Times Ain't Like They Used To Be Vol.1
Times Ain't Like They Used To Be Vol.1
1. Blues in the Bottle - Prince Albert Hunt 2. Dollar Bill Blues - Charlie Jordon 3. Lost John Dean - Bascom Lamar Lundsford 4. Streak of Lean, Streak of Fat - A. A. Gray and Sever Foot Dilly 5. Sinking of the Titanic - Richard "Rabbit" Brown 6. Tennessee Girls - Dykes Magic City Trio 7. Shotgun Blues - Bob Campbell 8. Train on the Island - J. P. Nestor & Norman Edmonds 9. The Fault's in Me - The Four Wanderers 10. The Tail of Halley's Comet - Happy Hayseeds play 11. Wake Up You Drowsy Sleeper - The Oaks Family 12. How You Want Your Rollin' Done - Louie Laskey 13. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss - Frank Blevins 14. On the Road Again - Memphis Jug Band 15. Dying Soldier, The - Buell Kazee 16. Voice Throwin' Blues - Buddy Boy Hawkins 17. Been on the Job Too Long - Wilmer Watts & The Lonely Eagles 18. Fannie Moore - Ken Maynard 19. I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape - Nugrape Twins 20. Old Miller's Will - Carson Brothers & Sprinkle 21. Skinner - Winston Holmes & Charlie Turner play 22. How To Make Love - Southern Moonlight Entertainers 23. Old Jimmie Sutton - Grayson & Whittier
"Times, Vol 1" is the first of four CDs featuring blues, mountain music, sanctified singing, ballads, dances, and so on. Partisans of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music will also enjoy these Yazoo collections. The various styles are not "segregated," nor are the performers, and the program has a kaleidoscopic effect, playing up both similarities and differences among the numbers. The mood overall is upbeat but not jubilant.
My favorite track on Vol. 1, and one that should be more well-known and popular, is "Rabbit" Brown's definitive "Sinking of the Titanic." I can't find one "bad track on the CD - even when the music isn't especially engaging or distinctive, it still retains an ambience of age and distance, if that makes any sense. Consequently the CD admirably creates a mood and an illusion too, that the listener can peaceably coexist with widely divergent peoples simply by sharing their enjoyment in song and rhythm.
The CD mastering is excellent, for the most part, and only a couple tracks on Vol. 1 (specially noted: Ken Maynard's "Fannie Moore") are hampered by the excessive noise common to old 78s from private collections.
Vol 3 of this series sustains the high quality of this first volume, and doubtless all four volumes are worth owning. I know I enjoy these CDs as much as, or more than, any other collections of "folk music." --- Howard Sauertieg "Howard Sauertieg" (Harrisburg, PA USA)
"Every Track is notable for the excellent examples of fiddle tunes, blues, ballads and their extreme individuality." - Creative Loafing
A collection of classic recordings fromthe 1920s and 30s featuring many all-time great performances of early American traditional music. This series is a fascinating overview of traditional American musical styles from the Civil War to the 1920s, including fiddle tunes, rags banjo songs, religious selections, old ballads, blues, etc. --- yazoorecords.com
These are 23 rare 78s from the 1920s and 1930s, chosen to illustrate the wide range of "early American rural music" that made its way onto disc in the early days of the recording industry. This will not get nearly as much press as Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music box, yet it's on par with that ballyhooed re-release as an overview of the roots of American roots music, so to speak. Styles vary from country blues and fiddle hoedowns to banjo music and jug bands. The Memphis Jug Band is the only name here that might be familiar to more than the most well-versed folk historians. Highlights include J.P. Nestor and Norman Edmonds' "Train on the Island," a frenetic string band gallop; the Four Wanderers' eerie gospel tune, "The Fault's in Me"; and Ken Maynard's "Fannie Moore," a direct predecessor of country music in its vocal phrasing. --- Richie Unterberger, AMG
Zmieniony (Środa, 10 Czerwiec 2015 16:14)