Vanguard Records continues their sterling efforts to document
\nand preserve the history of American music with this latest
\nrelease, a 3-disc set featuring a recorded history of the genre of
\nAmerican folk music. Frankly, this set is a stunner. Even without
\nthe historical consideration of this music, there’s just some damn
\nfine tunes on this disc.<\/p>\n
Originally started as a classical label by Maynard and Seymour
\nSolomon in 1950, the first folk release on Vanguard was the
\nWeavers’ 1955 Carnegie Hall Christmas concert; an album no one else
\nwould touch because of the Weavers’ McCarthy-era blacklisting in
\n1952. Though the Solomons made the decision based on political
\nconscience, it paid off handsomely with massive sales — and
\nVanguard’s folk career was on. From that moment, Vanguard and
\nAmerican roots music were synonymous.<\/p>\n
This is just a massive CD set. Divided into three discs, “Roots
\nOf Folk”, “Singers And Songwriters”, and “Folk Blues”. Each disc
\nis, in many ways, a separate album; each has a different feel and
\ntone to it. They are, however, universally beautifully produced and
\nremastered, each song crisp and clear given the limitations of the
\nera in which it was recorded. The liner notes are good, though I
\nwould have liked more details, perhaps.<\/p>\n
The first disc, “Roots Of Folk,” is the early days in the era
\npreceding rock and roll. The most notable thing about it, perhaps,
\nis hearing the original versions of later, better-known cover
\nversions, or alternate versions of better-known songs. When you
\nhear “The Battle Of New Orleans” on here, it’s not Johnny Horton
\nbut Jimmy Driftwood. Judy Collins’ version of “Turn, Turn, Turn” is
\na very different song than the Byrds’ hit, as is Doc Watson’s “Tom
\nDooley”. This is perhaps the hardest of the three discs for the
\ncasual listener to appreciate, but a little work reveals gold.<\/p>\n
“Singers And Songwriters”, on the other hand, is easily and
\nimmediately appreciated. From the wistful, almost na\u00efve tones
\nof Buffy St Marie’s “Universal Soldier” to the studio version of
\nCountry Joe and the Fish’s “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag”, this
\nis the best summary of folk music and idealism I’ve ever heard.
\nThere are some truly brilliant pieces on here; even if everything
\nelse on here was mediocre (which it’s not) the sharp, bright
\ndefiance of Phil Ochs’ “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore” and the gentle
\nbrilliance of Eric Andersen’s “Violets Of Dawn” would make it all
\nworthwhile. There’s a couple of quirky bits on here, too: Joan Baez
\nand Bob Dylan on “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr
\nBojangles” — very different from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s
\nversion, and the raucous, funny “M.T.A.” by the Kingston Trio.<\/p>\n
Finally, “Folk Blues” covers the bluer end of things. There are
\nsome wonderful songs on here — John Hammond’s “Seventh Son”, John
\nLee Hooker’s “Great Fire Of Natchez”, and Dave Van Ronk’s
\n“Cocaine”. My only argument, and it’s a minor one, is Vanguard put
\na great number of these songs on their recent
\nBest Of The Newport Folk Festival Blues<\/i> CD.<\/p>\n
Overall, however, this is a magnificent compilation and not to
\nbe missed. Musicologists and folk fans alike, rejoice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5827],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37489","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37489"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37489"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}