While, through this game, it was always clear to me that GG, TBC and FC would have the edge over BA - I knew I'd have a struggle when it came to LLA. (the first song of this era I heard, a personal favourite of mine, and very much a musical direction that I'm longing for Carrie to explore more)
It's a struggle for me because I actually think that BA has the stronger lyrics, the more ambitious story line, and the likelihood of making the bigger market impact. But, for all that, I think the live versions of BA are better than the album track. The album track, for me, succeeds more when it's accompanied by the video, which adds an extra dimension of meaning and drama. But as an audio album track alone, it tends to sound rather mechanical and detached. While the audio effects can be justified by reference to the storm and the girl's dilemma - it does suffer a little for me by being a track that sounds too "tracked" (i.e the impression of sound rather noticeably added on in layers). Live, I think Carrie's vocal is brilliant (and I think she'll miss Jamie, who performed so well with answering echoes on this number)
If there could be a tie, for me, it would be this round - but, on the strength of the album track alone, I'm going to vote for LLA. After a perfect introduction, this song moves into an infectious snagging, stomp beat- some of the most twangy Roots music that Carrie's ever used. It manages to sound at once both timeless and innovative - and is a real tribute to Carrie's feel for the spirit of the song. Her vocal is a great match for the music, and both sound in sympathy, neither crowding the other. Superficially, this is one of the smaller-scale songs on the album, but, as a very well judged experiment, I would certainly put it with the songs I first mentioned, as one of the most musically "new level" songs in this collection.