Before Beginning: The Unreleased I Know
The
1987 debut CD "I Know"
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John
Gorka- Before Beginning
The Unreleased I Know - Nashville - 1985
2016, Red House Records
Rambles.NET
music review by Jerome Clark, July 16, 2016
Pennsylvania-bred,
Minnesota-based singer-songwriter John Gorka released his first
album, I Know, in 1987. Before Beginning is his 13th. Well, sort
of. It's also his first by two years.
In
1985 he went into a Nashville studio with Jim Rooney, a Music
City stalwart with roots in the Boston/Cambridge folk scene. The
result, the CD under review, was typical of "folk" recordings
of its period. Consisting of self-composed as opposed to traditional
and cover material, it was arranged more or less as if it were
country music. That presentation style would pass out of fashion
as artists and their producers figured out more creative ways
to showcase folk and folk-like songs in a contemporary setting.
At
the time, however, the 25-year-old Gorka was uncomfortable with
the results of that first serious recording session. Even after
the not inconsiderable investment in time and expense, Gorka opted
not to release the record. Two years later he issued I Know with
newly, differently arranged versions of nine of the songs cut
earlier.Three decades later, Gorka has decided that the Nashville
material deserves a hearing, thus Before Beginning .
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