Bob Carpenter "Silent Passage"-1974 lost folk rock gem. Track by Track

This is the only album collection of music recorded by Bob (released in 1984) -- I
don't recall any such line, and after reviewing the lyrics there is no line: "...to be young again"...

But if it gets you to Bob Carpenter, excellent!



I wish you had heard a song by Bob that had those lines...we would then have more songs to discover.

 

There are allegedly more songs on-line, at least according to the notes of my CD. It says "Stony Plain Records [the label that originally released the album in 984] has also released Bob's later material as downloads and continues to do so"

I've found a website for the company but Bob isn't listed as one of their artists. It might be worth dropping them a line to see if the downloads are still available though.

 

Thanks! Never heard that.

 

I haven't managed to find anything but I have messaged the record company via e-mail. I don't have (or want!) much of a social media presence apart from that but if you're on Twitter, Facebook et al, it might be worth you contacting them that way just in case, like many businesses, they don't regularly check their in-box.

If nothing else, they'll be aware that there is some interest in Bob's work out here!

 

track 8) Down Along The Border

Not a filler to be found. Brilliant!
Beautiful. So damn good.



Capo II

(C) Down along the (Fmaj7) border
(C) Where the fair green (Fmaj7) forest (Em) grows
(Dm7) And no-one (G) knows
(Em) Beyond the (Am7) doubt
(Fmaj7) And nobody cares to find (G) out

When the war is over
And your old life lies behind
There was a time
But now it’s gone
I’ll likely see you inside the dawn

Down among the flowers
With these eyes newly born
I could have sworn
I heard them clear
Their silent voices on my ear

So the wind will carry
Words of love from me to you
And from my eyes
The sun will shine
I only hope it shines for you too

Down along the border
Where the towers touch the sky
And no-one fears
The passing years
And nobody has to die

And nobody has to die

 

More to read... about Bob...

JUNE 23, 2014BY KASPER NIJSEN
Forgotten series: Bob Carpenter – Silent Passage (1984)
(click on headline for link to source)





All men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them …

A melancholy ship drifts across the cover: drawn sails, shadows rising from the sea, the cloudy face of the moon in the distance. It’s the ship of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, who sailed off into darkness and terror but returned to tell his story to the world

The image is a fitting counterpart to the songs on Silent Passage. Canadian singer-songwriter Bob Carpenter’s only album, it’s due for reissue this summer. Although recorded in the 1970s and featuring some of the best musicians of the time — Ben Keith, Lowell George, Leland Sklar, Emmylou Harris — Silent Passage was released in 1984 due to contractual issues.

Little is known about the artist. He was born on an Indian reservation near North Bay, Ontario — so much seems certain — and he died in 1995 of brain cancer. Whatever storms he weathered as he sailed through life, in the early ’70s he disembarked for a spell in Toronto and Los Angeles to record the ten songs that remain his musical legacy.

Silent Passage kicks off with “Miracle Man,” an upbeat Americana tune. Musically it reminds of the Band, but it’s the voice that commands attention: a gritty sound, husky and deep, with traces of early Tom Waits but roots in the country and a hard-worn sense of loneliness. It’s a voice that sounds like it could tear down a building. Carpenter’s singing comes on full force in the second and title-song of the album. “Silent Passage” is a slow-paced journey through regret and hope, accompanied by strings and Harris on back-up vocals. Like many of Carpenter’s songs, it deals with faith and despair, and describes man as a solitary traveler longing for a home.

A similar feeling pervades “First Light,” one of the album’s most striking songs. It starts as a contemplative ballad, but then the mood changes. A dramatic C Major seventh enters and the rhythm takes on a martial tone. “In the first light of morning,” Carpenter proclaims, “an army I have gathered.” Invoking Christ as a fellow soldier, he admits that his weapons are no match for innocence: “And I have come with sword and heavy armor, where he was dressed in wonder.”

There are more highlights. “Gypsy Boy” is a moody ballad, reminiscent of Jerry Jeff Walker. It’s sung in an ominous bass filled with a sense of impending doom, which is underscored by an eerie arrangement and lyrics about “wolves along the border” and “grandma’s bones” lying to bleach. And “Now and Then” contains this beautiful verse …

How could something perfect change
To something less and back again
And in between have all this pain
Because we’re asking why?

