Review: 'Aimless Records Presents: Step Right Up (Purple Version)'
The second installment of Todd Snider's 'All My Songs' series of live albums
By Daryl Sanders
If Todd Snider ever did a concert residency on Broadway á la Bruce Springsteen, the performances might resemble the performances Aimless Records is releasing as part of Snider’s All My Songs series of live albums. The albums feature solo acoustic recordings of the songs in sequence from his studio albums. The latest record in the series — Aimless Records Presents: Step Right Up (Purple Version) — came out today, and it’s another winner.
Like the first album in the series Aimless Records Presents: Songs For The Daily Planet (Purple Version), Step Right Up (Purple Version) was recorded at The Purple Building during Snider’s award-winning, Sunday morning, live streaming series First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder. Recorded on October 18, 2022, and co-produced by Snider and recordists Colin Cargile, Joel Roderick and Brian Kincaid, the album features superb sonic quality, which makes you feel like you are in the room with Snider, just a few feet away.
What makes this live record evoke Springsteen’s Broadway residency is Snider’s unrushed pace, like he’s hanging with some friends, and the stories he tells, which are largely different from the ones he tells in concert. These stories reveal the circumstances that led Snider to write the songs and include heartfelt reminiscences about his former bandmates, ex-girlfriends and other people in his life at the time he wrote and recorded Step Right Up in the mid-’90s.
Snider’s performances on Step Right Up (Purple Version) are those of an experienced troubadour at the top of his profession. He revisits the material on his second album from a vantage point 30 years later, and his interpretations of those songs he wrote in his youth reflect three decades of growth as a writer, musician and person.
In at least a couple of instances, the interpretations of the songs from Step Right Up on this album are superior to the original recordings. Probably the best example of that is “I Believe You,” Snider’s answer to John Lennon’s song “God.” He performs it here at a slower tempo, which allows for subtle dynamics not present on the version recorded in 1995.
Another interesting aspect of this album in particular and the All My Songs series in general is Snider’s commentary regarding songs that haven’t aged well for him. One such song on this record is “Prison Walls,” of which Snider says, “If it was really fast, it wouldn’t bother me so much.”
A free download of Aimless Records Presents: Step Right Up (Purple Version) is available at ToddSnider.net.
© 2024 Daryl Sanders
I just listened from beginning to end. I had set up my PA system in my living room to test it before upcoming gigs. I put Todd through it with my guitar plugged in and a vocal mic (which I didn't really use). Then I just burned one and jammed along with Todd. It was super cool just playing along, trying to find a lane to lock into. What fun! It was like having Todd in my living room.
I love how he says that generalizing the topics in his writing takes away the healing power, that the songs being about personal experiences is what makes performing them healing. Maybe he needs to play Prison Walls more so it can work its mojo. 💜