This was my first Nanci Griffith cd, and, while now most of my favorite stuff of hers predates "Storms", this album still holds a special place in my heart.
That, and it's an elegant, smart, classic album with very few low points. Some highlights: "Listen to the Radio" took off as the fan favorite, and it's a rousing rocker, a great song. Nanci thinks of "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go" as her most important song, and it really does have the punch of a civil rights anthem, as well as being infinitely campfire-sing-able. "If Wishes Were Changes" is a complicated take on unrequited love written after seeing Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire," and it makes us all wish we had angels who sang in our dreams.
Me, I'm partial to "Brave Companion of the Road," my favorite track off this album. "Leaving the Harbor" is also eerie and beautiful, and "Radio Fragile" is a sharp, sad little ode to Phil Ochs.
If this album does have a clinker it's probably the opening track, "I Don't Wanna Talk About Love," but even that one has its moments: "you can hear it in a disco midnight, shouting."
Overall, this does have a more "produced" sound than Nanci's earlier work on Philo/Rounder or her later work on Elektra, but "Storms" is definitely the best of MCA-era Nanci.
At the very least, it's anything but dull. Or, as she sings on Eric Taylor's excellent title track, "is loneliness contagious? Another damn song about a waitress."
Great stuff in here. It's a Hard Life Where Ever You Go is very good. True and beautifully sung. Radio Fragile reminds me of a guy I grew up with (there's probably one in every community).
I really like this album. Listen to it all the time. I listen while I making dinner. I listen while I'm driving. It is so good.
Some of this album is a bit over-produced, but still contains the same kind of Griffith magic. I would also recommend "Other Voices, Other Rooms."
