This Moment: In Toronto With the Loose Band - Victoria Williams

Victoria Williams' first international tour as a headliner -- supporting her 1994 release Loose -- yielded This Moment: In Toronto With the Loose Band, her first concert recording. Williams (guitar/vocals) is supported by a six-piece band centering around the Williams Brothers (no relation to Victoria), David (vocals) and Andrew (guitar), as well as Tim Ray (keyboards) -- all of whom had participated in the creation of Loose. Joining them are neo-folk session heavyweights Joey Burns (bass/vocals) and David Mansfield (violin/dobro/pedal steel guitar/mandolin). As an ensemble, they animate choice selections from Victoria's previous studio efforts -- Happy Come Home (1987) and Swing the Statue(1990) -- with an emphasis on material from Loose. As a songwriter, Victoria Williams conjures exquisite images weaved around an ethereal folk/jazz delivery -- which is more often than not also saturated in down-home psychedelia, examples of which abound throughout This Moment. Primary among them is "Graveyard," which was renamed "Blackbirds Rise" on her follow-up studio release Musings of a Creek Dipper (1998), as well as the achingly beautiful reading of the Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke pop standard "Imagination." The undemanding and comfortably intimate environs that Williams create during performance are punctuated by the spontaneous on-stage arrival of her traveling companion and puppy, Molly -- inspiring Victoria to ad-lib "Oh its good to have a dog. It's good to see their smile. It's good to have your arms around 'em when it's been a long while" -- during the opening to what develops into a rousing "Crazy Mary." Another endearing moment catches Victoria interacting with the audience and spontaneously performing requests -- most notably "TC." Although accompanied by her own solo piano, she lovingly re-creates Van Dyke Parks' breathtaking string arrangements. This Moment is a precious and rare gift from a flower to her audience. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide