Ness Harding – Parting Of Man
Ness Harding – Lissa’s Rose
Ness Harding – Your Colorado Way
Been meaning to post this one up for a solid year-plus, but, better late than never is clearly a motto I subscribe to and this final day of our 14th year as a blog seemed like the perfect time to post it. “The Perfect time,” is an interesting way to describe things. “Perfect,” is a word that I’ve been thinking about a lot of late, what defines perfection, in a song, in a relationship, in a moment. We often think of “perfect,” as being flawless, but I don’t know if I’ve ever subscribed to that idea. For me “perfect,” is about a feeling…a feeling that a thing, a person, a song, is so good, you don’t want anything about it to change. The beauty of performances once they are set to record is that, aside from whatever may happen to the specific piece of wax over the years, the recording remains the same. So when you discover a “perfect” song, it remains perfect every time you hear it or you play it for someone else. Of course, what one person views as “perfect,” may be some thing else entirely to different ears. But differences of opinion don’t change how perfect that thing may be.
Part of what made this record perfect, perfect to share on this blog, for sure, is that it came from DJ Shadow’s collection. It was one of a number of records Shadow was selling at one of his Rappcats storage sales. The record hung on the wall just behind Josh as he chatted with people through the day. Without much information on the front (Shadow often makes helpful notes on the records he sells, such as “Breaks B-4” on the Fred Cancio LP that also came from his collection), but intrigued by the cover and its placement on the wall, I just asked “what’s up with that one?” to which Shadow said something to the effect of, “it’s a private press record from the 70s, see if you can figure out which song I dig the most on there.” Challenge accepted!
From what I can tell, Ness Harding only recorded this album, an album where she plays virtually all of the instruments (except the “Syndrums,” that seem to make some distinctive sounds on “Parting Of Man” and “Your Colorado Way”), and an album that is clearly a labor of love, with virtually every song dedicated to someone from Harding’s life, even including her horse Cappy. But it’s the songs that are connected to specifically to someone named Melissa Rogers that I felt most drawn to. All three of the songs I’ve chosen to share here have “Lissa” in mind, “Lissa’s Rose” and “Your Colorado Way,” are Harding’s reflections about this person, described as a “past friend,” which gives me the impression (especially if you take the lyrics of “Colorado Way” literally) that the two women had a serious falling out, and perhaps these songs were Harding’s way of trying to make amends to this person who they very clearly cared deeply for and made an impact on them. Lissa shows up again on the final track of the first side, this time as the credited song writer for “Parting Of Man.”
What was clear to me from its opening notes was that “Parting Of Man,” was the song that Shadow had to have been talking about, something that I confirmed with him when I bought this album. It’s one of those songs that when someone has a defined sound about them, you hear it and just think, “oh yeah, I could see Shadow doing something with this.” It just has the vibe. It’s always wild to me, especially when listening to private press records, how much a good song will just literally jump out of the speakers when you hear it. With a number of these kinds of records you hear a lot of sincere and earnest, but largely mediocre playing, but every so often, the needle drops on something that comes close to perfection. With the sound of rolling waves and seagulls, before a pensively strummed guitar comes in, and then these rising waves of sound from a synthesizer hits…it’s a vibe for sure. The song’s single verse also just hits perfectly, before the instrumental elements take over for a bit. It’s a strikingly simple song, but once it gets going, it’s one that definitely hits you, gets the head nodding and compels you to run it back again and again.
“Parting Of Man,” is one of those imperfect perfect songs that seem to only be found on private press albums, made even more perfect, not only because it originally came from Shadow’s collection, but also because it was recorded at a place called Perfection Sound in Smyrna, GA, not too far from where I grew up. And all of the above is why it felt like, finally, the perfect time to share this album with you…Peace & Bright Moments.