Mickey Newbury - Heaven Help the Child

All Music Guide

After issuing two solid critical successes that went nowhere commercially, Newbury was more determined than ever to get his idea of what music was across to a the American public. He was also hell bent on changing Nashville's stolid, conservative way of recording, producing, marketing and selling music. He failed on both counts but left another stunner of an album along the way. Heaven Help The Child opens with the title track, a wondrously arranged, and gorgeously sung, three-generational American Odyssey that offered, with all of its tragedy the clearly visible line of hope on the horizon. Also included here are three definitive interpretations of songs from his very first album, Harlequin Melodies: "Sunshine" "Sweet Memories," and "Good Morning Dear." These songs haven't been re-recorded so much as reinvented from the ground up. Newbury changes pace with an awesome dobro-drenched, country rock sing along, "Why You Been Gone So Long." "Cortelia Clark" a tale of a young man and an old...er, blind black musician coming to the train yards in Georgia, is one of Newbury's great achievements as a songwriter. Acoustic guitars and strings woo each other through Newbury's glorious tenor and offers a coming of age tale that is both morally instructive and imagistic ally evocative; only Newbury could tell a story that echoed both the blues of the '20s and '30s and the folk songs of the 40s and 50s. The album closes with the Bob Beckam-produced reinvention of "San Francisco Mabel Joy" and it's a punch-in-the-guts way to end an album. With Heaven Help The Child, Newbury, for the third time in as many recording sessions, came up with a record that defied categorization or gentrification. And for the third time in a row, he had done the impossible, created a masterpiece, a work of perfection. - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide Read more Less