WESTERN WALL
Personnel includes: Emmylou Harris (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar); Linda Ronstadt
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(vocals); Ethan Johns (acoustic, electric, slide, Spanish & baritone guitar, dulcimer, mandocello, synthesizer, bass, drums, percussion, marksaphone, optigon); Bernie Leadon (acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, gutarron, mandocello, mandolin, synthesizer, 6-string bass, background vocals); Greg Leisz (acoustic, electric & pedal steel guitars, mandocello, mandolin, bass, background vocals); Andy Fairweather Low (electric guitar, bass, background vocals); Paul Kennerley (electric guitar, background vocals); Neil Young (harmonica, background vocals); Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle (background vocals).Recorded at the Arizona Inn, Tucson, Arizona.WESTERN WALL: THE TUCSON SESSIONS was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.Perhaps inspired by the triumphs of TRIO and TRIO II, which they recorded with Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris went into a makeshift studio to record an album as a duo. The results are superb. Rondstadt leaves her slick Hollywood pop sound behind and delivers some of her most unadorned and heartfelt singing since the early '70s. Harris is Harris: her voice is as delicate as a butterfly and as strong as steel. The songs on WESTERN WALL are varied, each vividly telling a story. 1917 is a chilling chronicle of an affair cast amid the brutality of WW I. Sweet Spot is an eerie declaration of devotion, with a spare, Laurie Anderson-like use of electronics, written by Harris and Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff. Rondstadt shines on a straightforward, proud version of Jackson Browne's For a Dancer. Other song choices include Bruce Springsteen's Across the Border and Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy. Excellent.[Reviews]Q (1/00, p.85) - Included in Q Magazine's 50 Best Albums of 1999.Q (11/99, p.131) - 4 stars out of 5 - ...this is no run-of-the-mill country affair....the results are uniformly excellent. Indulge.Entertainment Weekly (9/3/99, p.70) - ...These two paragons of country-pop could be coasting, but fortunately for us, they're still listening. Wall offers...moments of pure grace... - Rating: A-Mojo (11/99, p.114) - ...Harris and Ronstadt's voices of experience convey through steady grace what old bluesmen do through weather and whiskey....they match sparse, intense sounds to carefully chosen storytelling songsa nd devout performace. Bread and fishes, basically.n
Western Wall
Emmylou Harris once said of her four-shows-a-night salad days that she refused to sing
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anything on the hit parade, opting only for "bizarre, left-field songs" that "made it hard to make a living." Decades later, Harris still spends a lot of time in left field, and it's those offbeat, haunting gems--more than the classics here from Leonard Cohen or Jackson Browne--that make Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, her duet album with Linda Ronstadt, so memorable. That, and her exquisitely pained soprano--reminiscent of "cracked crystal", as Linda puts it--nestled up against Ronstadt's thicker, corduroy harmonies. With arrangements that meet somewhere between Harris's Wrecking Ball and Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind, the two explore a mood of morose dreaminess, but profound beauty. Ghosts gather here, to the sounds of rattling bones--in songs of abandoned love, of musical giants now gone silent, and of World War I soldiers, who parade from the arms of prostitutes to the arms of death. Left field, dotted with the wreckage of heartache and regret, never sounded better. --Alanna Nash
anything on the hit parade, opting only for "bizarre, left-field songs" that "made it hard to make a living." Decades later, Harris still spends a lot of time in left field, and it's those offbeat, haunting gems--more than the classics here from Leonard Cohen or Jackson Browne--that make Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, her duet album with Linda Ronstadt, so memorable. That, and her exquisitely pained soprano--reminiscent of "cracked crystal", as Linda puts it--nestled up against Ronstadt's thicker, corduroy harmonies. With arrangements that meet somewhere between Harris's Wrecking Ball and Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind, the two explore a mood of morose dreaminess, but profound beauty. Ghosts gather here, to the sounds of rattling bones--in songs of abandoned love, of musical giants now gone silent, and of World War I soldiers, who parade from the arms of prostitutes to the arms of death. Left field, dotted with the wreckage of heartache and regret, never sounded better. --Alanna Nash
links between different faiths and their holy places around the world, this title examines the historical background and significance of the Western Wall and the roots and practices of Judaism. Looks at holy places around the world, and examines religious beliefs and practices through these significant places. - Takes examples from each of the six major faiths, each book examines the link between each faith and its "holy place." - Examines the historical background, the roots of each faith and how the beliefs originated and why the holy place is so significant.
Advantages: Ancient and vibrant, a city that lives simultaneously in and beyond time Disadvantages: Prone to acts of war and other forms of madness
..., particularly for Jerusalem, the past lives in the present. Clearly, on any visit to Jerusalem, the past--with its focus on conflict and the city's preeminence for three of the world's great religions--is never far away. At an archeological site overlooking the Kidron and Hinnom valleys, one can actually visit the City of David, the capital of ancient Israel. Remnants of Roman market stalls are still visible in the Old City. Prophets and martyrs are buried in the Kidron Valley. Pilgrims follow in the footsteps of Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, pray at the Kotel (the WailingWall), or gaze at the continuing splendor of the Dome of the Rock.
More recent international interest and influence in Jerusalem are reflected in many of the city's place names. For example, visitors can wander through the German Colony or the Russian Compound. International...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...Jerusalem is the kind of city it is impossible to visit 'blind'. Everyone knows her glancingly. Her name invokes impressions, differing impressions, in people across the globe, and her role in Western Civilisations cannot be underplayed. I was fortunate enough, and I do use 'fortunate' guardedly, to have spent a few months working in Jerusalem a few years back. The city I often now see on my television screen isn't always the happy, hearty, lively Jerusalem I remember, a city probably with more spirit than I have even felt from a city, but sometimes it is exactly the Jerusalem I remember, the fear, the hate and the entrenched beliefs.
Jerusalem is a divided city. Jerusalem has been a divided city for hundreds of years, centuries even. Palestinian East Jerusalem as distinct from Israeli West Jerusalem, The Old City as distinct from...
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Advantages: Beautiful City, plenty to do, lots of history. Disadvantages: Watch out for dodgy dealers. A lot of 'friction' in Israel.
...I was in Jerusalem for three weeks in July whilst teaching English to children as a volunteer. I didn't really know what to expect although I made sure I read some of the history before I went.
The city is basically split into two parts, the Old City and the New City. In the Old City are most of the famous religious buildings, such as the WailingWall, The Dome of the Rock, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Delarosa. It takes a good day to look round, and during this day you will be hassled by thousands of market traders who all sell exactly the same things (barter with them though and you get some pretty cheap gifts). Don't let this put you off though, the sites there are pretty amazing and very interesting. But watch out for pickpockets and also dodgy guys who walk around changing travellers cheques etc. and generally...
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07.02.2005
19.09.2001
17.09.2000
