Carol Kleyn
(Drag City)
To understand Carol Kleyn, go no further than a concert review from the early '70s when she toured with the Allman Brothers: "Ms. Kleyn's voice immediately reminds one of Judy Collins, and combined with her skillful harp work, provided a professional sound not at all out of place with the rest of the show." Her delivery might be a bit more rugged than Collins, but it certainly resides in the same soprano vocal range. Furthermore, her harp of choice refers to the one played by angels, not the one blown by the likes of Little Walter.
If the comparison piques interest, this reissue of Kleyn's 1976 debut may be your cup of organic green tea. If not, well, it might be best to keep moving.
The harpist/vocalist moved to California for college in 1969 and picked up on whatever good vibes were still in the air when she taught herself how to play her instrument. No ordinary flower child, she also worked closely with boyfriend Bobby Brown, learning to build instruments and do sound production for his One Man Orchestra. Along the way, she performed at private parties for the likes of Led Zeppelin, and toured as the opening act for the Allmans. When no one approached her with a record deal, she recorded and released Love Has Made Me Stronger on her own and sold it at Renaissance Fairs and street performances.
The album is split between Kleyn accompanying herself on harp on side one and acoustic or electric piano on side two. Without the backing of a band, it comes across a bit like a set of demos, albeit ones that are rich with natural echo. Her harp comes through with a timbre that occasionally sounds like a Japanese koto or even a banjo if that instrument has more sustain. (The instrumental "Street Song" presents the best evidence of this.) Her voice never overpowers the instrument, instead sitting on the same volume level.
But songs like "Mountain Child" and "Oo Like the Mountain" are very much of the era or the one that had wrapped up in the previous decade, with plenty of high swoops into her upper register. It's not exactly the patented Joni Mitchell trill, but it's a distant cousin and can be grating. "Blackbird," with its tale of the namesake's promise to "sing you all a love song" and endless "cu-cu-coooo" choruses is too much to take. Some of the piano songs have good ideas which might have come off a little better with a full band. As it stands, the bouncy electric keys in "Well Glory Be" sound like a Godspell outtake.
It's strange that Drag City decided to reissue the album. They might see Kleyn as a fairy godmother or precedent to Joanna Newsom, much like Devendra Banhart felt towards Linda Perhacs, when he talked up her 1970 jazz-folk record Parallelograms. But this album feels more like a curio of a bygone era rather than an overlooked gem.
DOWNLOAD: "Street Song," "Love Has Made Me Stronger." MIKE SHANLEY
