Sweet Relief (A Benefit For Victoria Williams) - 1993 RSD Alt Grunge Folk Rock - Black Vinyl - Sealed 2LP

 

 

"The shear breadth and diversity of artists gathered for this benefit project, Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams, is a tribute to the affection Victoria Williams' peers had for her. It conveniently also makes for heady listening for any fan of contemporary music. The hard, brittle edges of Soul Asylum ("Summer of Drugs") and Buffalo Tom ("Merry Go Round") stand shoulder to shoulder with the country-folk of Lucinda Williams ("Main Road") and Maria McKee (an inspired and riveting "Opelousas (Sweet Relief)"). Sweet Relief offers a unique opportunity to introduce yourself to an enduring songwriter while savoring some of the day's most intriguing musicians. How sweet it is!" (AllMusic)

 

"Sweet Relief. What a beautiful and glorious album. With a cast of artists from Lucinda Williams to Pearl Jam, from Lou Reed to Soul Asylum, Sweet Relief was miraculously able to transcend the fragmentary nature of most tributes to create a vibrant whole that reverberated with life. Not only wasn’t there a weak track on the entire thing, but cumulatively, refracted through the musical prism of all these other artists, Williams’ songs provided strong evidence of a new vitality in American folk-rock. I spun through the CD enough times to finally take the plunge and buy some of her CDs, as well as some of her hubby Mark Olson’s band, the Jayhawks." (PopMatters)