When it comes to real old times blues, we love our sorrow filled songs all crackly and hissy, and many of us also find ourselves inexorably and specifically drawn to blues of the female persuasion. So Sub Rosa's latest collection, a collection of tracks by female blues singers from 1923-1930, had us all ears from the get-go packed with many fantastic obscurities as well as some more well known to us artists like Memphis Minnie, Ivy Smith and the like. Most of these women were never widely known or appreciated, but when you hear their raw recordings in all their stripped down emotional glory, you start to see how these ladies were really laying the groundwork for the rebel musicians of later generations, in ALL styles and genres. So cool!
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The folks at Mississippi Records most definitely have good taste in reissues, picking lost, rare, and just plain cool stuff to get reissued on vinyl, but as good as they are at simply picking stuff to be reissued, they're even better at creating compilations, mix tape masters, whose skill at curating collections is way beyond reproach. Just have a look at some past Mississippi comps: I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, Life Is A Problem, Last Kind Words, Love Is Love, Lipa Kodi Ya City Council. Everyone darn near perfect, packaging, song selection, sound, feel, vibe, pretty much everything, every aspect. Some major label with tons of money should swoop in and hire all these folks and get them to do what they're already doing, just with way more resources.
For now though, we're perfectly happy to dig into a new Mississippi comp every few months, and thus, we're super excited about the latest release, another collection of old time gospel and blues called Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long. And it's of course fantastic, an amazing compilation of artists, some well know, others not so, but it's the song selection, the sequence, it's like a mix tape, and as we said above, Mississippi are the masters.
The opener is amazing, and already has us looking for more from Bukka White, his voice rough raw and ragged, but still rich and soulful, backed by some amazing female vocalists, the sound lush and rich, wreathed in old record crackle. Then there's the amazing Bessie Johnson, who has a truly unique voice, a distinctive croon, haunting and throaty, draped over a minimal background, but it hardly matters, her voice is powerful enough to carry any song. Blind Mamie Forehand offers up a gospely number, simple steel string guitar and her deep soulful voice. The Edward Clayborn track sounds super old, the static and hiss almost as loud as the music, but it only makes it sound that much warmer and gorgeously timeworn and weary. Folks heavily into the blues, probably know all of these artists, maybe the songs too, but for some of us, who only have a cursory knowledge, these comps, this comp, offer up an amazing glimpse into another time, a world of sound and songs both personal and passionate, powerful and mesmerizing.
And as we all know, there's nothing quite like getting an amazing mixtape, crammed with songs and sounds that not only mesmerize, but often have you desperately searching for more from the various artists. Mission accomplished. Another winner from Mississippi.
Maybe you think you'd already have to be pretty into gospel music to purchase a 3cd set like this? But, when you're through listening to all three of these discs (for the first and certainly not the last) time, you'll DEFINITELY be into gospel music. Of course it helps that, as the subtitle states, this is gospel music of the "raw" and "other-worldly" variety, compiled by Yeti magazine's Mike McGonigal. And moreover, you need to realize, if you don't know already, that the relationship of gospel to secular music - soul, blues, R&B - is strong. Even (especially) rock n' roll has gospel roots. In fact, if you think gospel is some sort of goody two shoes churchy hymn singing lameness, take a listen to this and think again. There's powerful stuff here, stuff that's BADASS. Beautiful too, but let's stick to badass for the moment. Seriously, try your favorite hipster garage rock combo against Elder Beck's astonishing 1956 "Rock and Roll Sermon" and see who wins. Answer, the garage rockers will repent and sell their guitars - not 'cause they've found the Lord, but 'cause Elder Beck would obviously blow them off stage with his performance. That track in particular represents one of the brilliant ironies of this collection, 'cause whilst railing against the evils of rock n' roll music, Elder Beck manages rock harder than just about anyone, EVER. It's almost kinda difficult to believe that he and his congregation weren't aware of this fact, and were simply secretly enjoying a chance to really go wild under the guise of "gospel". Certainly the guitar player is getting into it. Whatever the case, it's amazing, as are so many other tracks on here.
With three jam-packed discs (80 tracks total!), there's really too many gems here for us to even begin to mention 'em all. There's some other early rockers, lots of groovy funkiness from the '70s that could make even the blackest heart want to join in with the praising, low-down busted-up blues guitar workouts played by old old men, all sorts of impassioned testifying that could constitute a new definition of "emo", and (not surprising, considering Satan is so often the subject, along with his opposite) plenty of eerie atmosphere and weirdness, often augmented by the relatively dusty and distorted nature of some of these recordings.
There's a few names here that some may know from other recent reissues on Mississippi and CaseQuarter among others, like Isaiah Owens, Abner Jay, Bishop Perry Tillis, and Rev. Utah Smith. And plenty more that you'll be happy to get to know, 'cause unless you're a gospel collector its doubtful you do. Here's a dozen, just for starters: Rev. Lonnie Farris, Elder Roma Wilson & Family, Madison County Senior Center Singers, Singing Son Of Zion (Brother Shelby Bransford, Jr.), Little Ax & The Golden Echoes, Madam Ira Mae Littlejohn, Fannie Bell Chapman, Hickory Bottom Harmoneers, Ray Branch & His Guitar, Napolian Strickland, Precious Bryant, Mississippi Nightingales... It's a diverse collection for sure, covering all sorts of gospel traditions, and serves as a survey of all the amazing post-war black gospel music that you probably haven't heard before. Providing some food for your mind as well as your soul, the thick, illustrated cd booklet in this nicely-packaged set provides some notes on each track, but it's the music that's really gonna speak to you.
Despite our love of black metal, comps like this remind us that the Devil does NOT have all the best tunes. As McGonigal states in his liner notes, the music represented here is "among the most vibrant, playful, beautiful and emotionally charged music in the world." We can only but agree.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT****MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Coming off as something of a companion piece (at least in our eyes) to their recent gospel compilation Last Time Around, Mississippi offers up this cool six song 10" to keep things spinning. The artists were all unknown to us, but Mississippi rarely lets us down, and the songs here offer up some dynamite vocal performances with some surprisingly scrappy instrumentation to back things up. All these intense tracks were culled from rare 7" singles originally released three or four decades ago, by the following: Missionary Mamie Sample, The Skylifters, The Missionaries, The Sensational Six, The Willenette Gospel Singers, and Rev. R. Henderson. If you dig your gospel gritty and on the more loose and ramshackle side, you'd definitely dig this big time. And obviously, anyone who bought the Last Time Around, will likely want this one too...
Yet more interesting compilations from the equally interesting German label Trikont. From the label that brought us collections of La Paloma covers, songs with yodelling and songs of death, all drawing from every genre imaginable, plus Roady music from Vietnam, and other remarkable concept mixes, comes the Flashbacks series. Six disks of music from as early as 1914, spanning to 1947 and each organized by a particular theme.
Volume one, Drug Songs: High & Low, is a collection of songs celebrating the use of drugs: from coffee to cocaine, moonshine to marijuana, hash to heroin and with such colorful titles as "Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine" & "The Candy Man". Blues, Big Band, and Jazz tracks here from the Ink Spots, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Big Bill Broonzy, The Memphis Jug Band, Gene Krupa, Bukka White and much more.
