by iTunes as “Tracks to Watch” and received tremendous support and plays online. It went on to be printed as a CD as a result of the online success.
• In 2005 David was invited to join Jane Siberry (now Issa) onstage as a backing guitarist in the Newport Folk Festival. David would open shows for Jane over the next two years at numerous locations throughout California, including the Great American Music Hall, as well as performances in Texas. He also appeared live with Jane on radio in Austin, TX (KGSR with Jody Denberg) as well as KUSP in Santa Cruz, CA.
• As he was being voted “Best Songwriter” in 2005 by the International Online Musicians Awards (IOMA) David created the larger ensemble (up to 8-piece) of David Elias & XING (pronounced “crossing”) for his live performances. Using these local SF Bay Area musicians as well as most of the artists appearing on “The Window”, a second hybrid 5.1 SACD of original music called “Crossing” was produced and recorded at Slipperworld Studios in La Honda, CA.
Recorded to DSD by Charlie Natzke and mixed in Boulder by Gus Skinas (formerly of Sony SACD Project and founder SuperAudioCenter.com) “Crossing” received final nominations in three different categories in the 2003 Surround Music Awards: a) Listener’s Choice; b) Best Made-For-Surround Title; c) Best Non-Orchestral Mix.
”Crossing” received the same level of admiration for songwriting and Hi-Def excellence as “The Window”, described as an “extraordinary recording” by Stereophile Magazine in 2006.
• Shortly after relocating to Hawaii in 2008, David released a limited set of recordings featuring new lyrical songs written and performed on ukulele.
• New News in the near-term horizon (late 2008, early 2009)includes:
- Live CD with the large band David Elias & The CasualTees, recorded to DSD by Gus Skinas in hi-def and mixed/mastered by Charlie Natzke at Slipperworld Studios in La Honda, California. This project was recorded at the San Gregorio General Store over successive nights and features new Elias material on 10-tracks. Musicians backing David as The CasualTees are: Charlie Natzke, John Havard, Scott Beynon, Ken Owen, Roger Powell, David Phillips, Gary McArthur, and Reid Dennis. *** RELEASED IN FEB. 2009! *****
- Hi-Def (HD)downloads in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound of both David Elias SACD’s from iTrax.com. *** ONLINE NOW FOR HD STREAMING AND SURROUND DOWNLOADS ****
- Award-winning "Crossing" has been added to the impressive libraries of online radio at www.pandora.com -- check it out!
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