Malvina didn’t like the title—Malvina Reynolds Sings the Truth—that Columbia records saddled this 1967 recording with. She had strong opinions, but never thought she had a corner on the truth. Columbia recorded two albums worth of songs, issued this one, and pulled it after a few years. I was sorry to see it go, because it had one of my favorite songs of hers on it, “The Battle of Maxton Field.” Now, thanks to the fine folks at Omni Recordings in Australia, the album is at last available again. The lead track is “The New Restaurant,” a sly song that nails roadside chain restaurants as surely as “Little Boxes” nailed the suburbs. One of the fourteen bonus tracks is “Let Them Eat Cake,” which summed up forty years ago just about everything real-food advocates like Michael Pollan are saying today. Give it a listen: Let Them Eat Cake ©1972, recorded in concert ©2008 by Nancy Schimmelhttp://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7547475/a/Sings+The+Truth.htmhttp://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr011.htm
Cover photo taken at the Newport Folk Festival by Jim Marshall, who took several excellent pictures of Malvina there.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
MALVINA’S “LOST” ALBUM NOW ON CD