Yet more interesting compilations from the equally interesting German label Trikont. From the label that brought us collections of La Paloma covers, songs with yodelling and songs of death, all drawing from every genre imaginable, plus Roady music from Vietnam, and other remarkable concept mixes, comes the Flashbacks series. Six disks of music from as early as 1914, spanning to 1947 and each organized by a particular theme.
Volume two, Novelty Songs: Crazy & Obscure, is an interesting collection of off kilter numbers and arrangements. Some of the tracks are from those you'd expect: Hoosier Hot Shots, Groucho Marx, Spike Jones and Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. But there's a lot of other tracks from maybe less likely sources as Cab Calloway, The Andrews Sisters and the Memphis Jug band.
Yet more interesting compilations from the equally interesting German label Trikont. From the label that brought us collections of La Paloma covers, songs with yodelling and songs of death, all drawing from every genre imaginable, plus Roady music from Vietnam, and other remarkable concept mixes, comes the Flashbacks series. Six disks of music from as early as 1914, spanning to 1947 and each organized by a particular theme.
Volume three, Copulation Blues: Hot & Sexy, is a collection of Hokum blues. Those who aren't satified with one hour sessions of dirty music and have worn out the springs on their copies of Please Warm My Weiner (Yazoo) should pay heed to this. Lots of randy big band, blues, and texas swing numbers dedicated to everyone's favorite past-time. Tracks here from Alberta Hunter, Cab Calloway, The Light Crust Doughboys, Mae West and much more. The only odd ommission is that there's not one single Memphis Minnie number to be found on this disk. Oh well.
Yet more interesting compilations from the equally interesting German label Trikont. From the label that brought us collections of La Paloma covers, songs with yodelling and songs of death, all drawing from every genre imaginable, plus Roady music from Vietnam, and other remarkable concept mixes, comes the Flashbacks series. Six disks of music from as early as 1914, spanning to 1947 and each organized by a particular theme.
Volume four, Hearbreakers: Blue & Lonely, is a disk dedicated to broken hearts. Probably the largest selection of wider known tracks and artist on this disk, starting with Am I Blue? sung by Libby Holman. Also included are tracks by The Ink Spots, Dinah Shore, The boswell Sisters, Bessie Smith, Blind Willie Johnson, Duke Ellington, Ma Rainey, Benny Goodman, Memphis Jug Band and much more.
Yet more interesting compilations from the equally interesting German label Trikont. From the label that brought us collections of La Paloma covers, songs with yodelling and songs of death, all drawing from every genre imaginable, plus Roady music from Vietnam, and other remarkable concept mixes, comes the Flashbacks series. Six disks of music from as early as 1914, spanning to 1947 and each organized by a particular theme.
Volume five, Halleluja: Gospel & Prayers, is a collection of gospel recordings, both a capella quartet, accompanied soloist, and even some recordings made at church services, all from 1926 to 1946. An amazing variety of gospel recordings, Featuring tracks from Bessie Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Blind Willie Johnson and much more.
Yet more interesting compilations from the equally interesting German label Trikont. From the label that brought us collections of La Paloma covers, songs with yodelling and songs of death, all drawing from every genre imaginable, plus Roady music from Vietnam, and other remarkable concept mixes, comes the Flashbacks series. Six disks of music from as early as 1914, spanning to 1947 and each organized by a particular theme.
Volume six, American War Songs: Hitler & Hell, is an interesting collection of inspirational fighting anthems from before and through World War II. Because nazi propaganda that was spreading throughout Europe and the United States unfettered people, such as film mogel Harry Warner, inspired others to lash back with anti-nazi propaganda. Harry is quoted in the liner notes addressing the American Legion in a speech that was broadcast on news reel in 1939: "...Drive them out. Make America unsafe for those who seek to tear down what others have built through the generations since 1776. Drive them from their secret meeting places. Destroy their insidious propaganda machines. Drive out their bunds and their leagues, their klans and black legions. The silver shirts, the black shirts and the dirty shirts. Help keep America for those who believe in America..." More is included in both German and English in these very thorough liner notes. The disk itself features tracks by Leadbelly, Eddie Cantor, The Hoosier Hot Shots, Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters, Nat King Cole, Marlene Dietrich and much more.
British DJ Andy Votel (also responsible for the mindblowing Vertigo Mixed set that we'll be reviewing as soon as we have enough!) has compiled this fantastic disc devoted to, as you might expect, some way cool "folk" music sounds from approx. three decades ago... he's selected tracks from acts that range from pagan UK acid folk to SoCal styled sunshine popsyke to would-be Joni Mitchell songstress stuff to far-out hippy jams. Even a Polish blues band. Some of this had unrealized commercial potential, other stuff was willfully experimental...all of it is mellow and pretty, sometimes melancholic, sometimes sunny and buoyant. The folksters found here are mostly pretty obscure and uncelebrated, though AQ customers are likely to be already familiar with, say, Brigitte Fontaine and Linda Perhacs. And there's a track from Spain's wonderfully stoned Musica Dispersa, whose reissued album we so recently reviewed.
Here's all the artists: Carol Batton, Kathy Smith, Sarofeen & Smoke, Brigitte Fontaine, Linda Perhacs, Breakout, Musica Dispersa, The Poppy Family, Wendy & Bonnie, Bonnie Koloc, Heaven & Earth, Erica Pomerace, Audience, The Roundtable, Sidan. Lots of lovely female voices, some menfolk too. As you'd expect, a lot of this is a wee bit twee -- some cuts are more our thing than others -- but it's a fine comp with no duds and lots of gentle gems. Votel provides enthusiastic and well-researched liner notes with info on each artist featured. Nicely done!
It seems like we've been waiting forever for this, and finally it's here!! As you know we're big fans of Andy Votel's folk and prog comps as well as the Finders Keepers reissue series, and this collection does not disappoint. The first volume had all sorts of amazing songs from mostly bands we had never heard of, save for two or three exceptions. But with that and the help of Bob Stanley's stellar Acid Folk comps, Gathering In The Mushrooms, and An Early Morning Hush, as well as reissue labels Lion, Water and Sunbeam, our ears have been pricked up to rare folk ever since, so we are a bit ahead of the game in terms of making a whole lot of new discoveries here on this collection, which includes store favorites, Sibylle Baier, Pentangle, Turid, Susan Christie and Emmanuelle Parrenin. But there are plenty of surprises and wonderful inclusions such as the female Spanish/Dutch duo, Vainica Doble, the sitar-folk stylings of Paul Parrish, the Swedish prog-folk of Midsommar, the child sung lullabyes of Jan and Lorraine, Hawaii's These Trails, the Dutch commune folk of Elly & Rikkart, The Christian folk of Parchment and 11.59 and stalwart blues-folk heavyweight, Alexis Korner, among many others. So Awesome!!!
