When Richie Havens was making his third album it appears as if George Orwell had really got under his skin. He’d become filled with a dread, “as if the next year was going to be 1984.” He decided to call the record 1983 and make it a double album that would serve as a monument for the times; mixing eloquent, politically conscious statements with rich soul covers that made the originals his own, including four Beatles songs.
Partly recorded at a July ’68 Santa Monica concert, 1983 captured each facet of Havens’ quiet but towering strength and liberated stage magic, driven by his distinctive open-tuned guitar scrabble on originals including Indian Rope Man, For Haven’s Sake, What More Can I Say John?, Just Above My Hobby Horse’s Head and the bleak but resonant civil rights narrative The Parable Of Ramon. His supernatural powers of interpretation coax new essence out of Dylan’s I Pity The Poor Immigrant, Donovan’s Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Leonard Cohen’s Priests and he even makes Strawberry Fields, Forever sound as if it could’ve been written for the March On Washington.
1983 remains a consummate document of the irrepressible spirit that riveted half a million at Woodstock four months after its release.
by Kris Needs
Tracks
1. Stop Pulling And Pushing Me (Richie Havens) - 1:50
2. For Haven's Sake (Richie Havens) - 7:05
3. Strawberry Fields Forever (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 3:39
4. Waht More Can I Say John (Richie Havens) - 4:40
5. I Pity The Poor Immigrant (Bob Dylan) - 3:11
6. Lady Madonna (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 1:58
7. Priests (Leonard Cohen) - 5:17
8. Indian Rope Man (Richie Havens, Mark Roth, Joe Price) - 3:04
9. Cautiously (James David Maurey) - 4:03
10.Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head (Mark Roth, Richie Havens) - 2:59
11.She's Leaving Home (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 4:07
12.Putting Out The Vibratioo, And Hoping It Comes Home. (Mark Roth, Richie Havens) - 2:55
13.The Parable Of Ramon (Mark Roth, Richie Havens) - 7:59
14.With A Little Help From My Friends (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 5:21
15.Wear Your Love Like Heaven (Donovan Leitch) - 4:58
16.Medley: Run Shaker Life/Do You Feel Good? (Richie Havens) - 8:53
Musicians
*Richie Havens - Acoustic, Electric Guitar, Sitar, Vocals, Tamboura, Handclapping, Ondioline
*Charles Howall - Vocals
*Carol Hunter - Bass
*Teddy Irwin - Guitar
*Bruce Langhorne - Guitar
*Ken Lauber - Keyboards
*Donald Mcdonald - Drums
*Arnie Moore - Bass
*Weldon Myrick - Steel Guitar
*Warren Bernhardt - Keyboards, Clavinet
*Brad Campbell - Bass
*Bob Chase - Percussion
*Diane Comins - Harmonica, Harp
*Jim Fairs - Bass
*John Ord - Organ, Piano, Celeste, Keyboards
*Skip Prokop - Drums
*Charlie Smalls - Keyboard, Piano
*Jeremy Steig - Flute
*Stephen Stills - Bass
*Collin Walcott - Sitar, Tabla
*Paul "Dino" Williams - Guitar
*Daniel Ben Zebulon - Drums
1967 Richie Havens - Mixed Bag
1970 Richie Havens - Stonehenge (2001 remaster)
1971 Richie Havens - Alarm Clock (2002 remaster)
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