Tim Hardin, black sheep boy

August 30, 2005 8:47 AM

Tim Hardin, black sheep boy. Will Robinson Sheff, of the bands Okkervil River and Shearwater, guest-blogs at Said the Gramophone and writes movingly about his hero, Tim Hardin. With mp3s.
posted by barjo (10 comments total)

The music of Tim Hardin is, I think, ripe for a critical reconsideration. Those first two records are fantastic, despite (in my opinion) a few unfortunately corny lyrics. His voice is top-notch, and he must be one of the most-covered songwriters of all time.

By the way, Scott Walker does fine covers of Hardin's "Lady Came from Baltimore" and "Black Sheep Boy" on his Scott and Scott 2 albums.

On a personal note, "Don't Make Promises" (opening track of Tim Hardin I) is without a doubt one of my top fifty songs. Kudos, barjo!
posted by ford and the prefects at 8:54 AM on August 30, 2005

I saw the Said the Gramophone post last night, and it inspired me to check out Tim Hardin.

And I like Okkervil River, but I like Shearwater even more. See 'em live. They're great. (disclosure: a friend of mine is in Shearwater, but I'd think they're fantastic even if he wasn't.)
posted by Vidiot at 10:23 AM on August 30, 2005

Shearwater are quite good; I saw them open for Mountain Goats.
posted by chunking express at 10:28 AM on August 30, 2005

I don't know Will Sheff, and although I'd (of course) heard Hardin covers I didn't even know his name before reading this post. item's assessment may or may not be right, but the article on Hardin is very good, honest and insightful. Thanks for posting it.
posted by OmieWise at 10:33 AM on August 30, 2005

Oh, looking at the Okkervil River website I see that they cover Omie Wise on one of their releases. They must be good.
posted by OmieWise at 10:39 AM on August 30, 2005

I think Black Sheep Boy is one of the best albums of the year. I fall in the camp of "Will Sheff can do no wrong."
posted by Bear at 11:28 AM on August 30, 2005

Thirding the Tim Hardin love. Shame he came to such a sad end. In Denny Sugerman's autobiography he tells a story that Jim Morrison (!) tok him to visit Hardin as an example of what drugs can do to you. That's pretty far gone.
posted by jonmc at 11:30 AM on August 30, 2005

I like Shearwater even more. See 'em live. They're great. (disclosure: a friend of mine is in Shearwater, but I'd think they're fantastic even if he wasn't.)

I can vouch for this statement and I don't have any friends in Shearwater (although my band played a show with 'em once).
posted by all-seeing eye dog at 1:46 PM on August 30, 2005

I don't see how Okkervil River is a Will Oldham ripoff when their latest (and breakthrough) album features a full band, more upbeat rhythms, and more slickly produced music than Mr. Oldham. I mean, they're both great guys, but hardly inseparable.
posted by themadjuggler at 8:22 PM on August 30, 2005

Black Sheep Boy is most definitely THE best album of 2005... seriously people... fantastico
posted by isol at 5:45 PM on August 31, 2005