Artist:     Eric Andersen

Album:     The Essential Eric Andersen (2 CDs)

Label:     Sony Legacy/Real Gone

Release Date:     3.30.2018

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Somehow, despite beginning his career in Greenwich Village’s nascent folk scene in the early ’60s (like Dylan), Eric Andersen has rarely had the stature accorded to Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and some others. Yet he is more than deserving. While some of his peers are retiring or making music that retirees enjoy, Andersen continues to tour with a band and deliver new material.

He was also the unlucky recipient of having some of his strongest tapes lost for two decades before being found in the Columbia vaults. These issues, combined with his unassuming, humble persona probably pushed him undeservedly away from the spotlight. Andersen now lives in Amsterdam and spends only limited time in the States, but  this almost career-spanning collection of his work may shed long-needed light on one of our greatest singer-songwriters.

You probably know these songs of his: “Thirsty Boots,” “Violets of Dawn,” “Close the Door Lightly When You Go,” and “Is It Really Love at All;” maybe even “Blue River,” but his career is more multi-faceted than most realize. At one time or another he’s collaborated with the greats, as documented here on several tracks. This 2-CD, 33-track set spans 45 years, 10 different labels, and 19 different albums. Like many career retrospective packages, this one has some unreleased material, live versions as well as different arrangements to some of his best songs. Note that the digital version has 42 songs. The reference to “almost career spanning” is because his recent work on Albert Camus and Lord Byron is not included here, although one of those songs “Salt on Your Skin” is taken from his Cologne Concert Live album.

Disc 1 begins with two solo tracks from his 1965 debut Vanguard album Today Is the Highway, before moving to probably his best work, the Blue River album (represented by four tunes including “Is It Really Love at All” and the title track with Joni Mitchell). The follow-up Stages which features work with Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of The Band has five songs, including “Time Run Like a Freight Train” with Dan Fogelberg on background vocals. Joan Baez and Leon Russell contributed to “Woman She Was Gentle” and Russell also appears on “Wild Crow Blues.” Stages is the album with the lost tapes that were found two decades later. The unreleased track, a cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” features David Bromberg (a label mate a few times) on dobro.

Disc 2 first touches on his Arista recordings with live takes of “Thirsty Boots” and “Violets of Dawn,” and then features collaborations with fellow legends Lou Reed (“You Can’t Relive the Past”), Richard Thompson (“Hills of Tuscany”), and two, “Keep This Love Alive” and “Driftin’ Away,” from the Danko, Fjeld and Andersen band. That band yielded many great songs and is somewhat underrepresented. Shawn Colvin provides rich harmony on “Listen to the Rain.” Disc 2 concludes with his earliest recording, a 1964 duet with Phil Ochs on “Plains of Nebrasky-O” recorded for Smithsonian-Folkways.

Besides the music, notes by Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone, photos from Eric’s private collection and a stellar remastering job, make this a “must have,” even for those who have most of Andersen’s catalog. Speaking of the liners, this is great summation by Andersen: “I’ve never been a craftsman hovering and sweating over a drafting table, though I’ve always worked diligently to make my visions concrete. I’ve always held high standards and tried to build songs that could stand the test of time. After all, isn’t the goal of any true artist to attain a state of always becoming, to make the invisible visible? I wanted to write songs that I could listen to fifty years down the line. And in most instances, I believe that to be true.”

This treasure paves the way for the release of a new documentary film on Andersen, The Songpoet, later this year.

—Jim Hynes