Amazon.com

Kaki King fulfills the promise of her debut, Everybody Loves You, with an album that stretches a guitar sound already torn between the compass points. A frenetic player, King is a musical descendent of Michael Hedges, though she usually cites the underrated Preston Reed. Both guitarists employed two-handed tapping techniques to whiplash effect. So does King, although her phrasing is more abstract and her mind still moves faster than her hands at times. Signing up guitar mutant David Torn as producer, King is clearly intent at defying convention. Joined by a sparse rhythm at times, her sound is taking on a slight country edge. You can hear it on "Doing the Wrong Thing," with King playing electric guitar (or a processed acoustic) using her 10-fingered agility to create a rolling melodic counterpoint to the drummer's train rhythm. She rips it up on "Magazine," literally pummeling the fretboard with her fingers, ripping out a mad dervish. She also sings, with a Chet Baker-fragile voice; pleasant, but nothing that makes want to hear that instead of her guitar. --John Diliberto ... Read more

Amazon.com

One of the darkest of Dylan albums, Times is the work of a 22-year-old who sounds no less sick of it all than the ailing 55-year-old who made Time out of Mind. There's a place here for rousing protests such as the title track and "When the Ship Comes In," but those songs are outnumbered by the equally powerful, drainingly pessimistic likes of "Only a Pawn in Their Game," "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," and "The Ballad of Hollis Brown." It's as if Dylan had to deliver his grimmest topical material before moving on to Another Side's liberation and laughs. --Rickey Wright ... Read more

Reviews (39)

Dylan in ultra-protest mode
When many people think of Bob Dylan, they think of a protest singer. In reality, that is only a very small part of the whole picture. This is the album where Bob Dylan was in protest mode. Nowhere did he ever sound as indignant and world-weary as he did here. The title track is one of Dylan's best known songs, but there are other gems here as well. "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" is a slow dirge-like song about an impoverished farmer who spends his last buck on shotgun shells so he can kill his whole family and then himself. It's very moving. "With God On Our Side" features Dylan at his most cynical and weary. "Boots of Spanish Leather" (basically a rewrite of "Girl From The North Country") is one of the most touching ballads on the album. Dylan tackles contemporary issues in songs like "Only A Pawn In Their Game" about racism in the South and the murder of Medgar Evers. This album is not easy listening though. The pace is rather slow. The last song, "Restless Farewell", moves along at an unbearable pace. I personally can't stand it. However, this album is worth picking up. After the release of this album, Dylan was afraid of being labeled a spokesman of his generation. As a result, his music became more personal and idiosyncratic after this release, but it became better too.

One of Dylan's darkest
Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' sternly rejected the romance and optimism of most popular albums of the sixties. On this disc, Dylan all but put aside his streaks of wittiness and tenderness and his knack for rallying the crowds ("When the Ship Comes In" and the title anthem being exceptions) and focused his peerless song-writing skills on spiteful confrontation. Times is an album of bleak social commentary ("With God on Our Side," "Only a Pawn in their Game"), accounts of romance gone bitter ("Boots of Spanish Leather," "Restless Farewell") and tragic story-songs ("The Ballad of Hollis Brown," "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol"). The album, like its more varied predecessor, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, presents a catalogue of endlessly covered classics. Times surely continued to cement Dylan's place as the best songwriter of his generation, but, take as a whole, it can be one bitter pill to swallow.

Transitional record with some great songs.
Here Dylan's starting to sound like himself and less like his greatest vocal influence Rambln' Jack Elliot.

Dylan, and The Times They Are A-Changin¿
Dylan's first three albums: Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, and The Times They Are A-Changin' immediately established him as a songwriter of great distinction. If you like Bob Dylan these three albums are a must for your collection.

May I also recommend a book that is available on this web site: "The Bob Dylan Albums" by Anthony Varesi. The book by Varesi is a fair and honest review of the albums by Dylan.

