TIME AFTER TIME

guitar

TRACK LIST (All parenthetical annotations are mine) :

1  "Kathy's Song" (the lovely and wistful Paul Simon song, "...the only truth I know is you..." in a studio recording Eva made as a demo.  In performance, she did sing all the verses, but this is a shorter version)

2  "Ain't No Sunshine" (recorded live at Blues Alley on the same night as the "Fields of Gold" that everyone loves so much)

3  "The Letter" (also from the Blues Alley session.  "My baby wrote me a letter!")  The band sounds particularly good on this one, I think)

4  "At Last" (best known from the recording by Etta James; just Eva and her guitar.  A studio recording)

5  "Time After Time" (the Cyndi Lauper song, recorded live at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis, Maryland -- just Eva and her guitar, with some bass from Chris Biondo)



Roger Henderson and Chris Biondo at Chris's recording studio. Roger wrote the song "Penny to My Name."  Singer Carey Colvin took this photo in 1988.
6  "Penny to My Name" (AKA "Gas Station Mountain Home," this is a Roger Henderson song, folk/country style, which Eva recorded as a demo tape for Roger, years ago.  Roger plays guitar and Eva's brother Dan plays violin, with Chris Biondo on bass)

7  "I Wandered by a Brookside" (this is one that the Folk DJs will love. "The beating of my own heart was the only sound I heard...." Eileen White heard Eva's recording of this song while working on the graphic design for the album.  She fell in love with it, and brought it to the attention of the record company, who loved it too.  We think Eva first heard the song on a Fairport Convention album, or at one of their concerts)



Some of the songs on TIME AFTER TIME are from one-take recordings Eva made as demos for nightclubs where she hoped to play solo engagements.
8  "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again" (Eva loved this song and sang it a bunch of different ways; this is a solo studio version.  My mother learned this song from Eva's father in the 1950's, and I assume that's where Eva learned it also)

9  "Easy Street Dream" (by songwriter Steven Digman who wrote "Say Goodbye" on EVA BY HEART; this is a GREAT blues song)

10  "Anniversary Song" (also by Steven Digman, a beautiful ballad with Real Strings).  See below to read about the recording session for the string ensemble, and click here for an article about Digman.

11  "Woodstock" (the Joni Mitchell song, recorded live at the Maryland Inn on the same night as "Time After Time"; very folkie)

12  "Way Beyond the Blue" (AKA the gospel song "Do, Lord" in Eva's own a cappella arrangement.  This is by far the oldest recording on the album, from several years before THE OTHER SIDE). The album notes say that Ned Judy recorded the song, but I have since been told that it was actually recorded by Larry Melton.


To learn more about the album cover and booklet for TIME AFTER TIME, read my interview with graphic designer Eileen White.

To read some "Real Reviews By Real People," written when the album first came out, click here.


clock 4/20/00   MINI INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS BIONDO:   Now that the song "Time After Time" is being heard on the radio, in the U.K. at least, I thought people might be interested in the history of that recording.  I asked Chris Biondo about it.  "She was playing at the Maryland Inn and had asked me to bring my DAT machine.  We hooked it up to the mixing board.  I think it was in the winter of 1995.  We had a violin player sitting in with the band who had never played with us before and he didn't know all the music we usually did.  So Eva did some solo stuff that night, including 'Time After Time,' as well as singing with the band.  She had known the song for a long time, she performed it when she did solo concerts, but she never recorded it in the studio.  That was one of the songs Eva performed at the Wammie Awards, people around here still talk about hearing her there for the first time.  She sang 'Over the Rainbow' at the Wammies, but first she sang 'Time After Time' and dedicated the song to Danny Gatton and another local musician, Quentin, who had died recently....  I probably gave her a cassette of the DAT, but I don't think we ever talked about that Maryland Inn tape again."

As an introduction to the song (which she performed after an impassioned "Son of a Preacher Man" with the band), Eva said "This is one of my favorite songs, that Cyndi Lauper did.  A lot of people have covered it...Miles Davis, a bunch of people, it's a really beautiful song."  And it is.


MORE ABOUT TIME AFTER TIME:



Keith Grimes confers with Lenny Williams at the keyboard.
3/21/00 This past week I was invited to come listen to a recording session for the new Eva Cassidy album.   The purpose of the session was to re-record the background for two songs by Steven Digman that are under consideration for the album.  When I arrived at the Omega Studios in Rockville, Maryland, drummer Raice McLeod was reworking the drum parts for "Easy Street Dream" over Eva's long-ago-recorded vocals.  Later guitarist Keith Grimes came in and laid down first an acoustic guitar track, then an electric guitar part.  Each time through we'd hear Eva saying "Am I starting from the beginning?" and then begin to sing:  "It's Sunday morning, I can feel the side effects...."  Everybody there felt that the song will be a winner -- destined, we hoped, for a lot of radio airplay.  "Any love that you find on Easy Street can only be a dream...."   I don't know what the final final version will sound like, but it's a great song and Eva sounds fabulous on it.



Setting up for "Anniversary Song" (Left to right, bassist Edgardo Malaga, pianist/arranger Lenny Williams, violinist Joanne Opgenorth, engineer Eric Lemley)
"I hope you can stick around," Chris Biondo told me.  "The string quintet is coming in at midnight."  Midnight!?  It turned out that Lenny had arranged for the string players to come over after they finished playing the opera Tosca at the Kennedy Center Opera House.  (Except the cellist, who is a member of the National Symphony Orchestra; he had been playing Vivaldi that night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall). 

Lenny Williams had written out a string quintet and piano accompaniment for "The Anniversary Song," to replace the synthesized strings that were originally recorded with Eva's voice.  Chris almost went into a trance, listening to them rehearsing.  "I'm a sucker for real strings," he said.  It was gorgeous.  After the string ensemble had been taped, the violinists recorded additional parts on top.  "The Anniversary Song" is a beautiful, emotional ballad that I think Eva's fans will enjoy.  The final lyrics, "...I love you, and goodnight" would be a good close to the album.  Songwriter Steven Digman is very pleased with the final mix:  "I must say that Anniversary Song couldn't have been done any better.  What Chris and the other musicians did was absolutely fabulous... I am in love with that song all over again - What a beautiful job!"



Eric Lemley and Chris Biondo, mixing "Anniversary Song"
It was a fascinating evening.  The musicians and recording engineers were working hard, but there was time to chat and reminisce about Eva.  Graphic designer Eileen White had brought over some photographs, layouts and copies of Eva's artwork that may be included in the CD jacket for the new album.  She had been over at Eva's parents' house to look through piles of photographs and Eva's drawings in search of images that haven't been used before.  I was reminded of what Eva's friend Jackie Fletcher said to the BBC, that Eva created something beautiful every day of her life.  Some of the images were from paintings that had never been completed.  "Eva left a lot of things unfinished," somebody said, and we were all quiet for a moment.