Richard P. Havens, 1983
October 14, 2008

Product Description
Here on a single CD Raven reissues the ambitious double LP Richard P. Havens, 1983 by renowned New York folk-rock singer RICHIE HAVENS. With superb quality audio, two bonus tracks, color booklet and detailed liner notes this is a must for fans of earthy and literate folk-rock. This was the third of Haven’s albums for MGM’s Verve Forecast label, released during 1969 in the wake of his crowd-stirring performance at Woodstock. Combining 12 studio tracks with five live recordings taken from a July 1968 concert, this album sees Havens in his prime and helped pushed him to overnight success.

With Haven’s unusual open-E guitar tuning, unmistakable thumb-chorded strumming and distinctive smoky voice, much of the music features an organic and melancholy vibe. The live cuts ‘Run, Shaker Life’ and ‘Do You Feel Good?’ present a more exuberant and very lively context. Havens is at his best on self-penned tracks like the epic ‘For Haven’s Sake’, the passionate ‘Indian Rope Man’, the gritty anti-Vietnam War song ‘What More Can I Say John?’ and the Indian-influenced ‘Putting out the Vibration, And Hoping it Comes Home’. His imaginative choice of cover versions – Bob Dylan’s ‘I Pity the Poor Immigrant’, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Priests’, Lennon & McCartney’s ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and Donovan’s ‘Wear Your Love like Heaven’ – is further affirmation of his intuitive connection with the song writers’ craft.

1. Stop Pulling And Pushing Me
2. For Haven’s Sake
3. Strawberry Fields Forever
4. What More Can I Say John?
5. I Pity The Poor Immigrant
6. Lady Madonna
7. Priests
8. Indian Rope Man
9. Cautiously
10. Just Above My Hobby Horse’s Head
11. She’s Leaving Home
12. Putting Out The Vibration, And Hoping It Comes Home
13. The Parable Of Ramon [Live]
14. With A Little Help From My Friends [Live]
15. Wear Your Love Like Heaven [Live]
16. Run, Shaker Life [Live]
17. Do You Feel Good? [Live]

— Bonus Tracks —
18. Handsome Johnny
19. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EQPCX4/?tag=imwan-20

Mixed Bag/Something Else Again
June 1, 2010

Product Description
Raven presents a splendid double CD by renowned New York folk-rock singer/songwriter RICHIE HAVENS, combining his first (Mixed Bag, 1967) and second (Something Else Again, 1968) albums recorded for MGM’s folk label Verve Forecast. Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY, Havens moved to Greenwich Village in 1961 just as the folk boom began to explode. His contemporaries included the likes of Fred Neil, Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk. Prior to his crowd-stirring performance at the Woodstock festival in 1969, these recordings saw Havens establishing his reputation as one of the most distinctive performers of the era. With his unusual open-E guitar tuning, unmistakable thumb-chorded strumming and distinctive smoky voice, much of the music features an organic and melancholy vibe.

In combining inspirational self-penned songs such as the strident anti-war song ‘Handsome Johnny’, ‘No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed’ and ‘Somethin’ Else Again’ and traditional tunes (‘Run, Shaker Life’) with exuberant covers of material by Billy Ed Wheeler (‘High Flyin’ Bird’), Tuli Kupferberg (‘Morning, Morning’), Dylan (‘Just Like a Woman’, ‘Maggie’s Farm’) and Lennon / McCartney (‘Eleanor Rigby’) Havens affirms his intuitive connection with the songwriters’ craft. Havens continues to tour and record. This follows Raven's previous Havens CD - Richard P. Havens, 1983 (RVCD-274). With superb quality audio, color booklet and detailed liner notes this is a must for fans of earthy and literate folk-rock.

CD 1: Mixed Bag
1. High Flyin’ Bird
2. I Can’t Make It Anymore
3. Morning, Morning
4. Adam
5. Follow
6. Three Day Eternity
7. Sandy
8. Handsome Johnny
9. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. Just Like A Woman
11. Eleanor Rigby

CD 2: Something Else Again
1. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed
2. Inside Of Him
3. The Klan
4. Sugarplums
5. Don’t Listen To Me
6. From The Prison
7. Maggie’s Farm
8. Somethin’ Else Again
9. New City
10. Run, Shaker Life

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003IMERDS/?tag=imwan-20

These effectively replace the OOP High Flyin' Bird compilation with a couple of extra tracks in the bargain... nice!



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BJ0MFS/?tag=imwan-20

Good to see this, but what I would really like to see is the albums from the Richie Havens catalog that haven't been on CD yet, like On Stage, The Great Blind Degree, and Mixed Bag II. I've already got this stuff on CD twice.