Iowa Dream, by Arthur Russell

Iowa Dream

by Arthur Russell

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Ashland Cross True like Dylan, Sweet like Daniel Johnston, funny like Jonathan Richman, introspective and poignant, this album is phenomenal— pure creative melodic bliss Favorite track: Words Of Love.

mikey_bigtime Arthur Russell is a wonderful, unique composer and songwriter - Iowa Dream contains some of his most beautiful, stripped-down material. Favorite track: Sharper Eyes.

Librarian Unicorn Having read Hold On to Your Dreams, I knew Arthur loved the Modern Lovers--but you can actually hear said love within several of these songs (the others sound like companion songs to Love Is Overtaking Me). But it's Arthur, so the Modern Lovers influence is mutated into something that is much more up my alley (no disrespect; just not too much of a rockist, and also Arthur Russell & Meshell Ndegeocello are my idols, sooo...).

Andrew Jervis How is it possible that there is this much amazing unreleased Arthur Russell music? So prolific. This album has some absolute stone cold gems on it, can't wait for the vinyl to show up!

girtygirty Arthur's music has aged like a fine wine. Favorite track: List Of Boys.

heavywestern Arthur Russell is my favorite. SO thankful his music is still being released. Favorite track: Barefoot In New York.

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1.	Wonder Boy 02:27	info	buy track
2.	I Never Get Lonesome 02:17	info	buy track
3.	Everybody Everybody 02:47	info	buy track
4.	You Did It Yourself 03:06	info	buy track
5.	Come To Life 04:47	info	buy track
6.	Iowa Dream 03:35	info	buy track
7.	Words Of Love 03:00	info	buy track
8.	I Still Love You 03:53	info	buy track
9.	You Are My Love 03:05	info	buy track
10.	Barefoot In New York 05:33	info	buy track
11.	Just Regular People 04:03	info	buy track
12.	I Wish I Had A Brother 02:11	info	buy track
13.	I Felt 03:26	info	buy track
14.	The Dogs Outside Are Barking 03:05	info	buy track
15.	Sharper Eyes 02:47	info	buy track
16.	Follow You 02:47	info	buy track
17.	List Of Boys 02:52	info	buy track
18.	I Kissed The Girl From Outer Space 03:33	info	buy track
19.	In Love With You For The Last Time 02:53	info	buy track

about

Over the past decade, the visionary musician Arthur Russell has entered something close to the mainstream.

Sampled and referenced by contemporary musicians, his papers now open to visitors at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center in New York, and his name synonymous with a certain strain of tenderness, Russell is as widely known as he’s ever been. Thanks to Russell’s partner Tom Lee and to Steve Knutson of Audika Records, who have forged several records from Russell’s vast archive of unfinished and unreleased work, the world now hears many versions of Arthur Russell. There’s the Iowa boy, the disco mystic, the singer-songwriter and composer, and the fierce perfectionist deep in a world of echo. While all of these elements of Russell are individually true, none alone define him.

Now, after ten years of work inside the Russell library, Lee and Knutson bring us Iowa Dream, yet another bright star in Russell’s dazzling constellation. Blazing with trademark feeling, these nineteen songs are a staggering collection of Russell’s utterly distinct songwriting. And although Russell could be inscrutably single-minded, he was never totally solitary. Collaborating here is a stacked roster of downtown New York musicians, including Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Henry Flynt, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Steven Hall, Jackson Mac Low, Larry Saltzman, and David Van Tieghem. Musician Peter Broderick makes a contemporary addition to this list: more than forty years after Russell recorded several nearly finished songs, Broderick worked diligently with Audika to complete them, and performed audio restoration and additional mixing.

Several tracks on Iowa Dream Russell originally recorded as demos, in two early examples of his repeated brushes with potential popular success—first in 1974, with Paul Nelson of Mercury Records, and then in 1975, with the legendary John Hammond of Columbia Records. For different reasons, neither session amounted to a record deal. Russell kept working nearly up until his death in 1992 from complications of HIV-AIDS.

At once kaleidoscopic and intimate, Iowa Dream bears some of Russell’s most personal work, including several recently discovered folk songs he wrote during his time in Northern California in the early 1970s. For Russell, Iowa was never very far away. “I see, I see it all,” sings Russell on the title track: red houses, fields, the town mayor (his father) streaming by as he dream-bicycles through his hometown. Russell’s childhood home and family echo, too, through “Just Regular People,” “I Wish I Had a Brother,” “Wonder Boy,” “The Dogs Outside are Barking,” “Sharper Eyes,” and “I Felt.” Meanwhile, songs like “I Kissed the Girl From Outer Space,” “I Still Love You,” “List of Boys,” and “Barefoot in New York” fizz with pop and dance grooves, gesturing at Russell’s devotion to New York’s avant-garde and disco scenes. Finally, the long-awaited “You Did it Yourself,” until now heard only in a brief heart-stopping black-and-white clip in Matt Wolf’s documentary Wild Combination, awards us a new take with a driving funk rhythm and Russell’s extraordinary voice soaring at the height of its powers. On Iowa Dream, you can hear a country kid meeting the rest of the world—and with this record, the world continues to meet a totally singular artist.

credits

released November 15, 2019

2019, Audika Records LLC

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about

Arthur Russell New York, New York

American cellist, artist, and composer (born 21 May 1951 in Oskaloosa, Iowa, USA - died 4 April 1992 in NYC, New York, USA (aged 40). Licensing inquires steve (at) audikarecords (dot) com

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