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Three cd set of the earliest existing recordings of Swedish folk music - primarily solo fiddle, with occasional clarinet and dulcimer - recorded onto wax cylinders between 1913 and 1920. Includes a 39 page booklet with liner notes in Swedish and English along with archival photos.
Old Hat seems to be picking up the slack from Yazoo these days when it comes to reissuing American roots music. On the last AQL we got the "Music From the Lost Provinces" disc, which was great, and now comes a pair of great discs showcasing black fiddle players from the 20's and 30's. For while the fiddle was a prominent instrument in black string bands way back when, it's been all but disassociated from blues and jazz in the present. So what happened to the violin's place in black string bands to relegate it from lead instrument at the turn of the 20th century, to being all but unused before the century was half way through? And why isn't the violin used more often in the blues today? Maybe it comes down to ergonomics; the lone singer with a guitar not only has an easier time with singing and playing, but certainly cuts a more striking pose with his ax than a fiddler. While it's generally agreed that guitarists were indeed more popular than fiddlers at the dawn of commercial recording, the editors of these discs argue that recording companies were extraordinarily biased towards recording guitarists for the sole interest of profits from record sales. So what's new? That might explain the blues, but what about jazz? At the birth of jazz during the 1920's there were more violinists in New Orleans' Storyville (according to the local registry of musicians and bands) than the now ubiquitous horn players. That, I suppose, can be chalked up to volume. A loud horn section will always have an edge playing to large audiences in an urban setting such as New Orleans. What Old Hat has collected here are some of the finest examples of fiddle players who were, by some thankful foresight, preserved for our edification and enjoyment. And for what is lacking in quantity of fiddle recordings available from this period is made up for in quality. The majority of tracks here were recorded between 1926 and 1935 (with one straggler taken from a 1948 session). The greatest thing about the music on these discs is that it's not "jazz" and it's not "blues" per-se either. Performers themselves took the liberty of calling their tunes "_________ (insert word here) blues" even when the tunes didn't follow the rigid parameters of the blues chord progression. This in the hopes of capitalizing on the increasing popularity of the new genre. The popular form of the day, ragtime, spawned both blues and jazz. Old Hat has done a fine job with both of these, as with all of their reissues, including excellent liner notes and historic photos. Highly recommended!
From Dust To Digital, the label that brought us the absolutely breathtaking Goodbye Babylon collection of early gospel music comes this exhaustive collection of lost 78's released between 1956-1969 on Fonotone Records, the last 78-RPM record label in the land. None of these tracks has ever been available on cd before, but now, after years and years of extensive research, digging through old records, sifting through old photographs and tracking down musicians, we're finally able to hear these amazing recordings. 5 discs, 131 tracks of some of the most amazing and long unheard latter-day American Primitive music, bluegrass, blues, folk, country and more. Housed in a cigar box, this set includes five cds in full color printed sleeves, a massive 160 page book with photos, liner notes, notes on each track and each artist, seventeen full color postcards, three record label reproductions, a souvenir folder and a Fonotone bottle opener!
Most of the artists were new to us with the notable exception of Mr. John Fahey recording as Blind Thomas and as the Mississippi Swampers (with Mike Stewart) and of course Fonotone head honcho Joe Bussard. But that almost makes it cooler. So many unheard and unheard of artists. Fans of Goodbye Babylon, the American Primitive compilations, and American Folkways will most likely find this pretty darn essential!
Oh Bloodshot how we love thee. You singlehandedly (okay, well maybe not SINGLEhandedly) convinced a nation of hipsters that it's okay to love country music. And that there was more to country music than Kenny Chesny or Toby Keith. And that maybe a quick peek at your parents records might prove that they weren't so square after all, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, David Allan Coe, Patsy Cline, George Jones. So we had a generation of punk rockers discover their inner twang and thus was born the so-called No Depression movement. Named for the first Uncle Tupelo record, which in turn owed everything but it's country punk sound to the Carter Family, this upstart generation of REAL young country grew and changed and became a gorgeously varied patchwork quilt of all the various strains of strum and twang. And Bloodshot was there to document it all. From the swampy Bliblical blues of Sixteen Horsepower, to the stomping punk-as-fuck broken bottle bluegrass of Split Lip Rayfield, to the rambunctious country power-pop of the Old 97's, to the mysterious darktwang of Richard Buckner to the psychpop country of My Morning Jacket and on and on. This comp reads like a who's who of the last 10 years of independent music, and is a testament to the vision of Bloodshot. Lots of rare and exclusive tracks from: Paul Burch & Ralph Stanley, Bobby Bare Jr., Andre Williams & The Sadies, the Meat Purveyors, the Bottle Rockets, Carla Bozulich, Minus 5, Nine Pound Hammer, Sally Timms, Kelly Hogan, Crooked Fingers, Mary Lou Lord, Jon Rauhouse, John Doe, Jennie & The Pinetops, Hanl Wiliiams III, The Court And Spark, Rex Hobart, the Waco Brothers and tons more. Comes with a big 'ol booklet of liner notes and amazing photos.
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Interpretation of the work of Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine. With such luminaries as Flying Saucer Attack, Ghost's Masaki Batoh, Damon and Naomi, Bevis Frond, Mourning Cloak, and Tom Rapp himself.
Who knew? Back in the sixties, not all the folk singers were left-wing pinko peaceniks. Apparently, there were a few "counter-counter-culture" folkies strumming and singing, in much the same style as the more popular likes of Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Joan Baez, but with a reactionary, not revolutionary, agenda. Singing songs of patriotism and anti-Communism, three folk troubadours for the "Silent Majority" - Janet Greene, Tony Dolan, and Vera Vanderlaan - appear here, on tracks from releases circa 1965-'68, that now sound quite quaint and corny, and maybe did back then too. Leave it to The Omni Recording Corporation to come up with a collection like this! It's both amusing (in a kind of Stephen Colbert kitsch sort of way), and of nostalgic, historical interest. Which brings up a point - it helps if you know stuff like what the S.D.S. was, and who Alger Hiss was, to fully appreciate these songs. Though everybody will get the jokes about hippies and hygiene! Many of the songs here are passionate and heartfelt ("Cry The Beloved Country", "Remember Bloody Budapest"); others are humorous, both intentionally and otherwise. Tony Dolan's "Abolish, Abolish!", which is actually in support of the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee, is quite Tom Lehrer-esqe in its tone of sarcastic, ironic humor ("Now it calls the Reds destructive, they're not that at all, they're actually very constructive, take a look at the Berlin Wall"). His "Join The S.D.S." is like that too, with one line being "They're the soiled young men, who fight for liberty / they know all the four-letter words, except S-O-A-P". Har har har.
Definitely an amusing novelty, and perhaps a great gift for some older person who might actually appreciate the sentiments expressed (like, your cranky grandpa who voted for Barry Goldwater?). However, we're not sure how many times WE'RE gonna want to hear a song like, say, Vanderlaan's "Modern Paul Revere", a paean to then-governor Ronald Reagan!! Still, lots of chuckles the first few times through, and of course it's packaged with typical Omni care, including fascinating & detailed liner notes, plus vintage graphics from the original releases by these obscure, conservative folkies. Anyone into the politics and culture of the era, should find this cd both interesting and entertaining.