Great record and uderrated
There's a lot to say about this album, personally i think is much better than the Frewhellin', why? Don't know. This bug hit me harder.
This is the LAST album by bobby featuring "finger-pointing" songs, so in my humble opinion the best of this record are the pesonal ballads, with a lot of intimicy and with a great tecnique of smooth "fingerpickin'" (for those who say that bobby can't play the guitar) like "One too many Mornings" which is great (you should listen to the one live at the RAH'66 with the back-vocals), i don't consider "When the Ship Comes In" a protest song, it's a beatiful song which shows bobby with certain hope for a better world (but he ain't protesting...).
"Restless farewell" is said that is another song by bobby saying goodbye to folk or lefty music, he was going to do it in the next two albums with "It ain't me babe" and "It's all over now baby blue", always as the final cut.
But THE song here is "Boot of Spanish Leather", with the has the same chords from "Girl from north country" and the same temathic of lost love of "Don't think twice", just a beatiful piece that's worth the album. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

The Basement Tapes can be heard as a manifesto for the '90s' underlying Americana agenda or as the greatest album never intended for commercial release. Homegrown 1967 recordings taped in the Band's fabled Big Pink hermitage in Saugerties, New York, many of the 24 songs resonated across American and English rock and folk long before their belated 1975 release through studio interpretations by the Byrds, Fairport Convention, Manfred Mann, Peter, Paul & Mary, and numerous other acolytes, as well as through myriad unauthorized bootlegs. Good as the covers were, Dylan and the Band rolled their own with an extraordinary coherence that sounds only more authentic in these rough-hewn, intimate, always musical performances, which dovetail with Dylan's stark John Wesley Harding and the Band's stunning debut, Music from Big Pink as well as the presciently lo-fi The Band. At a time when most rock culture was entranced with its post-atomic origins, these songs sounded timeless, plunging into pre-industrial folk, turn of the (20th) century barrelhouse and blues, and crackling, vintage rock & roll excursions with offhand verve and a thrilling disregard for what was hip. Time has only reinforced their visionary power. --Sam Sutherland ... Read more

Reviews (50)

Historical criteria murders this otherwise flawless album.
THE BASEMENT TAPES' central problem, and here I speak of the official, double disc 1975 album is presentation. If the reader will read very many of these reviews he/she will keep coming to those who talk about the historical inaccuracy of this record and why, with so much (still unreleased) music in the vaults, it only makes this album all the more flawed. I will not go into detail on the historical inaccuracies other than what is immediately relevant to my own review as other reviewers have covered this topic quite thoroughly (given the review word limit). Alexander G. Lynn's review (7-1-01) is an excellent introduction into the various historical inaccuracies.

Essentially, the eight Band songs present are not legitimate but recorded later by The Band. The commonly agreed reason (well backed with evidence) is Robbie Robertson's ego. Historically this release paints The Band as being nearly as active during as Dylan, which simply isn't true. Dylan was the clear domineering force in the sessions, although that should not alone be reason enough to discount the worthwhile contributions that The Band brings to these recordings. Dylan and The Band fed off each other's energy.

My main gripe with the presentation of THE BASEMENT TAPES is this blatant deception by Robertson, for the unimportant reason of feeding his own ego, totally throws this otherwise flawless album into the gutter simply because it entails all the wrong criteria to judge this work. From a historical viewpoint, this record needs an incredible amount of work. Eight tracks passing for THE BASEMENT TAPES when they were not even recorded at the sessions do indeed have no business here (from the historical standpoint, that is, though not necessarily a musical, ascetic standpoint). Not only that, these eight tracks were made to sound lo-fi to fit more into the official release. It is bad enough to include tracks not recorded at the sessions, but to tamper with them makes it even worst.

We now come to the crux of the matter: the wrong criteria (from an ascetic point of view) is used (and must be, because of the method of presentation) in judging this work. With the release of THE BASEMENT TAPES, everyone came at this work from a historical vantage point. This is still prevalent, and it is not unreasonable. Because this criteria is used, THE BASEMENT TAPES are often viewed as deceptive and a botched opportunity (which, again, this release is indeed guilty of historically). To be fair, it would have been unprecedented for Columbia to release the complete Basement Tapes recordings. The five CD-set, with the extended time length unavailable to vinyl records, would be a massive set unparalleled with anything else in 1975. Box sets were not established as commercially viable until the mid to late 1980s with the publication of Dylan's BIOGRAPH and Clapton's CROSSROADS. This is important facet for my view of this album, because without this facet the view I am about to state would be damnably undermined.

If you strip this album away from the mindset of "This is the Basement Tapes," and instead approach it with "This is Dylan and The Band reinventing Americana," suddenly the problems with this album just melt away. All of the music here is brilliant, including the eight Band songs.

What would make this album a success would be had it been released not as THE BASEMENT TAPES, but a double album utilizing parts of THE BASEMENT TAPES and Band songs that had not been officially released to give us a chronicle of their reinvention of Americana. From that standpoint, this album becomes an absolutely smashing success. Had this approach been adopted, the historical inaccuracy would not exist for the fact there were songs included that were not Basement Tapes would simply not be an issue because they were not being presented as Basement Tape tracks.

