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BARGAIN BASEMENT
COMPACT
DISCS - American Folk Music
Woody Gothrie -> Various Artists
| WOODY GUTHRIE TOM JURAVICH PHIL OCHS TOM PAXTON |
MIKE SEEGER PETE SEEGER DAVE VAN RONK VARIOUS ARTISTS |
| WOODY GUTHRIE | Smithsonian Folkways 40025 | Struggle | ● CD |
| Reissue of 1976 album (Folkways 2485) issued on the two
hundredth anniversary of the American Revolution featuring songs by
Woody about the strugggles of the American working man. Several of the
songs were previously unissued prior to the release. Helping Woody on
some cuts are Cisco Houston/ guitar & vocals and Sonny Terry/ harmonica.
Songs include Struggle Blues/ Get Along Little Doggies/ Waiting At
the Gate/ Union Burying Ground/ Buffalo Skinners/ Ludlow Masascre
and others. (FS) |
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| TOM JURAVICH | Flying Fish 70523 | A World To Win | ● CD |
| Now deleted - last copy. 12 topical and labor songs from
folk singer and Professor of labor studies. Includes Threads Of
Justice/ Rob A Train/ Between The Wars/ Use Cars/ I Remember LOving You/
Hank Sims, etc. |
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| PHIL OCHS | Smithsonian Folkways 40008 | The Broadside Tapes 1 | ● CD |
| Reissue of Folkways FD 5362, a collection of songs
recorded (but left out) for Broadside magazine in the early 60's, based
on popular events of the times. Ballad Of Alferd Packer/ Christine
Keeler/ Spanish Civil War Song/ Talking Pay T.V./ Spaceman , etc.
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| TOM PAXTON | Collectables 6969 | Ain't That News! | ● CD |
| 14 tracks, 38 min., highly recommended Straight reissue of Paxton's 1965 LP (his second, if you don't count the "privately issued one"), originally released by Elektra as EKS-7298 and available a few years ago with "Ramblin' Boy" (his first) in a twofer Rhino Records edition. Interesting how back then, if Paxton's songs are any indication, regular people involved themselves in protesting injustice, cared enough about ending an undeclared war to actually do something about it. Go figure. Then again, We Didn't Know, which takes apathy and willing ignorance as its subjects, might have been written yesterday. Paxton was among the best of the folkies at this, better surely than Dylan, who contrary to common understanding wrote precious few actual protest songs. Paxton has always been a smart and biting lyrically (The Willing Conscript/ Ain't That News) without giving up the ability to wring tenderness from his guitar and voice (Hold On To Me Babe). That's why he still matters, still makes meaningful music. The popular Bottle Of Wine comes from this album, as does Buy A Gun For Your Son and I'm The Man That Built The Bridges. (JC) |
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| TOM PAXTON | Collectables 6971 | Morning Again | ● CD |
| 10 tracks, 35 mins, recommended Tom Paxton grew a serious moustache for his serious pictures on the cover of this serious record. Released in 1968, this was Paxton's fifth record to date and certainly a strong one. This came out soon after Woody Guthrie's death and no doubt Woody was heavy on his mind at the time of making this. Soon after it's release Paxton would play at the legendary "A Tribute to Woody Guthrie" concert at New York's Carnegie Hall. Stand Out Tracks like Jennifer's Rabbit/ Mr. Blue/ Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues/ Morning Again, etc. (JM) |
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| MIKE SEEGER | Smithsonian Folkways 40136 | True Vine | ● CD |
| 23 tracks, recommended Mike Seeger has been promoting the cause of American traditional music for more than 40 years and on this latest solo album he sound comfortable on a diverse selection of traditional songs and tunes accompanying himself on guitar, banjo, fiddle, jews harp, quills, autoharp and harmonica. Includes Braking Up Ice In The Alleghany/ Little Rbabit, Where's Your Mamy/ Did You Ever See The Devil, Uncle Joe/ Spoonful/ Claco/ Goodbye, My Little Darling/ Grandad Jim's Waltz/ Young Johnnie and others. Includes booklet with biography of Mike and notes on all the performances. (FS) |
