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MP3 Randy Kaplan - Reborn As Bees
14 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Emo, ROCK: Americana
Details:
"Reborn as Bees" (1999) - Created out of personal family tragedy, this is an eloquently dark and sometimes angry record. Although deeply personal, this searing album is universal in its hard-driving and melodic psychological study of loss, unfulfilled love, and the struggle to find second chances. Backed up by a full band, Kaplan opens the album quietly and gently with cautious hope in his voice: "I know the end is near, But so is the beginning". He sings about unanswered prayers in "Deaf Ears", of a numb rebounding in "No Matter What", and with paranoid and helpless rage in "Many Times Over" and "Great Disguise"; "Two" speaks of destiny and forgiveness and is, in the end, an anthem to all that is eternal in love. "Reborn as Bees" is a fierce and frantic album which takes us through the many phases of, and negotiations with, loss and regret. Pain and passion are evident in Randy''s soaring voice as it intricately harmonizes with itself in its search for hope. "Reborn as Bees" is a true concept album; it is a work of profound, gallant, and mystical content.
Recorded in Lawrence, Kansas in 1999, "Reborn as Bees" is an album that deals with loss, blame, and hope on a deeply personal level. Most of the songs were written in the wake of Randy''s father''s sudden death in the summer of 1997 and they contribute to one of the most honest and emotional records he''s produced. Direct & straightforward songs like "Great Disguise", "Deaf Ears", and "Columbus" are balanced by existential & expressionistic songs like "Tiny", "Late Bloomer", and "The Will & the Way", in which Kaplan''s use of language is bizarre and compelling. And the musical arrangements are as rich as the songs demand. Kaplan takes us with him on his journey through pain & anger and on his quest for peace & renewed hope. Despite the biblical & psychological references strewn throughout it, the record remains quite accessible. The Inside Connection, based on Kaplan''s native Long Island, New York, was the first to review the album: "Owing a hats off to Michael Stipe, Paul Simon, and Elliott Smith, Kaplan presents a collection of tunes that reeled this listener in without a struggle. Melody, lyrics, arrangement, production ... it''s all here ... (and) the lyrics stand on their own as poetry, unique and compelling in its imagery ... this guy''s no lightweight." Kaplan toured in support of Reborn as Bees on the east coast, opening some shows in New York for his friend Dan Bern at venues such as The Bottom Line in Manhattan. The Island Voice, in a review of one of these shows, explained that "Kaplan originals ... resound with a thought-provoking consciousness."
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