Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Who Knows Where the Time Goes

     

“Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” Michel Griffin’s fourth album, is a delightful mix: of blues and ballads; of poetic reminiscences and powerful personal affirmations; of Michel’s own fabulous guitar playing and the dramatic accompaniments of Alexis Van Eeckhout (tenor sax), Gérard Lemolère (accordion), Michel Correch (double bass), and Albert Casas (tenor sax); of Michel’s soothing bass voice and the soft, silky counterpoint of Amy Caldwell; of original lyrics and old favorites. The theme of the album is, like much of Michel’s earlier work, the endurance of love (both lost and found) through the passage of time, but here the theme is subject to a wide range of emotional treatments — from sad remembrances to jaunty blues pieces to sensitive surprises at the smallest of love’s wonders (the power of a smile, the fragility of dreams, the astonishment of a missed connection). The one song on the album that seems to stand somewhat apart from this overall thematic emphasis is “Tree Trunks and Rough Stone,” a powerful lyric of attachment to simple country life and the solidity of the elements of wood and stone. Brilliantly arranged, the album moves carefully back and forth between Michel’s own stunning lyrics and moving tributes to some of the singers who have most influenced or impressed him (here Kris Kristofferson, Bette Midler, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Sandy Denny). This is an album to listen to again and again: it is incredibly rich and moving, a real winner!