In terms of imagery, Silent Passage bears comparison to A Salty Dog, Procol Harum’s brilliant 1969 record about sea-faring souls. Yet, Bob Carpenter is a more intimate singer than Gary Brooker, and his struggle against despair and reaching out for redemption are perhaps more deeply felt. Carpenter isn’t singing songs: he’s laying bare the frightening depths beneath the surfaces of our lives.

It’s a tragedy that an album that contains so much beauty and wisdom was never picked up by a larger audience. In the depth of his vision, the intensity of his singing and the melancholy wisdom of his lyrics, Bob Carpenter has very few rivals, and Silent Passage belongs among the great singer-songwriter albums to come out of the 1970s.

We can only wonder whether the sailor who sings these songs ever found a safe haven for himself. Did he find God’s golden shore, a shelter from the sea of despair and weariness that spilled over into his voice? Or is he still sailing some shadowy ocean, like the Flying Dutchman, his ghostly voice ringing high above the waves?

 

A quote worth repeating

 

This song is always sadly appropriate (by another favorite, has a cult following like myself, but otherwise pretty unknown)...

Longing Lasts Longer


She’s an artist a true artist with a voice and vision
Fearless and profane as the neighborhood Italians
She’s an artist a true artist, art’s got a little bit of romance
Between art and commerce art’s gonna lose
Between art and commerce art will lose

She got a voice for the rooftop, the alley and the stage
For the whores and hags and women that don’t give a damn
What you think, what you believe you believe
She’s an artist a true artist in the full sense of the word
God she’s got a mouth on her, I’d like to shake her hand

I like how she scares us gets us riled up
She’ll roll right on the floor, make you shut up
Like you’ve nothing to say, enough is enough
Between art and commerce man it’s gonna get rough
Between art and commerce man it’s gonna get rough

Longing lasts longer than the city she loves
From the barrios of Brooklyn to the Lower East Side
It’s different than memory just out of reach
Longing last longer than the tracks of eternity

She’s an artist a true artist, never stopped believing
Art is observation and imagination
It’s not always pretty, not always easy
It’s not about the money but a deeper truth
Between art and commerce art’s gonna lose
(Man it’s gonna get rough)

 

track 9) Before My Time
yes..yet another wonderfully stunning song.
Washes over us...beautiful lyrics and tune.




Capo II

(C) (C/b) (Am) (G)

(G) I stood in the (Am) shadow
(C) Between the (C/b) night and (Am) down
(G) And I walked like the (Am) candle
(C) And dreamed (C/b) away the (Am) dawn

(C) Before the final curtain (Bm) fell
(D7/a) Across my weary (Em/b) eyes
(C) I’m sure I saw the (Bm) ghost of truth
(Am7) At least a thousand (D7) times

And all that I defended
Within the prison walls
Was captured or surrendered
I watched the banners fall

And stumbling blindly through the flame
I fell into the sea
And drifted out upon the waves
Into eternity

But somehow I remembered
When all the stars had flown
Hidden pines, the royal sky
The palms came tumbling home

To glorify the prison walls
They tried so hard to climb
Never knowing that for them all
The prison is the mind

And now I know the story
Before I turn the page
The games I played for glory
Have vanished with the age

And I can only love you now
And you can do the same
For I have learned that love somehow

Will brush away the pain

 

Mine just landed, be having a listen tonight.

 

...the closing track.

track 10) Now & Then

What a fantastic closer...
from an album that I listen to quite often, Silent Passage is a masterpiece.