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| PETE SEEGER | Smithsonian Folkways 40152 | American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 3 | ● CD |
| 27 tracks, 75 minutes, recommended Even by the early '40s, Pete Seeger's straight-ahead, driving approach to traditional song stood apart from such artistically minded folk interpreters as Bradley Kincaid, Richard Dyer-Bennet, and Burl Ives, among others. A generation of youngsters discovered folk song through Seeger's simple, unpretentious Folkways LPs, often from copies borrowed from public libraries. Among his most popular albums were five volumes of "American Favorite Ballads." Released during the early '60s, their influence extended beyond conventional urban folk circles. Doc Watson learned St. James Hospital from one of Seeger's ballad albums and covered it on his first Vanguard LP. This volume continues Jeff Place and Guy Logsdon's distillation of Seeger's "American Favorite Ballads" LPs onto compact disc. Many of these songs will be familiar to folk enthusiasts, all performed with a loose spontaneity that reflects producer Moe Asch's "one-take" efficiency. Place and Logsdon contribute extensive, high-toned notes on the songs and Seeger's political and environmental activism, but nothing about how these recordings were made and marketed. Tip: This is a great collection to give any precocious preschooler who's ready to move beyond Raffi. (DS) PETE SEEGER: Ain't It A Shame/ Arkansas Traveler/ Boll Weevil/ Deep Blue Sea/ E-ri-e Canal/ El-a-noy/ Erie Canal/ Golden Vanity/ Ground Hog/ Gypsy Davy/ Lady Of Carlysle/ My Good Man/ New River Train/ Ni Irish Need Apply/ Old Blue/ Paddy Works Upon The Railroad/ She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain/ Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child/ St. James Hospital/ St. Louis Blues/ Swanee River/ The Boys From County Mayo/ The Girl I Left Behind/ The Titanic/ When I First Came To This Land/ When I Was Single/ Wond'rous Love |
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| DAVE VAN RONK | Smithsonian Folkways 40041 | The Folkways Years 1959-61 | ● CD |
| 20 tracks, highly recommended Long a staple performer in folk venues all over America, Dave Van Ronk was a leading member of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the fifties. He personified for many what a folk singer should be, with his gravelly voice, tasty but rudimentary fingerpicking guitar style, and imaginative and far-reaching repertoire. These twenty cuts, taken from three Folkways albums, represent Dave at his finest, singing such traditional fare as Duncan And Brady/ Hesitation Blues/ Willie The Weeper/ 12 Gates To The City/ Careless Love/ Bed Bug Blues/ Winin' Boy/ Come Back Baby and the hilarious Georgie On The IRT, a spoof of Maybelle Carter's Engine #143. Van Ronk has always known a good song when he hears one, and his versions of many of these classics are the first versions many aspiring folkies heard. You can almost hear the steam escaping from the espresso machine as this disc plays. RP) |
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| DAVE VAN RONK | Smithsonian Folkways 40156 | .. And The Tin Pan Bended, And The Story Ended | ● CD |
| 24 tracks, 79 min., highly recommended Another wonderful package from Smithsonian Folkways, this time offering Folk icon Dave Van Ronk in his last concert, recorded in October 2001. The booklet notes alone make this CD worthwhile, with track notes by Elijah Wald and short essays by Tom Paxton and others. And while the blues-folk-jazz music here is a marvel, Van Ronk's guitar work is better than that. Between numbers such as You've Been A Good Old Wagon and Don't You Leave Me Here, Dave favors the audience with little monologues, some lasting several minutes, each as entertaining as the songs they introduce. Other cuts include Joni Mitchell's Urge For Going, the oft-recorded St. James Infirmary, Dylan's Buckets Of Rain, Tom Paxton's Did You Hear John Hurt?, Jelly Jelly, Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out, and more. (JC) |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Prestige 9904 | The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol 4 - Singing out Loud | ● CD |