Compiled by the venerable Country Music Foundation, this features Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, Al Green, Charley Pride, Aaron Neville, Ted Hawkins, Stoney Edwards, Professor Longhair, Etta James, Joe Tex, Leadbelly, the Supremes (!), Wynonie Harris, Solomon Burke, and a host of lesser known black country music musicians.
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This delightful new collection from the great British crate-digger Johnny Trunk focuses on the lighter and more whimsical obscurities of British Folk. Think a more kid-friendly Wicker Man Soundtrack-same spooky and wondrous undertones but without all the, er... shall we say, ribald subtext. There is definitely an acidy H.R. Pufnstuf vibe to some of the songs which made some of us imitate those overacting kids on Barney. In fact some of these songs were recorded for children's movement classes in the early seventies, using lots of zany instruments like penny-whistles, kazoos and ocarinas. While this is not strictly aimed at children (some songs like Basil Kirchin's sublime "I Start Counting" might be too slow for full kiddie enjoyment), we think parents would rather have their young kids listening to this stuff than crap like Barney or Raffi. Fans of "incredibly strange music", novelty records, and sixties and seventies folk-pop should check this too. Far out!
When this first arrived, we thought maybe Important Records had re-released Jefre Cantu Ledesma's serpentine drone solo work of the same name that had come out on Spekk last year. But it seems there might just be more than one Jorge Luis Borges fan in the world, and one of them is James Blackshaw. Those of you who were lucky enough to see him perform live here in our store were witness to his magical powers of acoustic alchemy, and between pieces he quietly mentioned this new release that he had compiled. Bringing together avant-acoustic string pieces specifically recorded for this release by Dutch lute player Jozef Van Wissem (also his recent collaborator in Bretheren of The Free Spirit), Swedish cellist Helena Espvall, of Espers, Japanese koto virtuoso Chieko Mori, as well as Blackshaw himself. Beginning and ending with pieces by Cheiko Mori, we are taken through a twisting sojourn of cross-cultural touchstones and stylistic complexities. The range of classical lyricism and free improvisation highlights each individual's unique contributions while also recognizing a vital connection to each other's methods bringing the whole together. Excellent!
Gathering together new and old recordings of the beauty of true country. Classics by legends such as Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard alongside exclusive songs from Neko Case (easily two of her best!) and The Souvenirs.
From the label that brought us Dust Sucker and Mersey Trout (the Magic Band live in Liverpool) comes a collection of recordings -- from the 1920's to the 1960's -- which serve to illuminate the vast musical influences of the enigmatic and inimitable Don Van Vliet a.k.a Captain Beefheart. As one might imagine, such a musical map would surely cut a broad swath. While many of the tracks have a direct connection to the Captain's works like "New Minglewood Blues" by the Noah Lewis Jug Band, whose opening lines are exactly the same as "Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes I Do". Other tracks, like those by Blind Willie Johnson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk point out obvious influences on Vliet's vocal style and proclivity for playing two wind instruments at once. While the majority of tracks here are early blues & string band recordings -- Blind Blake, Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson, Uncle Bud Landress, Al Simmons, Blind Joe Taggert, among others -- there's also plenty of jazz cuts -- Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway -- and oddballs like Lord Buckley, The Fang and Hawaiian slack key players Kanui & Lula. On top of all this are interspersed rare tracks of the Magic Band, interview snippets and random remarks from Captain Beefheart. Whether you're a fan of Captain Beefheart or not, you just might like this collection anyhow as just an interesting mix cd.
This recording may be viewed as either a joyful celebration of the ubiquitous nature of the instrument throughout the world by accordian lovers or an admonishment to those who hate it, to give up now: there is nowhere to hide. Much like the turntable of
What do Blind Lemon Jefferson, J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers, The Louvin Brothers, Mahalia Jackson, Rev. Gary Davis, The Carter Family, Flatt & Scruggs, The Stanley Bros., Blind Willie Johnson, Bill & Charlie Monroe, Hank Williams and Uncle Dave Macon have in common? Gospel. And the upstart label Dust To Digital has stepped in to sing the praises of their praises. Be they blues, old-time, country, or bluegrass performers, all of them here dedicated at least part of their repertoire to a higher power. Second only to the earnest passion of the performances on this set is that applied to the design and construction of the box set itself (the art design here was done by the same people that did the beautiful Charlie Patton box). The set contains 5 CDs of early gospel, one CD of early sermons, and one beautifully printed 200 page book filled with lyrics, biblical passages, biographical notations, photos and sundry other historical documents. All of this packaged in a silk-screened wooden box and snuggled together with two clumps of raw cotton. This may very well be the most thorough collection of early gospel music ever captured on wax cylinder, 78, or magnetic tape. Containing recordings dating as far back as 1902 on up to 1960. Along with the more famous names listed above, there are numerous tracks from lesser known artists who are just as worthy of attention. Most in evidence are ghostly a capella groups like The Alabama Sacred Harp Singers that will raise your hair on end. Then there are some truly unique visionaries like Washington Phillips, who accompanies himself on the dolceola, the most delicate of instruments, it's like a mini piano crossed with a dulcimer. It's one of the most beautiful sounds ever committed to 78. The quiet, delicateness of his performances are such that the throbbing drone of the early recording equipment becomes as much a part of his performance as his singing and playing (N.B.: there's a full length by Phillips that we should be getting in here in the near future). And let's not forget the 6th disc of sermons (25 of them) recorded between 1926 and 1941. These are possibly as musical (to be sure, many of the sermons even break into music anyway) as the first five discs and regardless of one's religious affiliation or lack thereof they are a compelling collection of beautiful and historical retoric, the art of which seems to have disappeared in the new millennium. This is one astoundingly compiled and executed collection. If you can't find a spot for it on your own shelf, you can certainly make a loved one happy by letting them find one under their christmas tree. Very highly recommended!
Who knew Nevada City, CA was such a hot bed for hip now sounds? Well, since that town is home to the cool recording studio Brighton Sound and new record label Grass Roots Record Co., artists have flocked to NC to put their music to tape.
This compilation offers a broad array of those who have been through their doors in the short time they've been open for business. Sessions took place over the course of just two weeks, during which seventeen diverse artists laid their goods down live direct to tape. The who's who: Hella, Biff Rose, Moore Brothers, Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux, Made In, Alina Estelle Hardin, Kings & Queens, Golden Shoulders, Lee Bob Watson, Casual Fog, Jessica Henry, Benjamin Oak Goodman, Them Hills, Reckon Family, The Snegg Band, RF and Neal Morgan. A wonderfully down-home, close-knit yet welcoming community feel.
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"More enchanting acoustic-guitar recordings by both adults and children. The recordings by children include blind school students playing home made instruments, and a hell-for-leather cut for high pitched vocals and 'tomato-can banjo'" - John Storm Roberts / Original Music.
