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Smithsonian Folkways' lavish 1997 version of the 1952 Anthology of
American Folk Music was one of the great CD repackages--a
gorgeously packaged and impeccably engineered introduction to music
both unfamiliar and infinitely influential. Now those six CDs are
joined by the never-released Harry Smith's Anthology of American
Folk Music, Volume Four (Revenant).
Harry Smith was the record collector, scrounger, and man about the
avant-garde who conceived and sequenced all these compilations, and
his unerring instinct for the great performance is why they still
pack a punch. Most of the songs on this two-CD set were cut between
1935 and 1940, later than on the earlier volumes, and the artists
include more famous names: Carter Family, Monroe Brothers, Lead
Belly, Robert Johnson. So as a whole the material is slightly more
focused and audience-savvy, easier on the unschooled modern ear.
Most of the songs you don't know you'll love, and the ones you know
will sound dandy--whoever Jesse James is, his Southern Casey Jones
beats even Furry Lewis's on the original Anthology. Buy
Volume Four and soon you'll be springing for the bigger
and pricier original.
Both are far more fun than history lessons are supposed to be.
An entirely different and equally effective reclamation is
another follow-up: Billy Bragg & Wilco's Mermaid Avenue Vol. II.
The English punk-folkie and the American alt-country unit having
already released one acclaimed collection of Woody Guthrie lyrics
set to new music, only a mooncalf would expect a second album
culled primarily from the same sessions to match up. And
admittedly, it's rougher. But it's just as captivating. Anyone who
loves the first should start campaigning for volume three.
Puerto Rico (Putumayo World Music) is a lilting survey of salsa
roots by mostly San Juan-based revivalists. It makes a nicely
contrasting matched set with Tropicália Essentials (Hip-O),
showcasing the modernistic, Beatles-tinged '60s work of
contemporary samba titans Gilbert Gil and Caestano Veloso.
Playboy, June 2000
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May 2000 |
July 2000 |
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