The reason why the establishment of Box Sets had not been included was because there would be the very reasonable question of WHY didn't they just release all of them? My answer, had it been presented properly, would be they found an official reason to release the songs. As it stands, the entire body of recorded Basement Tapes songs give us the same feeling: this is Americana at it's wildest, weirdest, and, oddly, most modern, yet because of the fact that had not been established, instead they give us this double album.

If this was presented as a study in Americana, this would be fully appreciated as the wonderful album it is. In his 2001 release LOVE AND THEFT*, Dylan does much the same with taking old musical traditions, letting them retain their traditional feel to it, yet giving us uniquely modern music based on traditional song structures and breathing new life into them. The reason THE BASEMENT TAPES are so famous is because Dylan does the same here*. In a time when psychedelic was at its most prominent, Dylan and The Band was recording music that were at great odds with the musical community. CCR is the only comparable band during this time frame that engaged in the same sort of musical rebellion, and although they have a string of must-have albums, they do not reach the brilliance here. Their music was recorded for release whilst this was not.

Another thing this ascetic way of approaching this album has going for it, while historically a travesty, the eight Band tracks provides a context for Dylan's wild and extremely loose approach to these sessions, as AMG points out.

Bottom line: From a historical viewpoint, a botched opportunity. From the viewpoint of a study in Americana, this stands as one of the best albums ever issued. ...Dylan synthesized older traditions into music for our day and age. ... Dylan could not have accomplished this without burying himself in traditional songs and the older music of an era long ago. THE BASEMENT TAPES of the 1960s and LOVE AND THEFT of 2001 have so much resonance because of Dylan's presentation of the older style of music in a distinctly modern approach, creating a tension that would not otherwise be there.

5 star music, 2 deducted for deceptive presentation
A few thoughts on the official Columbia Records Basement Tapes album:

The informal sessions recorded during the summer of 1967 mostly at Big Pink in West Saugerties, New York, are one of the essential bodies of work in the history of American music, as rich in their manner as the Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Sevens, Robert Johnson's 1936 - 37 recordings, or Hank Williams' MGM recordings. Their beauty is such that even this dodgily compiled and inferior sounding official release from 1975 cannot diminish their importance and their influence on an entire generation of musicians.

As a few reviewers have noted on this page and elsewhere, the album as released is a bit of sleight-of-hand. The vast majority of tracks by The Band included here were not in fact recorded at the same time, or even in the same place (the legendary "Big Pink") as the Dylan tracks here. Partly, this is attributable to Robbie Robertson's disturbing tendency to obfuscate his own role i!n the formation of The Band's signature sound, and his de-emphasis of the collaborative nature of this wonderful group. In 1975, Robertson and Rob Fraboni compiled the official Basements album, and Robertson included a group of Band tracks on the official album, presumably to allege that he was writing songs along with Dylan at Big Pink. Unfortunately, there's little evidence to support this inference. The Band's earliest self-penned songs often came from Richard Manuel, who unfortunately is not alive to attest to his role in the Band's early years. Rick Danko is also no longer with us, while Garth Hudson and Levon Helm are generally disinclined to speak about the matter, leaving Robertson to parlay his falsehoods unchecked. In the wake of the Capitol reissues, most of The Band recordings supposedly from the Basement sessions have now been restored to their rightful chronology, and with mostly correct recording information, and much-improved sound quality. "Yazoo Street Scanda!l" (recorded January 10th, 1968), "Orange Juice Blues," "Katie's Been Gone" (both likely recorded in September 1967), "Long Distance Operator" (written by Dylan, recorded in Los Angeles, February 21st, 1968), and "Bessie Smith" (recorded sometime between 1969 and 71) all postdate the actual Big Pink sessions. All of these tracks were subjected to manipulations in the studio, most likely in 1975, to make them more 'lo-fi' and to make them better fit in with the true Big Pink recordings of summer 1967. For the lowdown on this, see also Dave Hopkins' article "The Band Remasters," on The Band's website, and Barney Hoskyns' rejected (by Robertson, for reasons that become clear once the two sets of liner notes are compared) liner notes to the first four Band reissues.

It seems that Robertson was introduced to the practice of taking credit for things he did not do quite early on: Several of the tracks recorded with Ronnie Hawkins in the early 1960's bore writing credits that !listed Robertson as writer or co-writer of songs he definitely did not write. Roulette Records label boss Morris Levy seems to have left an impression on Robertson in this respect, assigning writing credits to his girlfriend and Robertson, as well as Levon Helm, presumably for the purposes of personal gain. The disturbing aspect of this is that it underscores what has been, for Robertson, a career-long tendency to obscure the facts surrounding his recorded output.