This isn't brand new, but we just managed to get a bunch, and if this isn't just about the perfect compilation for you free-folk, psychedelic, new weird America fans we don't know what is. The track listing should be enough to convince you: Acid Mothers Temple, Kemialliset Ystavat, Amps For Christ, Greg Weeks, Pelt, Martyn Bates, Currituck County, Fursaxa, Dead Raven Choir, Alasdair Roberts, Stone Breath, the Iditarod, Mason Jones, and more!
Who kicks ass? The true rockin' country maverick Wanda Jackson, that's who!!! And what could be a more fitting tribute than to assemble 21 covers of her songs performed by a crowd of fiery ladies (and some fellers too) cut from the same cloth? The compilation kicks off with a visit from Canada's country sweetheart Ms Carolyn Mark dishin' out a suitably rousing version of one of Jackson's trademark songs "Hot Dog, That Made Him Mad", and the good times just keep on rollin' from there. Also dropping by to tip their hat are many familiar faces from the past and present Bloodshot Records stable as well as some new faces: Neko Case (delivering a rollicking rendition of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" with Jon Rauhouse and Joey Burns), Robbie Fulks, Trailer Bride (who completely transform one of Jackson's other musical calling cards "Fujiyama Mama" into a druggy, delirious dirge), Kelly Hogan (aah, as dreamy as ever!), Rosie Flores, Wayne Hancock, Laura Cantrell, Bottle Rockets with Sheri Hurst, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Nora O'Connor, Candye Kane, Anna Fermin & The Trigger Gospel, Kristi Rose, The Cornell Hurd Band, Jane Baxter Miller, Kim Lenz, Asylum Street Spankers, Gina Lee & The Brisket Boys, Jesse Dayton, and The Ranch Girls & The Ragtime Wranglers (from the Netherlands). Another fine compilation from the Bloodshot ranch.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Revenant has once again done a swank job of a reissue. Originally only available on double CD, Revenant has now just reissued the collection in a tri-fold double LP set. Smithsonian Folkways' influential "Anthology of American Folk Music" was a massive three volume set compiled by the eccentric artist and archivist Harry Smith. Originally released in 1952 and reissued on CD in 1997, it stands as a pioneering look into the earliest recordings of awe-inspiring folk music of the '20s and '30s. This fourth volume of the series had been collected around the same time, but had never been released until 2000. Like the CD version, this double LP set is lavishly packaged. It includes a 20 page booklet, a poster and the LPs come pressed on clear vinyl. Like the original Folkways Anthology, this smaller collection features the work of some of our country's most important musical figures from the turn of the 20th century including Lead Belly, The Carter Family, Robert Johnson, The Monroe Brothers, Uncle Dave Macon, the Memphis Jug Band, and many more. It also features in depth narratives on Smith and his work from Greil Marcus, Ed Sanders, John Cohen, Dick Spottswood, and Fahey. Simply outstanding.
Truly amazing and strange collection recorded in Spivey's Corner, North Carolina in 1975 & 1976 during the annual "Hollerin'" contest. Developed out of a need for communication over long distances long before walkie talkies were invented, Hollerers soon developed their own unique hollers for various emergency situations. This disk contains some of the most advanced developments in Hollerin' and as such has some of the most amazing sounds you'll ever hear coming out of a human throat at high volumes.
Dust-To-Digital is quickly becoming one of the most important reissue labels going, and most definitely one of the most impressive, with every one of their releases, most extravagant box sets, a marvel not only of musical archaeology, but of ingenious design and impeccable selection.
How Low Can You Go is not actually brand new. It's a little over a year old, but it's one we've been meaning to list for ages, and are finally getting around to it. As the title alludes to, the focus of this three disc set, is the low end, the oft overlooked bass player, the band member who typically hangs in the back, but who holds everything together. For the purpose of this particular compilation, it's the string bass players, those who wielded the upright bass, an instrument that helped define the sound of jazz and dance bands in the early twentieth century.
Like all Dust-To-Digital releases, there's a huge book, with plenty of information, on the development of the string bass, its roots in 15th century Western European music, and how it supplanted the TUBA as low end provider of choice. It's a fascinating story, but it's the music that really tells the story. The focus is mostly on jazz, big band, ragtime, with brief forays into other sounds like gospel and bluegrass, but it's all fantastic, the hiss of old 78's wrapped lovingly around festive jazzy joints, folky funereal twang and soaring spirituals, smokey rhythm and blues and bustling big band jams.
Two discs packed with mostly recordings from New York City, while the third disc focuses almost exclusively on William Manuel Johnson, a ragtime and jazz pioneer, and master of the string bass. There's plenty of text on his life and musical exploits, which is great reading, but like the other two discs, the music speaks volumes, and will most likely have you wanting more.
Three discs in printed sleeves, a 100 page perfect bound book, with tons of essays and liner notes, notes on each track and every performer, a whole section just on William Johnson, tons of amazing photos, reproductions of old lp and 78 sleeves, newspaper ads and articles and lots more, all housed in a hardback book sized cardboard box.
Paying tribute to one of the greatest musical beings of our lifetime is a pretty hefty challenge but luckily M. Ward, who put together this comp, did a really nice job of bringing together artists who have been greatly influenced by Fahey's guitar playing and legacy. You can hear in the these covers how deeply felt Fahey's music has been to the next generation of musicians who use guitar as their tool of expression. This is one of those rare tributes that doesn't feel like a haphazard hack job. Fahey's music is so spiritual and pure that there is no doubt everyone on here was honored to pay their respects and came through with excellent versions of Fahey originals. With people like Devendra Banhart, Lee Ranaldo, Howe Gelb, Sufjan Stevens, Calexico, Pelt, Cul De Sac, Currituck Co. and more all contributing covers, it's so nice to hear how they each came to a Fahey song with their own aesthetic at hand. Released on Vanguard who put out many of Fahey's classic albums, the packaging is really nice with each artist contributing a blurb about their relationship with Fahey's music. Tribute records aren't usually this thoughtful and well executed and we're so glad that for John Fahey it was done right because he deserves nothing less then excellence in his honor!
Initially we were thrown for a puzzlacious loop by the title. Sounds a lot like the Pamela Des Barres autobiography! Then, admittedly not being familiar with the phrase 'Sacred Harp', we also thought the subtitle might be somewhat misleading. We did a little homework though, and found out that it is a traditional choral singing style originating in the Southern states, gospel folksong with a repertory of pre-Civil War vintage. Whew, glad we got it all figured out. Anyways, confusion and definitions aside, the strength of this compilation is something far less complicated. An amazing document of both individual vocalists and congregations singing en masse, it exemplifies the power of the human voice, in concert with spiritual belief. Quite a force to behold, at once both humbling and uplifting. This disc is the aural companion to the documentary film Awake, My Soul, which we're now eager to see, after having spun this numerous times since it showed up here!