| 17 tracks, 58 min., recommended The final volume in this series offers selections recorded live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in September of 1962. Ramblin' Jack Eliot opens the set with Muleskinner Blues and two other numbers. He's followed by Mike Seeger and Sonny Miller with three numbers including Sally Ann, Bonnie Dobson with Peter Amberley and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, The Reverend Gary Davis withIf I Had My Way and two other cuts, Keith and Rooney with Devil's Dream, Tossie Aaron with Gypsy Davy, and, the clear highlight of the program for me at least, Pete Seeger withI Don't Want Your Millions Mister and Here's to Cheshire, Here's to Cheese. Not Newport perhaps, but the music's still good. And, as is the case with rest of this series, sound quality, notes, and general productions values are very much up to snuff. |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Riverside 9910 | Riverside Folklore Series 2 - Singing American Roots | ● CD |
| 23 tracks, 64 min., recommended This is volume two in the Riverside folklore series, and it serves to demonstrate the breadth that the term folk music had in the late 50's and early to mid-60's. The disc's subtitle is "blues, wails, ballads, and songs by the great traditional performers," and the impressive and diverse list of such performers here includes John Lee Hooker with Black Snake and Baby Please Don't Go, Sonny Terry with Red River and John Henry, Jean Ritchie with Baby-O and The Cuckoo, Peggy Seeger with As I Walked Out One Fair May Morn and The Chickens They Are Crowing, and the Reverend Gary Davis with Samson and Delilah and Twelve Gates to the City. There are also performances by Obray Ramsey, George Pegram, Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Harry and Jeanie West. A solid collection with fine notes by blues scholar Samuel Charters. (DH) |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Riverside 9911 | Riverside Folklore Series # 3 - Singing The New Traditi | ● CD |
| 25 tracks, 64 min., recommended The operative subtitle here, on volume three of Riverside's folklore series, is "songs, singers, and instrumentalists of the folk revival." And the more homogeneous group of performers this time around includes Oscar Brand with The Wide Missouri and Around Her Neck, Cynthia Gooding with Go Way From My Window and I Saw a Lady, Milt Okun and Ellen Stekert with The Cambric Shirt and Must I Go Bound, Paul Clayton with Omie Wise and Tom Dula, Jean Ritchie and Oscar Brand with Soldier Soldier and Paper of Pins, and Billy Faier with Green Corn and Three Jolly Rogues. Other featured performers are Pat Foster, Logan English, John Greenway, and Merrick Jarrett. Straightforward interpretations of mostly traditional numbers, all recorded in the 1950¹s, and featuring more solid notes by Samuel Charters. (DH) |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Smithsonian Folkways 40026 | Dont Mourn - Organize! | ● CD |
| Recordings from the 1940s through 1980s featuring the
songs by or about the famous labor organizer and songwriter for the IWW
- Joe Hill. Includes Joe Hill (written by Phil Ochs) by Billy
Bragg, Joe Hill's Ashes by Mark Levey, Joe Hill written by
Alfred Hayes & Earl Robinson) by Paul Robeson, Casey Jones - The
Union Scab by Pete Seeger & The Song Swappers, Joe Hill Listens
To the Praying by Joe Glazer, The Tramp by Cisco houston,
The White Slave by Alfred Esteban Cortez, The Rebel Girl by
Hazel Dickens and others. |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Smithsonian Folkways 40085 | The Harry Smith Connection - A Live Tribute | ● CD |
| 19 tracks, 61 mins, recommended Instead of the usual tribute to an artist or a songwriter this one pays tribute to a reissue set - the seminal "Anthology Of American Folk Music" compiled by Harry Smith in 1952 for Folkways and recently reissued on CD. This set recorded at a live concert in 1997 features current performers interpreting some of the songs from the collection along with a tribute to Smith written by Peter Stampfel His Tapes Roll On (the worst track here) and a cut by Smith's friends The Fugs redoing one of their old favorites Nothing. Artists featured include Roger McGuinn, Jay Bennett, John Jackson, Lonnie Pitchford, Ginny Hawker, John Sebastian & The J. Band, Ella Jenkins, Dave Van Ronk and others. Songs include East Virginia Blues/ A Lazy Farmer Boy/ The Butcher Boy/ MInglewood Blues/ Sugar Baby/ Darling Corey/ James Alley Blues, etc. 32 page booklet with extensive notes. (FS) |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Smithsonian Folkways 40130 | The Best Of Broadside, 1962-1988 | ● CD |