Recently, bootleg albums of the proper Big Pink material have featured much better sound quality than even the legendary 5 CD bootleg The Genuine Basement Tapes. Whether these new, official release quality mixes of these recordings were prepared by bootleggers or by Columbia/Sony in preparation for a future and much needed official release of the complete Basement Tapes (possibly as further volumes of the Bootleg Series) is open to debate. What is important at this point in time is the knowledge that the ster!eo recordings made at Big Pink, given proper treatment, can be released in excellent stereo sound quality, almost on par with recordings made in a 'proper' recording studio. When will the world at large be able to easily obtain recordings of important Dylan works such as "The All American Boy," "Sign on the Cross," "I'm Not There," the superior alternate take of "Too Much of Nothing," the hilarious and entirely different alternate of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," plus fine alternates of "Nothing Was Delivered," "Odds and Ends" and much more? What of the many, many wonderful cover songs recorded during the Big Pink Sessions: "Bonnie Ship the Diamond," "The Banks of the Royal Canal," "Four Strong Winds," "(Now and Then) There's a Fool Such as I," and many, many more? How about the wonderful-sounding undubbed stereo versions of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" "This Wheel's On Fire"? Columbia Records, when are these recordings going to available to those who don't care to wander through th!e numerous and varying bootlegs of this material?

An interesting if highly conjectural account of these recordings and their role in American Culture can be found in Greil Marcus' sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-aggravating book-length study, Invisible Republic. A more concise, fact oriented and sometimes-vitriolic account of the official album's deceptive nature can be found in Dylan scholar Clinton Heylin's book Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, pages 54 - 68.

I do recommend this album as an inexpensive and readily available introduction to the still mostly hidden glories of the Basements. Until Sony/Columbia or Dylan decides to grace this world with an official proper release of this material, The Basement Tapes double album will have to suffice. It's a great listen, really. Nothing at all like Blonde on Blonde, which preceded it, or John Wesley Harding, which followed it. The Basement music is timeless, deathless, often beautiful, sometimes humorously beaut!iful, sometimes poignant, and occasionally absolutely ravishing in its' exploration of what lies at the heart of what Greil Marcus termed the "weird, old America." Robertson's terse, economical guitar solo at the end of "Goin' to Acapulco" is a gem all by itself. Don't miss it.

An idea for Dylan fanatics
The Band were a pretty fine, er, band...and even better when Bob brought out their talent like he did. But here's something I finally did for myself (besides obtaining the "Genuine BTs"). From this commercial release, I put all the songs where Dylan sings onto one disc. The result is so pleasing: 46+ minutes worth of fun I call "The Only-Bob Basement Tapes." It's way better than often skipping to his stuff track-to-track anyway -- Bob Dylan's "stuff" being just too magical to always sit alongside The Band's studio takes.

A Travesty-why did Dylan OK this fraud?
The Complete Basement Tapes, on five CDs, is the real deal. An essential recording for Dylan fanatics to be sure.

This poorly mastered, poorly packaged double CD is another matter. The fraudulent Band tracks really do dilute this collection. Substituting Band recordings made AFTER "Music from Big Pink" for indisputable "real" basement tapes classics like "I Shall Be Released" and "Quinn the Eskimo" is truly unforgivable. I admit that the 5-CD set may STILL not be a commericially viable proposition but why not release just the so-called "Basement Tapes Acetate". This fourteen song "LP", rumoured to be recorded by Dylan to fulfill his expiring Columbia Records contract, purportedly consisted of the following tracks:

1. Million Dollar Bash
2. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread
3. Please Mrs. Henry
4. Down in The Flood
5. Lo and Behold!
6. Tiny Montgomery
7. This Wheel's On Fire
8. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
9. I Shall Be Released
10. Tears of Rage
11. Too Much of Nothing
12. Quinn the Eskimo
13. Open the Door, Homer
14. Nothing Was Delivered

Throw in "Going to Acapulco", "Odds and Ends", "Clothesline Saga", and "Apple Suckling Tree" (all Dylan tunes) and you have a potential blockbuster. I really wish Columbia would delete this two volume bulky monstrosity with its dopey circus pictures and treat these recordings with the respect it deserves. Especially now since The Band numbers have been released properly on THEIR "remastered" series.

