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New Releases

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Artist:	JULES SHEAR
Title:	"BETWEEN US"
Label:	High Street Records
Reviewed By:	Colette Engel
Rating:

If you want to treat yourself to something wonderful for your stereo, buy this CD. "Jules Shear" has put together ". . .15 hand-crafted vignettes about love torn relationships." Don't let the sound of that put you off. This isn't a CD packed with depressing, whiny "why me" songs. This is a beautifully crafted album - duets with some of today's most wonderful voices. Shear performs songs with Paula Cole, Roseanne Cash, Patty Griffin, and Carole King, to name just a few. Shear has been called a "song-writers songwriter" in the past. He's penned hit songs for other musical acts, yet never had any true hits himself. He's written for "The Bangles," "Cyndi Lauper," and written lyrics for "10,000 Maniacs." He was also responsible for starting the MTV Unplugged series back before it was in the single artist format. With this album, Shear is trying something new. His last albums were what he called ". . .basic song oriented records, where I didn't get conceptual or go off on tangents." With this record he was trying something different. "I couldn't think of anybody who'd done a record of duets that they'd written themselves, so that seemed like a good excuse to do one." His challenge was to find 15 voices that he liked and that would fit the songs. There was another thing that figured into the creation of this record - "Writers in the Round," a series of shows at NYC club "Bottom Line," which was organized and hosted by Shear and Richard Barone. "When I started kicking around the idea of doing a record of duets, I started inviting people to sing with me at these shows," Jules recalls. "The reaction was really great, and that gave me the strength to go on and do this thing as a record. And a lot of the people from the show ended up singing on 'Between Us.' " The result of his efforts is a wonderful collection of beautifully written songs. I really can't say enough good things about it. This is not a record that you want to put on for background music, though. If you want to get the most out of it, you need to be able to sit and listen to the words. Songs like "Windows and Walls" for instance. "You can't keep a love in/ With windows and walls/ Even 12 rooms connected/ By marble floored halls/ Can’t keep a love in/ Being scared it will cease/ You can't see the big picture/ While you're staring at the crease." This is one of my favorite songs on the record. It's sung with "Patty Griffin" and the song is simply beautiful. Each song is filled with picturesque lyrics and the music is simple and lovely. Most of the songs are done with just an acoustic guitar and piano. Another of the standouts is "Who's Dreaming Who" with "Roseanne Cash." "I woke from a nightmare/ And rose up from the deep/ And I had to wait to find my fate till I went back to sleep/ And in a presence in my dream here/ So alive inside my mind/ And the joy I never found before my eyes I found behind>" Their voices blend together so perfectly. This song gave me chills when I listened to it the very first time. Roseanne had done this song with Shear in one of the Bottom Line shows in NYC and if it was anything close to what they've captured on this CD, it was a show worth seeing. There are so many good songs on this record that I want to just list all of them. I think the best thing you can do for yourself, however, is get the CD and listen for yourself. I will say that "Restaurant Scene" with "Susan Cowsill," and "The Last in Love" with "Paula Cole" are two more tracks that are absolutely fantastic. Can you tell I liked this record? Go out and pick it up and give it a listen. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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