| Five CD box set featuring 89 songs drawn from the pages
of Broadside magazine and recorded between 1962 and 1988. Broadside was
the leading outlet for songs of social protest by many of the greatest
songwriters of the era publishing hundreds of songs in its 187 issues
and helping fuel the movements that changed the face of America during
that period. Many of the songs here were issued on various LPs on
Folkways but a number are previously unissued. Artists include The
Broadside Singers, Pete Seeger, Happy Traum, Jim Page, Phil Ochs, Bob
Dylan, Sammy Walker, The Fugs, El Teatro Campesino, The Freedom Singers,
Richard Farina, Paul Kaplan, Malvina Reynolds, Janis Ian, Sis
Cunningham, Lucinda Williams, Arlo Guthrie and many more. The set
consists of a 160 page spiral bound book divided into five sections with
one CD inserted into each section divider. The book includes a history
of the magazine, biographies, discographies, stories behind most of the
songs and lyrics transcripts. JEFF AMPOLSK: Brown Water And Blood/ ERIC ANDERSEN: Long Time Troubled Road/ Plains Of Nebrasky-o/ RICHARD BLACK: A Very Close Friend Of Mine/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH TOM PAXTON: Ain't That News?/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH LEN CHANDLER: Carry It On/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH PHIL OCHS: Changin' Hands/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH TOM PAXTON: Christine/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH LEN CHANDLER: Father's Grave/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH PHIL OCHS: Links On The Chain/ THE BROADSIDE SINGERS: More Good Men Going Down/ Paths Of Victory/ The Times I've Had/ Welcome, Welcome EmigrantÉ/ CHARLIE BROWN: The Ballad Of Earl Durand/ LEN CHANDLER AND BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON: I'm Going To Get My Baby Out Of Jail/ JIMMY COLLIER AND REV F. D. KIRKPATRICK: Burn, Baby, Burn/ JIMMY COLLIER AND REV. F. D. KIRKPATRICK: The Cities Are Burning/ You're Just A Laughing Fool/ SIS CUNNINGHAM: But If I Ask Them/ My Oklahoma Home (it Blowed Away)/ Sundown/ BONNIE DOBSON: Take Me For A Walk/ BOB DYLAN: Ballad Of Donald White/ John Brown/ RICHARD FARINA: Birmingham Sunday/ THE FREEDOM SINGERS: We'll Never Turn Back/ THE FUGS: Kill For Peace/ CHRIS GAYLORD: Don't Talk To Strangers/ THE GLASGOW SONG GUILD: Ding Dong Dollar/ BEV GRANT AND THE HUMAN CONDITION: Inez/ ARLO GUTHRIE: Victor Jara/ WES HOUSTON: To Be A Killer/ JANIS IAN: Baby I've Been Thinking/ Shady Acres/ MATT JONES AND ELAINE LARON: Hell No, I Ain't Gonna Go/ PAUL KAPLAN: Vietnam/ REV. F. D. KIRKPATRICK: Nothing But His Blood/ PETER LA FARGE: As Long As The Grass Shall Grow/ The Ballad Of Ira Hayes/ KRISTIN LEMS: We Will Never Give Up/ EWAN MACCOLL AND PEGGY SEEGER: Legal–illegal/ ERNIE MARRS AND THE MARRS FAMILY: Plastic Jesus/ MATT MCGINN: Go Limp/ If It Wasn't For The Union/ WILL MCLEAN: Lord, Hold Back The Waters/ MIKE MILLIUS: Not Enough To Live On But A Little Too Much To Die/ The Ballad Of Martin Luther King/ THE NEW WORLD SINGERS: Bizzness Ain't Dead/ Blowin' In The Wind/ PHIL OCHS: Ballad Of William Worthy/ Changes/ Freedom Riders/ We Seek No Wider War/ RAIMóN PADILLA: Contra La Por/ JIM PAGE: Hiroshima, Nagasaki Russian Roulette/ THOM PARROTT: Hole In The Ground/ Pinkville Helicopter/ The Aberfan Coal Tip Tragedy/ TOM PAXTON: Train For Auschwitz/ What Did You Learn In School Today?/ MALVINA REYNOLDS: Little Boxes/ The Faucets Are Dripping/ What Have They Done To The Rain?