Amazing recordings!
When I first listened to this album, I already had most of Dylan's albums. I prefer "Freewheelin" to his others, but I also really like some of "Bringing it all Back Home" alot. I bought this album thinking that it would be another Dylan like experience. Well, it turned out to be better than that. I think this album is better than any Dylan album except Freewheelin. "The Basement Tapes" also changed my expectations for good music. I like experimental music, and this music is experimental in the sense that you will hear so many stylistically different songs arranged together where they all are so good. The emotional effect of this album is amazing, and if that is the point of good music than just take my word for it, you will be stunned. This is probably among the best albums that I have ever heard. Another suprizingly great album that I have just experienced is Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska." ... Read more

Album Details

21 Digitally Remastered Tracks from the Genious Troubadour. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The story of Elliott Smith is well known now: Shy and reclusive indie rocker soars to a Hollywood soundstage and major-label contract. His fans gasped in collective horror when he took a bow at the 1998 Oscars, his hand clasped by Celine Dion. He seemed far too fragile to survive among the sharks and vultures on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. But as his subsequent albums XO and now Figure 8 show, Smith has weathered the spotlight successfully and is moving ahead with self-assured grace. The beauty of Figure 8 is that it encompasses Smith's musical virtues, from the stark and wispy tunes of his lo-fi beginnings on Roman Candle to the orchestrated, Beatlesesque pomp and circumstance of later work to the intimate and sometimes painful nature of his live shows. Figure 8's opener, "Son of Sam," is as good as anything Smith has ever crafted, its soaring melody buoyed with lush instrumentation and a tin-pan-alley piano romp. "Happiness" is vintage Smith, its lyrics belying the title. But best of all are "Everything Reminds Me of Her" and "Everything Means Nothing to Me," which capture the dichotomies of Smith's music. The first is a lovely, delicate little tune--just Smith's wavering voice, a plucked guitar, and the plaintive lyrics of unabashed longing. The second is a layered soundscape, heavily produced, with washes of music covering a repeated lyrical line. One is direct, naked, and honest; the other is slippery, distant, and rational. These are the yin and yang of Smith's music, and it's the friction between the two--or, more accurately, the wreckage from one obdurate truth bashing up against the other--that makes Figure 8 resonate with such devastating power. --Tod Nelson ... Read more

Reviews (125)

Giving Us Another Little Peek At His Growing Musical Arsenal
After a couple of listens, you get the feeling that Elliott Smith is still exploring the studio space, carefully mulling over his musical arsenal and pondering what he's going to spring on us next. FIGURE 8's sound is much fuller and much richer than on his previous efforts but before you read "fuller" as "overproduced" (which seems to be the growing complaint about FIGURE 8...), you'll be happy to know there's still plenty of quiet intimacy on FIGURE 8. After all, it's still what Elliott does best. Besides, Elliott's voice is so sweet sounding it gives even the more upbeat pop songs a delicate, fragile quality. And his lyrics are so introspective, you become convinced Smith became a musician solely for his own theraputic benefit. That is, until you realize everything he says applies to your life, too. It's a gift too many musicians THINK they have and few actually have.

Although I think a few songs here could have been trimmed ("Everything Means Nothing To Me," "Pretty Mary K," and the saloon-plinking piano of "In The Lost And Found" don't really grab me...), there's just a lot of great stuff here. Start with three genuinely great pop offerings: "Son Of Sam," "Wouldn't Mama Be Proud?," and my personal favorite song on the album, "Junk Bond Trader." Then there's "Stupidity Tries," which builds with such melodrama, you'd think it's a sweeping epic twice its actual length. For those of you who prefer a more contemplative Elliott Smith, there's "Easy Way Out," "I Better Be Quiet Now," and (another one of my favorites from FIGURE 8) the simple yet beautiful "Everything Reminds Me Of Her." It's just a sweeping, beautiful album that'll have you tapping your foot one moment and crying the next. Fantastic.