The absolutely wonderful Dust-To-Digital label (responsible for the massive, wooden Goodbye, Babylon box set, and the Fonotone one too, among other treats) has again done a great job with the compiling and packaging of these olde timey treasures. The 30-track cd is housed in a handsome cardboard foldy kind of pack, and of course in the cd booklet there's an expert essay on sacred harp singing, as well as individual track notes. As the subtitle indicates, this is a recorded tradition going back 85 years. The earliest recording here dates from 1922, with plenty more from the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s -- along with several from 2006. We like the timbre of the older recordings best, of course (and the scratchier the recording, the better in our view!), but they're all pretty awesome (an appropriate word to use in this context, in its deepest meaning!). Majestically eerie, moving, and powerful are these songs raised to heaven. As voices overlap and merge, some of these tracks begin to almost sound like some avant-garde 20th century, prog choral piece or something. Others have more of a hillbilly, homey appeal. It's all quite beautiful, and highly recommended!!
Amazing compilation of lost folk and blues from this relatively new Northwestern label (even though they're called Mississippi), who apparently have tons more killer comps on deck and coming soon. We can hardly wait! But for now, we're perfectly pleased to just dig into this one (and the other new Mississippi release, the�Lipa Kodi Ya City Council comp of African music, reviewed elsewhere on this list), a gorgeous chunk of dusty, sepia toned old timey blues, recorded between the years�1927-1948, all of it fantastic. Like a modern day Folkways, Mississippi has gathered up a gorgeous and varied collection of lost music, from campfire fiddles, to tap dance rhythms, to smokey night club joints, to brassy big band, to amazing yodeling, to Latin flavored rhythm and blues, to back porch stomps, to soft and shimmery crooned blues, it's all fantastic, the recordings raw and emotional, immediate, fuzzy and lo-fi, straight from the original 78's. Absolutely essential. The perfect vinyl addendum to your Smithsonian Folkways'�Anthology of American Folk Music box set.�
MISSISSIPPI Alert! MISSISSIPPI Alert! MISSISSIPPI Alert!
Thankfully there is someone putting out these killer comps of little heard blues and gospel on vinyl, the way they were made to be heard. Such loving attention paid to selection, flow and packaging, so thoughtfully put together. Songs so lost, coated in light crackle that only adds to their warm, melancholic and far-off mystery. We can't get enough of these records, and this one is no exception! Another amazing compilation of rare, obscure southern blues dealing with sex, death and loss. Featuring Cryin Sam Collins, Henry Spaulding, Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy, Buster Johnson, Little Hat Jones, Robert Wilkins, Willie Baker, Blind Blake, Louie Lasky, Charlie McCoy, and Joe Callicott. Our favorite cuts are by the female singers including the incomparable Memphis Minnie, two tracks by Lottie Kimbrough (The Kansas City Butterball), and a sad lament by Elvie Thomas. Plenty of tracks brim with sexy suggestiveness and fast living, such as "Can't I Do It For You?" " How You Want Your Rolling Done?", "Wayward Girl Blues" and "Keep It Clean", while others deal with loneliness and dying: "Lonesome Road", "Undertaker Blues", "Motherless Child Blues" "Rope Stretchin' Blues" and "Fare Thee Well Blues". Only in the blues do living and dying interweave with such incredibly sublime intensity! Go Mississippi!
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Okay Mississippi Records obsessives, get ready to blow your tops. Besides the amazing Been Here All My Days comp reviewed on the last list (grab one if you haven't yet, it's fantastic!), there are five, count 'em FIVE other new Mississippi titles this time around: I'll Meet You On That Other Shore, I'm Gonna Live Anyhow Until I Die, I'll Be So Glad When The Sun Goes Down, Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long and Wave The Ocean, Wave The Sea, all culled from a legendary set of Alan Lomax field recordings, collected during his "Southern Journey, a trip he took through the American South, between the years 1959 and 1960, accompanied by British folk singer Shirley Collins, during which he made the first ever stereo recordings of American Traditional music in the field, capturing in stereo for the first time, music from Southern prison farms, the traditional gospel choral folksong of the Sacred Harp, the Southern Fife And Drum Corps, the debut recordings of blues legend Fred McDowell, not to mention an incredibly varied selection of musics from blues to bluegrass to country to gospel, captured on porches, at dairy farms, in churches, at picnics, state fairs, in prisons, in living rooms and in bars, many of the musicians, many of the folks Lomax had recorded before, and was visiting again, years later, while many were new discoveries.
According to the extensive liner notes, Lomax upon returning to the US, after a decade long recording trip in Europe and the UK, was hailed as a hero, responsible for the revival of interest in American folk music, but was quite disappointed by all the young people playing the folk music and traditional American music he helped discover, record and expose to this new audience, an audience that seemed to believe not only were they preserving the music, but also in some strange way "improving" on the originals, which horrified Lomax and spurred him to make the trip that would be later known as his "Southern Journey", not only to capture stereo recordings of all this amazing, still thriving American music, but to also prove those young folks wrong.
The results speak for themselves, 5 lps of gorgeous, unique, heartfelt American music, instrumental and vocal, celebratory and sorrowful, ballads and bluegrass hoedowns, gospel spirituals and military marches, call and response prison songs and back porch blues, and so much more. This is classic, timeless music, sounds imbued with the sweat and blood, the lives and deaths, the loves and losses of the American people, past and present, moving and emotional, and totally fantastic...
As for which one of the five to buy, it's a tough call, they're all fantastic, and the music is varied on each, they're not divided by theme or style, instead, it's more like a sprawling 5 part compilation, each as good as the next, so yeah, obviously if you can, you should buy all 5, but if that's too much, heck, just pick one, maybe with a title that appeals to you, and dig in. Odds are you'll be back for more.
Packed in super heavy jackets, with printed liner notes on the back, each volume containing a big booklet, with photos and more notes on each of the different tracks and all of the various performers.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Okay Mississippi Records obsessives, get ready to blow your tops. Besides the amazing Been Here All My Days comp reviewed on the last list (grab one if you haven't yet, it's fantastic!), there are five, count 'em FIVE other new Mississippi titles this time around: I'll Meet You On That Other Shore, I'm Gonna Live Anyhow Until I Die, I'll Be So Glad When The Sun Goes Down, Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long and Wave The Ocean, Wave The Sea, all culled from a legendary set of Alan Lomax field recordings, collected during his "Southern Journey, a trip he took through the American South, between the years 1959 and 1960, accompanied by British folk singer Shirley Collins, during which he made the first ever stereo recordings of American Traditional music in the field, capturing in stereo for the first time, music from Southern prison farms, the traditional gospel choral folksong of the Sacred Harp, the Southern Fife And Drum Corps, the debut recordings of blues legend Fred McDowell, not to mention an incredibly varied selection of musics from blues to bluegrass to country to gospel, captured on porches, at dairy farms, in churches, at picnics, state fairs, in prisons, in living rooms and in bars, many of the musicians, many of the folks Lomax had recorded before, and was visiting again, years later, while many were new discoveries.
According to the extensive liner notes, Lomax upon returning to the US, after a decade long recording trip in Europe and the UK, was hailed as a hero, responsible for the revival of interest in American folk music, but was quite disappointed by all the young people playing the folk music and traditional American music he helped discover, record and expose to this new audience, an audience that seemed to believe not only were they preserving the music, but also in some strange way "improving" on the originals, which horrified Lomax and spurred him to make the trip that would be later known as his "Southern Journey", not only to capture stereo recordings of all this amazing, still thriving American music, but to also prove those young folks wrong.
