Other Voices | Other Rooms by Nanci Griffith (Album, Contemporary Folk): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music
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Other Voices | Other Rooms
By Nanci Griffith
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ArtistNanci Griffith
TypeAlbum
Released2 March 1993
RYM Rating 3.69 / 5.00.5 from 298 ratings
Ranked#98 for 1993, #5,566 overall
Genres
Descriptors
female vocals, soft
Language English
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Issues

3 Issues

3 Issues

Credits

Credits

14 Reviews

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Benimal Dec 29 2009 4.00 stars
Funny this is her most popular album on rym since she's more of a songwriter I always thought, when on this album she does only sing other people's songs. But what songs and how! I think this would be my favorite album of hers too. After two rather poppy albums she now makes a stripped down effort again and sings her favorite songs by and/or with good friends and writers. Not surprisingly most of these songs come from 60s and 70s Folk songwriters (or folk-country like Townes or Jerry Jeff). It's all very warm and pretty and really touching - she's just a good storyteller and it doesn't matter if she wrote them or not and she also gets joined by some high class guest singers. My picks are "Tecumseh", "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness", "From Clare To Here", "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound", "Comin' Down in the Rain" and "Morning Song for Sally", but it's a good thing to listen to all the way through.. you can ignore the last song though.
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 hprill May 27 2008 4.00 stars
Nanci Griffith's project of recording seventeen cover versions of some of her favourite songs reunited her with producer Jim Rooney, who had been responsible for two of her best albums up until that time, Once in a Very Blue Moon and The Last of the True Believers, and Rooney still knew how to turn her great voice to the best advantage. Sound-wise, this is perhaps her most professional, atmospheric recording, which no doubt contributed much to its Grammy-winning status; Rooney is extremely skilled in keeping the sound to the point so that even rich arrangements never sound overblown and strings, if used, never become more than tasteful accents. Only if you like your folk music very basic, you may find this just a tiny bit too commercially viable.

Song-wise, there's no doubt that Griffith has made an excellent choice with these songs, which offer as wide a range of styles as her folk/country roots permit, and she's such an experienced and seasoned singer that can deliver them with the right amount of fragility or panache, or whatever the song calls for. While I like some of her earlier albums better for their intimacy, this is doubtless one of her most accomplished recordings, full of great songs that are impeccably produced and performed.

My personal favourites here are "Woman of the Phoenix" and "This Old Town", but the material is great right from the opener "Across the Great Divide", with Townes Van Zandt's "Tecumseh Valley" working just as fine as Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather" (with Dylan himself on harmonica); the catchy, uptempo "Three Flights Up" is just about as memorable as the more pensive "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound", and even Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" is charming in all its goofy silliness.

If the album has one major flaw, it's its length. At 62 minutes, it is simply too long, and for some reason all the weaker songs seem to have gathered in the final twenty minutes. The first 10 or 12 songs are all extremely strong, and the first 40 or so minutes fly by, but then, inexplicably, things start to drag, and I find that I am losing interest, which always feels a bit like a letdown, especially as the album started out really great.