Brilliant - Very Elliottesque...
Elliott does it again. But boy, the people who hated XO are gonna be bummed. This makes XO look like Either/Or. I have to admit, the first few spins were a little strange - this album is very produced. Son of Sam sounds nothing like either the one on the Happiness single nor the one he's been doing live with the band for the last couple of years. This is like a ragtime-shuffle version. It took a while to get used to some of these sounds, but ultimately these are all great songs. A great song is a great song. This album is loaded with instant classics. Apparently, Elliott's gone as far as wants to go with the solo acoustic thing (although a lot of these songs sounded great solo acoustic on his latest tour) but the embellishments don't ruin the songs. This is not your typical I-don't-have-any-real-songs-so-I'll-cover-it-up-with-heavy-production scams. And forget all the critics spouting about this being Beatlesque or Big Staresque. Listening to this album reminds me of listening to, well, Elliott Smith. The melodies and harmonies are very reminiscent of .. Elliott Smith. In fact, this album is very Elliottesque. And very excellent.

brilliant and beautiful
Figure 8 is a soundscape of its own. Lushly and crisply produced, each song resonates in its own way. Many Elliott Smith fans feel that the sound encompassed by Figure 8 is of a lower integrity or quality than Elliott's earlier music, such as the famously "lo-fi" Roman Candle. Figure 8 shows Elliott crafting rich arrangements eerily reminiscent of the Beatles--especially the soaring penultimate track, "Can't Make A Sound". Elliott's voice is lush and startling on this album; I do miss his certain qualities of it that were present on his earlier, starker albums. Figure 8 is addictive.

A Tortured Genius
Elliot Smith is a pure musical genius. His music is as pure and honest as music can be. This album is one to be treasured. You will not be disappointed.

Fine pop
An impressive suite of perfect gestures, 15 remarkably meticulous and dazzling aerian ballets of 3 minutes each. 15 songs straight from heaven. Elliott Smith was simply the best songwriter of his generation in the US. ... Read more

Amazon.com's Best of 1998

Nineteen ninety-eight: The same year he dances with Soy Bomb at the Grammys, his record label finally issues Bob Dylan's ultimate live document. A classic case of not giving the audience what they want but what they need, Mr. Dylan's oft-bootlegged 1966 gig begins with lovely and supple folk that foreshadows folk music's turn from protest song to introspection. The album's true highlight is the legendarily ill received and rocked-out electric set, with Dylan backed by members of the Band. There are too many perfect, on-fire guitar solos by Robbie Robertson to count, and Dylan himself responds to the audience's angry bewilderment with equal parts menace, grace, and brilliance. --Mike McGonigal ... Read more

Reviews (145)

Hailed for years by critics as a bootleg, now official
This is a copy of a review found in a newspaper of this album when it was available only as a bootleg:

Beginning of article>Get this classic Dylan album -- any way you can (Quoted from Daily Record (of Morristown NJ) 1/5/97) --Knight-Ridder Tribune News "GUITARS KISSING & THE CONTEMPORARY FIX" Bob Dylan and the Hawks Various bootleg labels

On this album, a young Bob Dylan blows through an epic two-hour set in May 1966 -- half acoustic, half with the Hawks, later renamed The Band. It's perhaps the best two hours of his career, distilling everything tender, raging, touching and rocking in his work into one potent show. The performance has been available for years in collectors' circles in muddy mono. But this two-CD set is in glorious stereo, clean enough to sound great yet low-tech enough to sound authenic. The electric set is just as revealing, with Robbie Robertson's sharp guitar punctuating Dylan's words. It ends with one of rock music's greatest moments, where an audience member yells, "Judas!" at Dylan for going electric, and Dylan replies with a screaming, angry "Like A Rolling Stone". "Guitars Kissing" technically is a bootleg, legal in some countries overseas, but a copyright violation in the United States.

It's difficult to track down but worth the search; it's been repressed by six labels overseas, and copies are popping up all over. A good place to start searching is on the Internet -- fans of the disc have started their own web site tribute to it. For the computer impaired, check out the ads in record-collecting magazines such as Goldmine, ICE or Discoveries. But it's one of those discs where the rights and wrongs of copyright law become obscured by the purity, importance and force of the performance. This is an indispensable performance -- one of the few truly great lost albums of rock 'n' roll and easily one of Dylan's best.Of course now that it's available officially, you won't have to search for it and pay a premium price (usually $50). The point of this review is that if a bootleg which is illegal can draw this much attention then, ...well,..... if you haven't got it through your thick skull yet you won't ever get it........

My 26 year wait was worth it.
I missed Bob Dylan and the Band when they played Seattle in 1966, but just a few years later I heard about this amazing concert he had done in May of that year in London. Bootlegs were available but I never had the money or resources to search this one out, though I did have the original GWW that later became the Basement Tapes. so I waited for this and just this evening played it for the first time. Pure bliss. Dylan has never sounded so young, tender, angry, and knowing all at once. Other reviewers have remarked mostly on the rock disc and they all got it right, but I am nearly as impressed with the solo disc. His phrasing and timing were never better, especially on Desolation Row and Mr. Tambourine Man, and the harp playing! My God; we have forgotten just how good he was when he concentrated. I can almost understand why the audience didn't like the full band sound after hearing that voice and harp so clearly in the first half of the show. Still, the rock half truly does capture the pure American style of the music Dylan was making: a wondrous stew of blues, rock and roll, and surrealistic poetry. Walt Whitman plugged in, or something. It's tough to even adequately describe it. Anyway, the 26 year wait was worth it, and I look forward to listening more closely in the weeks to come. Bill Compton

one, if not, THE best live album i've ever heard
i really don't know what to say to make you buy this. one of my favourite albums ever. period.