The results speak for themselves, 5 lps of gorgeous, unique, heartfelt American music, instrumental and vocal, celebratory and sorrowful, ballads and bluegrass hoedowns, gospel spirituals and military marches, call and response prison songs and back porch blues, and so much more. This is classic, timeless music, sounds imbued with the sweat and blood, the lives and deaths, the loves and losses of the American people, past and present, moving and emotional, and totally fantastic...
As for which one of the five to buy, it's a tough call, they're all fantastic, and the music is varied on each, they're not divided by theme or style, instead, it's more like a sprawling 5 part compilation, each as good as the next, so yeah, obviously if you can, you should buy all 5, but if that's too much, heck, just pick one, maybe with a title that appeals to you, and dig in. Odds are you'll be back for more.
Packed in super heavy jackets, with printed liner notes on the back, each volume containing a big booklet, with photos and more notes on each of the different tracks and all of the various performers.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Newest offering from Germany's Trikont label. Yet another genre spanning collection of music, this time devoted to Hank Williams. Featuring covers by such disparate artists as The Residents, Hasil Adkins, Killdozer, Isaac Hayes, Link Wray, Freddy Fender, Mekons, Al Green, Buckwheat Zydeco, Jad Fair, Charlie Feathers and much more!
As of late anyone with even a passing interest in the blues has had plenty of reasons to rejoice. Almost every list we are blessed with something vinyl on Monk or Mississippi, but even with the wealth of material available, there are still plenty of lesser known artists who will go unheard, due to their obscurity, lack of recordings, or inability to fit comfortably within the predominantly white myths that have, for better and/or worse, shaped the history of blues music and its legacy. That's why it's so great having this awesome new comp focusing on some of the less influential but still powerful bluesmen. With a whopping 24 tracks, this collection spans from 1923 (with, reportedly, the first recorded use of a guitar slide, or more appropriately, knife, as wielded by Sylvester Weaver) to 1929, one of the most noteworthy of years for recorded blues music. Some of these musicians you may recognize, like Ishman Bracey (whose Suitcase Full Of Blues we reviewed not too long back), but many of them are just names we've read about, and others still are completely new to us. No matter, it's all prime stuff carefully selected to help show us what we have been missing. Carrying on in the tradition of legendary labels like Yazoo and Arhoolie, Sub Rosa has done us a great favor with this one, and we're hoping even more labels will take a cue and excavate essential recordings from the past. Highly recommended.
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** **MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Okay Mississippi Records obsessives, get ready to blow your tops. Besides the amazing Been Here All My Days comp reviewed on the last list (grab one if you haven't yet, it's fantastic!), there are five, count 'em FIVE other new Mississippi titles this time around: I'll Meet You On That Other Shore, I'm Gonna Live Anyhow Until I Die, I'll Be So Glad When The Sun Goes Down, Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long and Wave The Ocean, Wave The Sea, all culled from a legendary set of Alan Lomax field recordings, collected during his "Southern Journey, a trip he took through the American South, between the years 1959 and 1960, accompanied by British folk singer Shirley Collins, during which he made the first ever stereo recordings of American Traditional music in the field, capturing in stereo for the first time, music from Southern prison farms, the traditional gospel choral folksong of the Sacred Harp, the Southern Fife And Drum Corps, the debut recordings of blues legend Fred McDowell, not to mention an incredibly varied selection of musics from blues to bluegrass to country to gospel, captured on porches, at dairy farms, in churches, at picnics, state fairs, in prisons, in living rooms and in bars, many of the musicians, many of the folks Lomax had recorded before, and was visiting again, years later, while many were new discoveries.
According to the extensive liner notes, Lomax upon returning to the US, after a decade long recording trip in Europe and the UK, was hailed as a hero, responsible for the revival of interest in American folk music, but was quite disappointed by all the young people playing the folk music and traditional American music he helped discover, record and expose to this new audience, an audience that seemed to believe not only were they preserving the music, but also in some strange way "improving" on the originals, which horrified Lomax and spurred him to make the trip that would be later known as his "Southern Journey", not only to capture stereo recordings of all this amazing, still thriving American music, but to also prove those young folks wrong.
The results speak for themselves, 5 lps of gorgeous, unique, heartfelt American music, instrumental and vocal, celebratory and sorrowful, ballads and bluegrass hoedowns, gospel spirituals and military marches, call and response prison songs and back porch blues, and so much more. This is classic, timeless music, sounds imbued with the sweat and blood, the lives and deaths, the loves and losses of the American people, past and present, moving and emotional, and totally fantastic...
As for which one of the five to buy, it's a tough call, they're all fantastic, and the music is varied on each, they're not divided by theme or style, instead, it's more like a sprawling 5 part compilation, each as good as the next, so yeah, obviously if you can, you should buy all 5, but if that's too much, heck, just pick one, maybe with a title that appeals to you, and dig in. Odds are you'll be back for more.
Packed in super heavy jackets, with printed liner notes on the back, each volume containing a big booklet, with photos and more notes on each of the different tracks and all of the various performers.
Dang, we've got a good one here for followers of the whole "Wooden Guitar" crowd -- Wooden Guitar being the name of another compilation on another label, devoted to guitarists doing acoustic solos in the tradition of John Fahey and the other folky folks on his classic Takoma label roster. That's more or less the idea here too, except that in addition to contemporary flame-keepers of the form like Pelt's Jack Rose and Cul de Sac's Glenn Jones, this comp features quite a few veteran string pickers who were part of the '60s scene -- some of 'em just recently been coaxed out of retirement. There's a few archival cuts dating from decades back, but a lot of this is newly recorded, and much of it is as yet otherwise unreleased, live and studio tracks both. Not all the names are familiar but when you hear 'em you'll want to hear more. The line-up includes the aforementioned Rose and Jones, along with Sandy Bull, John Fahey, Harry Taussig, Harris Newman, Brad Barr, Bern Nix, Steve Mann, Janet Smith, Terry Riley and his son Gyan, Suni McGrath, Bob Hadley, Kaki King, and Max Ochs (whose Fahey-dedicated track "Inspirational Anthem" gives this collection its title, and appears here twice, once in a version recorded in '69 and another from just last year). Moods and techniques vary, from the more old timey to the Eastern-tinged to the jazz-flecked. But it's all totally entrancing, hypnotic, transportational music. Several generations of adventurous American acoustic guitarists are represented here and it's nice to know that this musical movement looks to be going on strong into the future. A fine comp indeed!
