Peter Ivers - Becoming Peter Ivers [RVNG. Intl. Promo]

Released via RVNG Intl. on November 8th, 2k19 is "Becoming Peter Ivers", a massive 25 track compilation album representing a distilled selection of tracks recovered from hundreds and hundreds of hours of unpublished - and seemingly for the most part undocumented - material found in the artists home after Peter Ivers passing in 1983. Mostly written throughout the 70s, a period in which both "Terminal Love", a longplay effort by The Peter Peter Ivers Band and his self titled debut album "Peter Ivers" were released via Warner Bros., the raw, stripped down demo versions on this historical compilation capture what always Peter Ivers stood by - the credo of "demos are often better than records". Fragile, reduced to their very essence in terms of instrumentation - vocals, harmonica, drum machine and piano - songs like "Even Stephen Foster", "Peter" or "The Night You Didn't Come" might sound a little dusted and vintage, reflecting on musical trends of yore yet there's still something touching, tender and caressingly magical about these super intimate recordings that is still valuable and emotionally touching today whilst tunes like the spaced out "I'm Sorry Alice" and the highly seductive "Miraculous Weekend" still have enough power to bring the Funk to dancefloors of today, "Deborah" weighs in a certain swing for all kind of creatures of the night and cuts like "Audience Of One" even touch base with slow, spine-tingling and highly dramatic Soul. "My Grandmother's Funeral" introduces a more intertwined, complex take on songwriting and multilayered vocal harmonies, "In Heaven" brings forth killer piano lines and a smokey, late night bar vibe, "Untitled" is a sweet vintage instrumental garnished with catchy non-vocalisms, "Love In Flight (Piano Overture)" turns out to be a most beautiful Easy Listening miniature, "Happy On The Grill" comes across with a sweet, little Novelty-attitude for a love song and the ethereal "You Used To Be Stevie" is another magical song of unrivalled dramatic quality just to name a few of our favorite cuts here. A lot to take in and therefore this album demands quite a few repeated listening sessions to appreciate each and every detail on sonic display here.