The most entertaining electric live set I've ever heard...
I'm only 22 years old, which means I haven't even been thought of yet when Dylan took the stage in Manchester, but I'm pretty aware of what was going on at the time this event took place. Folk lovers considered the kind of stuff Hendrix was putting out "devil music," so some of the people in this audience weren't exactly thrilled when Dylan finished his acoustic set and began to rock out. It's definitely a legendary concert. This well-priced, handy-dandy souvenier represents one of the most important voices of the 20th century at the crossroads. Some liked it; some didn't. It's the ones who didn't that make this "Royal Albert Hall" concert the essential live document of Bob Dylan at the apex of his career.

Throughout the electric portion of the concert, Bob is greeted with boos, unwarranted clapping and cursing from his audience. At one point, when the audience tries to annoy Dylan by clappinig ferociously as he's tuning up, he leans into the microphone and begins to ramble about a bunch of nonsense. He does so until the crowd finally shuts up, at which he says, "If only you wouldn't clap so hard." Sure enough, they clap harder and yell louder. One guy in the audience even yells out "SELL OUT!"

But the real biggie here is when someone screams out "JUDAS!" after Bob plays "Ballad Of A Thin Man." I guess at this point, Bob was done being polite. "I don't believe you," he sneers. "You're a liar!" He turns to his band and yells indistinctly, "Play it f---ing loud!"

"Like A Rolling Stone" is then thrown into the audience's face with audacity and contempt. The song finally ends, Dylan sarcastically says, "Thank you," and walks offstage.

Cool, huh? The electric set is certainly the stand-out here, but the acoustic songs are nothing to shy away from either. In fact, I think "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" is better here than on the album version (ASOBD).

Another suprise you'll find with this release is how well Columbia packaged it. It comes with a fat booklet filled with glossy pages of pictures and notes of the concert and other appearances. This is truly worth your money. HIGHLY recommended.

Where's The Riot?
Hype is a funny thing. Sometimes one gets caught up in it, sometimes it turns you off. It generally turns me off, but in the case of this "historic" release, I got caught up in it.
I have been a sometimey lukewarm Bob Dylan fan over the years. His heyday was a little bit before my adolescence but his musical maturity began its development about the time I started high school. I am quite familiar with the music of those days, but was curious to go back and try to feel a little bit of the magic and expectation that earlier fans of Dylan experienced.
When I bought this, I expected to feel some of the excitement and tension in the air as the old clashed with the new. I wanted to hear the catcalls and Dylan's sarcastic retorts. I wanted to hear the riot!. But there was none. "One of the great confrontational performances of the 20th century" turns out to have been mostly the creation of the media myth machine. If there was any rioting to be heard, Columbia sure did a good job of screening out its sounds.
The liner notes mention the opening of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring as another great confrontational performance. Yes, it was great theater, but it was all orchestrated by Stravinsky, Diaghilev and a claque of concert-goers who were given free tickets to the premier with the understanding that they would foment a riot thus generating press attention for Stravinsky and Diaghilev. The notes should have instead mentioned some of Astor Piazzolla's performances where fisticuffs between Piazzolla supporters and old-guard tango purists (sometimes involving Piazzolla himself) were regular occurences and death threats were a daily fact of life.
If the CD package does not live up to its hype, then why own it? The main reason is to experience the budding transition of Bob Dylan from folk legend to rock and roll hero. The first disc features a fine acoustic set of which my favorites are Its All Over Now, Baby Blue and Just Like A Woman.
The second CD features an electric set that showcases the talents of his sidemen that were later to gel into The Band.
I like Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, the bluesy Ballad of a Thin Man, and the driving Like A Rolling Stone the best. There is a lot of musical tension and energy that makes the entire set memorable. Much of what the liner notes refers to as catcalling and slow clapping can be heard at any concert between songs. What people are usually calling out is a request. Only after Ballad of a Thin Man can you hear a real "insult" when someone shouts "Judas!" at which a few audience members applaud.
Despite the lack of any real riot, I recommend this album to any Dylan fan precisely because of its historic nature as the marking of a pivotal point in Dylan's long and storied career. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings
Listening to this album and other greats by John Prine, I may be forever puzzeled as to why many consider JP's music as being in a Cult Status. Comparisons to Dylan & others, in my view are extremely unfair. John Prine sounds like one of the Few True Originals to me. Just about every tune on Lost Dogs + Mixed Blessing is worthy of attention, while, and you know I am right about this, just about every other artist puts out an album with 1 or 2 good tunes and a lot of fill. We Are The Lonely and Big Fat Love are Cranked-up Rockers while the other tunes are a good mix of music and lyrics that Can't be put into any one category. John's music is a good contemporary blend of a lot of styles, which indeed has the overall qualities which again, equal originality. Why I think someone like John Prine gets considered as Cult Status is because for years radio stations and record stores put him along with other great artists such as Buffy Sainte-Marie into obscure, out of the way, Folk Music Bins and while the mainstream record hunter was looking in the rock or country sections of stores they were not seeing great offerings such as John Prine. Now in the age of the PC we have a much better chance of discovering new interests/items or finding what we're searching for.
Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings is just one of many Great John Prine albums and it's a great example of why John Prine does not need to be compared to anyone else. His music is Great on it's own.