/ DANNY AND JUDY ROSE-REDWOOD: La Lucha ContinuarÁ/ PEGGY SEEGER: Gonna Be An Engineer/ PETE SEEGER: Business/ Do As The Doukhobors Do/ Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall/ Mack The Bomb/ Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter/ My Father's Mansion's Many Rooms/ New York J-d Blues/ The Willing Conscript/ Waist Deep In The Big Muddy/ DEBORAH SILVERSTEIN AND THE NEW HARMONY SISTERHO: Draglines/ NINA SIMONE: Mississippi Goddam/ WENDY SMITH: Time Is Running Out/ MARK SPOELSTRA: The Civil Defense Sign/ EL TEATRO CAMPESINO: El Picket Sign/ HAPPY TRAUM: Let Me Die In My Footsteps/ GIL TURNER: Benny Kid Paret/ DANNY VALDEZ AND AUGUSTIN LIRA: The Migrant's Song/ SAMMY WALKER: Catcher In The Rye/ Ragamuffin Minstrel Boy/ Song For Patty/ Bound For Glory/ ELAINE WHITE: The Time Will Come/ LUCINDA WILLIAMS: Lafayette |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Smithsonian Folkways 40159 | Dark Holler - Old Love Songs And Ballads | ● CD |
| CD/ DVD combination. The CD is a stunning collection of
traditional, mostly unaccompanied, ballad singing recorded in Madison
County, North Carolina in the mid 60s by musician/ folklorist John
Cohen. It features magnificent performances by Dillard Chandler, Dellie
Norton, Cass Wallin, George Chandler and others. The DVD is documentary
on Chandler "The End Of And Old Song" filmed by Cohen in 1967 and 1968
and released in 1973. Includes 32 page illustrated booklet with
extensive notes by Cohen. |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Smithsonian-Folkways 40195 | If You Ain't Got The Do-Re-Mi | ● CD |
| 27 tracks, highly recommended Another collection of gems from the vast and endlessly rewarding vaults of Folkways Records. This one has 27 songs around the subject of money (mostly the lack of it). In addition to the classic title song by it's composer Woody Guthrie we have such other well known songs as Bill Morgan & His Gal (best known from it's refrain - "My Name Is Morgan/ But It Ain't J.P." sung here by The New Lost City Ramblers), Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (by Rolf Cahn and Eric Von Schmidt), Brother, Can You Spare A Dime by Joe Glazer as well as other lesser known but equally fine songs like Empty Pocket Blues/ One Meat Ball/ Banks Of Marble/ The Money Rolls In/ The Miller And His Sons and more. The music encompasses folk, blues, old timey, jazz and a calypso. About half the tracks are making their first appearance on CD here and the enclosed booklet has notes on all the songs. (FS) |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Smithsonian Folkways 50001 | Songs Of The Old Regular Baptists - Lined Out Hymnody | ● CD |
| 11 tracks, 61mins, highly recommended Not a new release, but now available at a lower price. This is a fantastic and fascinating collection of rural religious music, beautifully sung a cappella, in call and response and group singing. This music is as eerie as it is lovely, and although it isn't something that you would necessarily listen to all the way through each time, this will certainly be a CD that you would revisit time and time again. Stirring versions of religious standards as well as obscurities like Streets Of Gold/ Attend Young Friends/ O! When Shall I See Jesus, and A Poor Wayfaring Stranger. Like all the best field recordings, you also get some recorded quotes from many of the singers. (JM) |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS | Takoma 30048 | Revenge Of Blind Joe Death - John Fahey Tribute Album | ● CD |
| 20 tracks, 72 min., recommended A Fahey tribute delivered by his associates, friends and disciples, most covering Fahey originals, some rendering Fahey-inspired versions of traditional songs, and still others, such as Alex de Grassi, performing their own compositions, directly or tangentially associated with our man. Like much of the late Fahey's work, many of the selections feature blues-grounded steel guitar. Performers include technician extraordinaire Phil Kellogg, Henry Kaiser, Country Joe McDonald, Stephan Grossman, Canned Fish, Elliot Sharp, Rick Ruskin, Dale Miller, Terry Robb, Sean Smith, and others. The last track purports to be the lone surviving 78 rpm (side "b" at that) of the mysterious 1920s bluesman Blind Joe Death, although one suspects Fahey's friends are perpetuating a hoax he got a lot of milage from. You decide. (JC) |
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