We just reviewed volume 5 of this ongoing series which surveys the vibrant traditional past and bright experimental future of guitar soli. Hot on the heels of that fifth and final volume comes this elaborate box set of the entire series, plus an unreleased live bonus album by Lambchop guitarist William Tyler called Elvis Was a Capricorn. While we were remiss in reviewing vol 4, it's easy to tell by our other reviews of just how good this is. Here is what we said about past volumes:
ONE:
Dang, we've got a good one here for followers of the whole "Wooden Guitar" crowd -- Wooden Guitar being the name of another compilation on another label, devoted to guitarists doing acoustic solos in the tradition of John Fahey and the other folky folks on his classic Takoma label roster. That's more or less the idea here too, except that in addition to contemporary flame-keepers of the form like Pelt's Jack Rose and Cul de Sac's Glenn Jones, this comp features quite a few veteran string pickers who were part of the '60s scene -- some of 'em just recently been coaxed out of retirement. There's a few archival cuts dating from decades back, but a lot of this is newly recorded, and much of it is as yet otherwise unreleased, live and studio tracks both. Not all the names are familiar but when you hear 'em you'll want to hear more. The line-up includes the aforementioned Rose and Jones, along with Sandy Bull, John Fahey, Harry Taussig, Harris Newman, Brad Barr, Bern Nix, Steve Mann, Janet Smith, Terry Riley and his son Gyan, Suni McGrath, Bob Hadley, Kaki King, and Max Ochs (whose Fahey-dedicated track "Inspirational Anthem" gives this collection its title, and appears here twice, once in a version recorded in '69 and another from just last year). Moods and techniques vary, from the more old timey to the Eastern-tinged to the jazz-flecked. But it's all totally entrancing, hypnotic, transportational music. Several generations of adventurous American acoustic guitarists are represented here and it's nice to know that this musical movement looks to be going on strong into the future.
TWO:
Second Volume of American Primitive guitar explorations from both the old and new schools, showcasing the diverse styles of its strongest players. While the patron saint of this movement is still John Fahey, the resonant strains between generations exemplify how far the movement has grown while allowing each artist to retain their own voice. Representing the old school this time around are Billy Faier, Michael Chapman, Peter Lang (re-doing a piece from the early '70s), Fred Gerlach and a rare live recording of Robbie Basho from the Venus in Capricorn era. The New school is represented by James Blackshaw, Jose Gonzalez. local Berkeley musician Sean Smith, Christina Carter from Charalambides, Jack Rose (also featured on Vol. 1), Jesse Spearhawk, and British Banjo player Sharron Kraus. From traditional Americana, to eastern inflected ragas, shimmering 12 string washes to minimalist banjo odes, this is a fine set of excursionary guitar.
THREE:
Looking at the line-up of Tompkins Square's new Imaginational Anthem volume three, you would think they were focusing on the more experimental side of the solo guitar genre. Featuring R. Keenan Lawler, Shawn David McMillen, banjo mystic George Stavos, electronic musician Greg Davis, Ben Reynolds, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Berkeley guitarist Matt Baldwin, and Richard Crandell amongst others, we were half-expecting (hoping for?) a more way out approach towards the instrument. But alas that's not the case and that isn't really a bad thing either. While the sounds are more in line with the previous volumes, and other compilations of solo guitar work, this compilation stands up amongst the best of the genre with some fine finger-picking by some unexpected sources. Though props go to Lawler, McMillen, and Stavos for pushing the envelope the most.
FOUR:
Volume Four, subtitled New Possibilities, contains tracks by mostly newbies to us, except for Chris Forsyth, William Tyler and Aaron Shepherd. Rounded out by tracks from Sam Moss, Nick Jonah Davis, Pat O'Connell, Tyler Ramsey, Michah Blue Smaidone, Mike Fekete, and C. Joynes.
FIVE:
The latest round-up of modern guitar soli practitioners is as beautiful as ever, this time focussing on the newest breed of the craft. Familiar and unfamiliar names abound, but we're sure folks will get as excited as we were at the inclusion of two longtime San Francisco acolytes, Danny Paul Grody formerly of Tarentel, who brings a lush and lovely kosmiche vibe to "Lookout Point", and Bill Orcutt, delivering a healthy dose of dissonance and experimentation with his track "John Fahey Commemorative Beer Can", a title the great master would surely love. The overall feel of this set seems to oscillate nicely between the two poles of the traditional and experimental with tracks also by Steve Gunn, Jordan Fuller, Nick Shallice, Will Stratton, Daniel Bachman, Eric Carbonara, Tom Lecky, Alexander Turnquist, Cam Deas, and Yair Yona. Gorgeous!
The latest installment in Tompkins Square's round-up of modern guitar soli practitioners is as beautiful as ever, this time focussing on the newest breed of the craft. Familiar and unfamiliar names abound, but we're sure folks will get as excited as we were at the inclusion of two longtime San Francisco acolytes, Danny Paul Grody formerly of Tarentel, who brings a lush and lovely kosmiche vibe to "Lookout Point", and Bill Orcutt, delivering a healthy dose of dissonance and experimentation with his track "John Fahey Commemorative Beer Can", a title the great master would surely love. The overall feel of this set seems to oscillate nicely between the two poles of the traditional and experimental with tracks also by Steve Gunn, Jordan Fuller, Nick Shallice, Will Stratton, Daniel Bachman, Eric Carbonara, Tom Lecky, Alexander Turnquist, Cam Deas, and Yair Yona. Gorgeous!
FYI, the whole five volume Imaginational Anthem series is also now available in as six cd box set, the sixth disc being a bonus live recording by William Tyler called Elvis Was A Capricorn. Price, $37.
This past Record Store Day, the sixth volume in Tompkins Square's series of dreamy solo acoustic guitar compilations got its first vinyl release, and now post-Record Store Day, it's available on cd! And instead of contemporary players, or their Takoma-scene 60's and 70's forebears, they go even further back to the roots of what is often called American Primitive guitar, showcasing seven little known masters of the genre sourced from original 78 rpm recordings made between the 1920's and 1930's.
You might not recognize the names of Sylvester Weaver, Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, Davy Miller, Lemuel Turner, Frank Hutchison or Bayless Rose, but that shouldn't stop you from procuring some fine old rags and waltzes, parlor guitar meditations, slide guitar ruminations and dark blues folk, that inspired folks like John Fahey and Leo Kottke, and then Jack Rose and James Blackshaw and others of their ilk. Housed in a gatefold sleeve with extensive liner notes of the player's histories as well as tragedies. This is beautiful stuff!
Looking at the line-up of Tompkins Square's new Imaginational Anthem volume, you would think they were focusing on the more experimental side of the solo guitar genre. Featuring R. Keenan Lawler, Shawn David McMillen, banjo mystic George Stavos, electronic musician Greg Davis, Ben Reynolds, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Berkeley guitarist Matt Baldwin, and Richard Crandell amongst others, we were half-expecting (hoping for?) a more way out approach towards the instrument. But alas that's not the case and that isn't really a bad thing either. While the sounds are more in line with the previous volumes, and other compilations of solo guitar work, this compilation stands up amongst the best of the genre with some fine finger-picking by some unexpected sources. Though props go to Lawler, McMillen, and Stavos for pushing the envelope the most. LIMITED ADDED BONUS! The first ten purchasers get a free bonus 7" of two songs by Max Ochs from 1969, featuring the tracks "Imaginational Anthem" and "Oncones".
