Alison Krauss - Essential [Album]

Decca Records

August 15, 2009, 11:56 PM

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Although quite established herself already within the world of bluegrass and folk since the mid-nineties, Alison Krauss only became hot news when her collaboration with Robert Plant turned out to be a huge success. Their 2007 album 'Raising Sand' gave them raving reviews and five Grammy Awards last February, which might have helped releasing this album only five months later.

Though essential in its name, the album isn't so much a perfect overview of Krauss' career; it's more likely to be the unofficial follow up of 1995 compilation album 'Now That I've Found You: a Collection'. Not a single song from her first three albums appears on 'Essential' and only three pre-1997 songs have made it to the final list, making it mainly an overview of the period 1997-2007.

One of the songs from the good old days appearing on this album is the Krauss classic 'Every Time You Say Goodbye', a song she recorded with her band Union Station in 1992 for the award winning album of the same name. Another song that won her a Grammy was 1995's 'Baby, Now That I've Found You', which is also present, as well as 'Broadway' from the same album. 1997's title song 'So Long So Wrong' continued the bluegrass path Krauss followed at the early stage of her career, but 1999 saw her moving towards a more regular pop sound, as shown on 'Empty Hearts' from her album 'Forget About It'.

Again winning the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass album of the Year in 2001, Krauss & Union Nation's album 'New Favourite' showed her and the band combining their country roots with the new pop sound, as could be heard on both 'Let Me Touch You for a While' and 'The Lucky One'. Krauss' vocal performances never changed over the years, but both the banjo and the fiddle, quite important instrument in previous years, have sadly been passed away this time, thus making room for a slightly more smooth production. Also included are two songs from her live album "Live", 'Wish I Still Had You' and 'When You Say Nothing At All', a song Krauss originally recorded as a tribute to the late Keith Whitley, who charted with this song before it became Krauss' first top ten hit in 1995.

Not exactly unknown to receiving awards, her next album also became a big success at the Grammy Awards. 2004's 'Lonely Runs Both Ways', using the same sparseness as on 'New Favourite', contained 'Restless' and 'A Living Prayer', both appearing on this album. The former was chosen as Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group while the latter even became the Bluegrass Record of the Year according to the Gospel Music Association. But in the end, it was nothing compared to the success of 2007's 'Raising Sand, the album Krauss recorded with Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. Though winning five Grammy Awards earlier this year, Record of the Year ('Please Read the Letter'), Best Pop Collaboration ('Rich Woman') and Best Country Collaboration ('Killing the Blues') among others, it is the non-Award winning 'Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us' that weirdly enough represents the biggest success of her career.

In between these two albums Krauss also recorded another album in 2007, 'A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection', which featured guests like Sting and James Taylor. Also present was John Waite, who helped her covering his own song 'Missing You', which became a top forty hit for Krauss shortly before the world flooded with 'Raising Sand'. None of these songs were considered as being essential though; album track 'Sawing on the Strings' and second single 'Simple Love', which didn't even chart, were chosen instead. Also missing on this album is Krauss' major contribution to the classic 2000 film 'O Brother Where Art Thou', wherefore she performed 'Down to the River to Pray', 'I'll Fly Away' and 'Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby'.

All in all, 'Alison Krauss - Essential' is good, but far from perfect; about half of her discography seems not to be essential and even some Grammy Award winning songs and hits did lose the battle with what seems to be randomly chosen album tracks. For people who like to know a little bit more about Krauss and her music, this album could be a good way to start but since the emphasis is on her recent past and the songs are not even put in the right order, it's hard to get a clear picture for the untrained ear.

Stylishly coming in between Dolly Parton and the average modern female singer/songwriter, listening to Alison Krauss won't do you any harm. Her travels between bluegrass and folk and a more poppy sound won't be celebrated worldwide, but it's definitely worth a try.

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