Yes We Can!

Maria Muldaur's heartfelt set "Yes We Can" is a powerful statement for peace. The title track became familiar to me on The Pointer Sisters. The Allen Toussaint-penned track embodies a positive message with Bonnie Raitt joining on vocals, "We gotta take care of all the children, the little children of the world 'cause they're all our strongest hope for the future, the little bitty boys & girls." Extremely powerful -- albeit not altogether pleasant -- is the strong Bob Dylan anti-war song "John Brown" with the tale of a flag-waving patriotic mother who can't face the shattered body of her returning son. On Garth Brooks' "We Shall Be Free" Maria is joined by Odetta who recently passed and Joan Baez whose recent CD Day After Tomorrow is excellent. The track bubbles with joyful energy. "Why Can't We Live Together" was my personal #1 favorite song of 2003 as it was recorded by Steve Winwood on his About Time CD. Muldaur's version has the bubbling bass line and the jarring organ riff with her voice passionately urgent, "No more war, just some peace in this world." Phoebe Snow who just put out a great new CD Live joins Maria for "Pray for the USA," "Hatred & violence are going up, death & destruction just piling up; War is killing even innocent little children; For those who can clearly see, you know this should never be." Jane Fonda lends her voice to Maria's rollicking version of the traditional "Down By the Riverside." Perhaps the masterpiece of the set is Bob Dylan's exquisite "Masters of War" that Maria's six-minute version rips through the dirge-like melody and bruising lyric, "You ain't never done nothing but build to destroy; You play with our world like it's your little toy; You put a gun in my hand & you hide from all eyes, and you turn and run faster while the fast bullets fly." Muldaur sounds weary from strains of worry. The lovely dove cover and her heartfelt liner notes underscore that this is a labor of love. On Muldaur's 35th album, she connects with a powerful theme on songs from the past that are unfortunately still relevant today. Peace!

I have loved Maria's music for decades, I guess that lets you know how old I am. I have a broad range of favorite artists from Assembly of Dust to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Maria's albums I reach for most of the time. This one did not let me down. When Maria sings the incredible soul touching ballads on this album you can feel it from your heart to your pinky toes! Her voice has been fine tuned with time and experiences and you can hear it in every selection. You want to sway,boogie,shout or cry when listening to this creative venue of perfection. Please, please Maria, don't ever stop.

Yes We Can. The Marxist Barack Hussein Obama slogan. Yeah, I checked out her web-site and see that she is left-wing politically active. I purchased Waitress At A Donut Shop years ago and still like it. And I was thinking of getting back into her music. But now - no thank you. I do not patronize any artist that will use the money I spend on them for anti-American left-wing socialist causes. Sorry Maria - but your support for the left makes me say no way to you. In conclusion - I am always amazed at the stupidity of artists that go out of their way to piss off 50 percent of their fan base.

This album invites you to unite and a human race and celebrate all of us. She draws from vast source of great songwriters. Yes even Garth Brooks! I saw her live on tour with Holly Near and others and I think my favorite songs live were John Brown and War. On the album I love We Shall Be Free. The driving guitar sounds like a train on John Brown and War was turned into the mournful warning. But mostly the album is just too much fun. This is because they sound like they are having fun. The sound is raw like it came straight out of Memphis and Stax Records which adds some real authenticity to the soul. Seriously though seeing her live blew my mind because I never realized what a vocal range she had! Holy heavenly god of cow gods!

I bought this new album of Maria short after the release and i must say "it is one of the best"! I have all the albums that Maria recorded. It's a wide range of music. From folk to big band, from blues to jazz. This time i think that it is more soul. Her voice is getting deeper by passing the years and the voice goes so well with the songs on this album. I love it!

Kees de Frel
The Netherlands