Now and Then

Capo II

(C) (C/b) (Am) (Am/g) (F) (C)

(C) If you thought that (C/b) I was brave
(Am) To look into your (D7) eyes that way
I (C) never (C/b) had a (Am) thing to (Am/g) say
(F) You know I just (C) arrived

And I was only half this bad
Before I knew the joys we had
So don’t be angry, don’t be sad
If nothing should survive

(E7) And if you still (Am) decide to call
I (F) hope that you (C) remember when
(E7) You stood outside the (Am) paper wall
(F) Long enough to (G) count to ten
And I (C) can’t (C/b) explain (Am) without a (Am/g) lie
What (F) happens when you (C) die

All these words so new to me
Are they supposed to set us free
I don’t believe in liberty
I just believe in life

How could something perfect change
To something less and back again
And in between have all this pain
Because we’re asking why

And when at times I hide away
I swear there’s nothing more to do
I swear there’s nothing more to say
I’m only here to be with you
And all the rest to be here too

If only we could stay

 

Listen to the stunning title track as you read....
https://www..com/watch?v=c8TMRjSpSoY

Bob CarpenterSilent Passage

• No Quarter / NOQ039CD / NOQ039LP

The late Bob Carpenter finished working on 'Silent Passage' in 1974, but thanks to a contract headache on Warner Records' behalf, it wasn't released until 1984, by which time Carpenter was no longer active in the country rock scene. The record is a sinister personal collection of songs performed with Carpenter's rusty and unforgiving vocals at the front, giving the record a vibe as unsettling as a Vic Chesnutt record, but fashioned after old country traditions. Carpenter influenced folk artists as significant as Emmylou Harris and Billy Joe Shaver, who went on to cover his songs long after he'd given up on them.



Tracks:

• Miracle Man
• Silent Passage
• Old Friends
• First Light
• Morning Train
• The Believer
• Gypsy Boy
• Down Along The Border
• Before My Time
• Now And Then

...............................................

 

First play last night. It's rather bloody good isn't it? Looking forward to an in depth appreciation over the weekend. Didn't realise until it arrived, but I'd got a Japanese copy in all its glory!

PS - I looked it up, and whilst it appears in the Japanese style, it's actually a South Korean import.

 

Hope you all are still enjoying Bob's music. So glad that hearing Bob's music inspired so many to seek out CDs...and found them!

I like the last brilliant post: "Rather bloody good, isn't it!"

Cheers!

 

Here is something I just came across:



Most of these tracks are unknown to me .... sure wish this had been taped for us all to hear!

Even if not by Bob himself, I am sure we al would love to hear these songs that practically no one has heard....!!

 

I see in the notes that it was recorded (24 track) and digitized and given out "freely"!
I wish someone (from Canada?) would read this, and of course that they have this tape/digitized music file, and that they would upload it for all to hear!

 

Jerome Jarvis played this benefit show and was the one who posted this...hmmm. I wonder if I can reach him !?

https://jeromejarvis.com/music/

 

Insane! Jerome has made this available for free at his site...scroll to the bottom! I am not a facebook guy but maybe someone who is can reach him and thank him and bring his attention to this thread....please.

Music – Jerome's Home Online

 

So NOW What? – Jerome's Home Online

 

Wish I was able to find this Reprise LP...someday!

 

Fantastic news!

I'm not on Facebook either but I'll ask a few friends and see if they'll help us out!

 

So did you go scroll down to the downloads? They are free and it is very cool to hear 9 songs never heard, all written by Bob.

They are beautifully performed and recorded...though if course imagining how Bob would have sounded if he had sung these is really intriguing. Twelve stunning songs by Bob Carpenter all. Greatly talented artists singing and performing Bob's songs.
Fiddles, sax, piano guitars...all great musicians and singers.

Stunning soundboard. 24 track recording.

Genre's provided with downloads

1) Band Of Gypsies-folk
2) Night Falls- folk...fantastic, but they all are
3) Falling Night-prog folk...a bit reggae to my ears
4) Dance The Night Away-country folk
5) Miracle Man-folk
6) Satan's Golden Chains-folk
7) Mister Blue-folk
8) One More Time-folk rock
9) Free Delivery Man-folk funk
10) Magdalena-Mexican folk
11) Old Friends-folk
12) Morning Train-folk

.................................

Download offered free by Jerome without copyright issues.
Dropbox - Bob's Benefit_Songs of Bob Carpenter_LIVE_Robert's Creek Hall 1995 (various artists)

 

Haven't had time to give them a listen yet. Looking forward to it!