As a result, I used to be somewhat torn between complaining that a third of the album is rather weak, and between simply appreciating the first forty minutes of great songs, which is more than most other albums can offer. At some point, I chose the latter and have been ignoring the last five or so songs ever since.
Published
7559-61464-2 CD (1993)
 zorivalent Jun 16 2018 4.00 stars
nanci's always lovely and tinny voice revives these worn folk songs, granting them a gentleness that foils the bittersweet lyricism at the center of americana music. her vocals are at their best on this album, they contain a playfulness and lightness that generates an overall movement between the homehit words and nancis voice. subtle comedic warmth in 'do re mi' and 'thisold town', skippy prettiness in 'three flights up'..... this album feels fresh, even though the songs have been exchanged and altered countless times. i hold other voices other rooms close to my heart, for in each track the original sentiment of each song gushes forth, made possible by only nanci's charm and quirk
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 Drifterdk Sep 30 2011 4.50 stars
A wonderful album of interpretations from a great little Texas gal who is quite the songwriter herself. The covers are very well chosen and often quite imaginative - with "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" a highlight on a consistently good and pleasureable album. Oh and her version of "Tecumseh Valley" kicks some serious prairie ass as well.
Published
7559-61464-2 CD (1993)
 holifiel Oct 10 2009 5.00 stars
I've never managed to enjoy much of Nanci Griffith's own songs, but I've long loved this collection of covers. I think she could have quit after the fifteenth song, though (or maybe even a bit earlier)--"Turn Around" is good for taking a nap to, and "Wimoweh" is mildly annoying filler. But there are so many great songs on here (highlights for me include "Across the Great Divide," "Tecumseh Valley," and "From Clare to Here") that I can't bring myself to give it fewer than 5 stars.
Published
mdekoning Dec 15 2007 4.00 stars
This is an interesting covers album. There's songs by Woody Guthrie, John Prine, Townes van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Ralph McTell and Gordon Lightfoot. But most interesting is the list of guests which includes Emmylou Harris, Iris Dement, Arlo Guthrie, Guy Clark, the Indigo Girls, John Prine and Bob Dylan, the last 2 appear on their own songs. This music is exactly what you'd expect from an album that features covers of all of the aforementioned artists, some easy going music somewhere in between country and folk, the kind of thing we'd now call americana. If you like your americana with some edge and a lot of blues or rock, this may be a bit too nice and smooth for you. However, Nanci Griffith is a great singer and she absolutely understands what the songs are all about. And having Dylan playing harmonica on a lovely version of "Boots of Spanish leather" and John Prine singing harmonies on "Speed of the sound of loneliness" is something very special. The other highlights include Townes van Zandt's "Tecumseh valley" (with harmonies by Arlo Guthrie) and the relatively up tempo "Three flights up". As long as you take it for what it is, it is all very well done and it has lots of beautiful moments. Still, listening to this album also gives me the impression that this is really all the Nanci Griffith I need in my collection. But then, I could be wrong as this is everything I've heard by her.
Published
warpig01 Apr 08 2007 3.50 stars
Although Griffith's own songs are often brilliant, she is best known for her excellent cover versions. One of her most famous tracks is her version of Julie Gold's "From A Distance", while her first album comprised solely of covers, _Other Voices Other Rooms_, won her a Grammy award. Listening to this album, it isn't hard to see why why her covers have received acclaim. Each song is sung beautifully by Nanci, who is clearly passionate about all of the songs on the album. Picking out highlights is difficult, but Ralph McTell's "From Clare To Here" is done spectacularly here, as is opener "Across The Great Divide" and John Prine's classic "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness". I have always felt Griffith's country songs represent her at her weakest, yet "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound", "This Old Town" and "Ten Degrees And Getting Colder" are all fantastic. The album is a little too long at 17 tracks and 62 minutes, but the quality is there throughout. _Other Voices Other Rooms_ is sadly one of the last great albums Nanci Griffith would make.
Published
BradL Sep 14 2006 5.00 stars
As good as Griffith's previous albums were -- and they were very good indeed -- they've always seemed to lack a certain context for her voice that made them less than the sum of their parts. Well, if this album has anything it's context: Other Voices, Other Rooms attempts to trace the lineage of the rise of the American singer-songwriter, from Woody Guthrie and the Carter Family through Dylan to Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Janis Ian and Kate Wolf, amongst others. (And she acknowledges the continuing link between the UK and the US with Ralph McTell's "From Clare To Here".) Wonderful song selection, wonderful playing (especially from guitarist Pete Kennedy); Griffith has never sounded so heartbreakingly beautiful than on "Turn Around", nor as rollicking as on "Do Re Mi". Guests abound -- Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, the sadly neglected Vince Bell, The Indigo Girls -- but the spotlight's firmly on Griffith and she rises to the challenge beautifully. One of the best mainstream folk records ever.
Published
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Catalog

Ratings: 298
Cataloged: 311
Track rating sets:Track ratings: 16
Rating distribution
Rating trend
Page 1 2 .. 4 .. 6 .. 8 .. 10 .. 12 .. 14 .. 16 .. 18 .. 20 >>
10 Jan 2023
MicN2006  3.50 stars Good...
3 Jan 2023
adogardine  3.50 stars good
22 Dec 2022
stjernestov  4.50 stars outstanding
7 Dec 2022
AWeirdFish  3.50 stars Enjoyable
25 Nov 2022
dalek  3.50 stars
25 Nov 2022
YahFish CD2.50 stars Good
24 Nov 2022
nutb  3.50 stars
7 Nov 2022
nostalghia  4.50 stars great :))
27 Oct 2022
kkellennn  4.00 stars excellent
27 Oct 2022
bobohead61x  4.00 stars
24 Oct 2022
dk1  2.50 stars
10 Sep 2022
Spearmint17  ▼3.50 stars Lovely
  • 3.50 stars 1 Across the Great Divide
  • 3.00 stars 2 Woman of the Phoenix
  • 3.00 stars 3 Tecumseh Valley
  • 3.00 stars 4 Three Flights Up
  • 3.50 stars 5 Boots of Spanish Leather
  • 4.00 stars 6 Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
  • 3.50 stars 7 From Clare to Here
  • 3.50 stars 8 Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound
  • 3.00 stars 9 Do Re Mi
  • 3.50 stars 10 This Old Town
  • 4.00 stars 11 Comin' Down in the Rain
  • 3.00 stars 12 Ten Degrees and Getting Colder
  • 4.00 stars 13 Morning Song for Sally
  • 3.50 stars 14 Night Rider's Lament
  • 3.50 stars 15 Are You Tired of Me Darling
  • 3.00 stars 16 Turn Around
  • 3.00 stars 17 Wimoweh
25 Aug 2022
skyrothman  2.50 stars
9 Aug 2022
SummerThursday  4.50 stars Magnificent
27 Jun 2022
mon027 CD4.00 stars
Cover art for Other Voices | Other Rooms by Nanci Griffith
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Previous in discography: Present Echoes
Present Echoes
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Track listing

Credits

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  • quakerspices 14 Aug 2021 02:04 GMT
    RIP
    report reported
  • grasses 17 Jan 2022 19:53 GMT
    that cover really creeps me out
    report reported
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Contributions

Contributors to this release: yooperdon, fedderedder, warpig01, JimmytheK, Marchbanks, Adrift, coolidge, [deleted], fixbutte, KarimG, sundazed
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