Prine's best of the nineties...
Having been a fan and a follwer of JP since the 70's(a stark contrast to my love for Jethro Tull and the Who), this recording by Prine is the best I've heard this decade. There are no new artists that can combine both lyrics and music the way that Prine can, although I doubt that today's teens and twenty-somethings look at disc sleeves for lyrics. The album is mostly rockers and is well produced with a driving beat and great guitar leads. Like all Prine records, after the second listening you'll be singing along and nodding your head everytime he hits you with his simple worldly truisms. Bravo Prine!

A true classic--Prine in his prime
Although not intuitively obvious from the title, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings is an album of love songs. Ranging from the cynical We are the Lonely, derived from the "personals" craze of the 90's ("SWF with breasts so large, takes Visa, AMEX and Mastercharge") to the soulful Leave the Lights On, from the whimsical Humidity Built the Snowman to the gut wrenching This Love is Real, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings is classic Prine. These songs are characterized by highly melodic undertones, crisp, intelligent lyrics and highly professional musicianship and production values.

To be honest, I've never understood why Prine never mad it big. He produces songs that work, as exemplified by the huge number of covers of his work. He has an infectious personality and it a tremendous stage performer. He produces albums where you actually want to listen to every single song, as opposed to most albums where you spend as much time skipping through the junk as you do listening to the one or two halfway decent songs on the album.

John Prine is a songwriter and storyteller of the first order, and this is one of his all time best albums. Take a pass on all the garbage out there and make John Prine one of your regulars-you'll never regret that you did.

Hot Tunes and Missed Blessings
When I was 5 years old my parents had split and an Aunt was in care. On several occaisions I was sent by my Aunt, "to the attic" in punishment for being a bad boy. The attic was a big wide-open space with lots of piles of stuff stored there. Whilst spending the hours of my punishment time in that desolate expanse of the attic on one particular day, I found a pile of my parents records collection next to a small record player. I looked at the unplugged end and quickly put two and two together and knew how to plug it into a nearby outlet. In those hours I listened to records by Frank Sinatra and Doris Day and Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline and many others, but what caught my ear and sent me along in life in pursuit of collecting and enjoying music was a 45rpm record by Johnny Cash. That record was the story of my own parents love-life: on one side: There you go, you're gone again, I should have known, I couldn't win, There you go, you're by his side, you're gonna break another heart, you're gonna tell another lie....On the other side was a song called Train Of Love, in the song, the Train Of Love is leavin'....Johnny Cash's guitar twang sound got me started in my pusuit of music throughout the rest of my life. Through years later, several times, I had heard the name of John Prine, but it always seemed to be negative reveiws and those negative reveiws influenced me to turn a deaf ear to John Prine. Many more years went by until sometime in the 1990's my wife and I turned on PBS TV one night and saw John Prine performing the songs from his "The Missing Years" CD. We were awestruck as we watched and listened. We became "instant" John Prine fans. Afterwards I was quite angry about the negative John Prine reviews that had caught my attention through so many previous years. My wife and I went out and got all of John's Recordings on CD and we listened in bliss and still do to this day. And it was during that time I learned to never ever take the word of a negative reveiw again. John Prine is one of the best singer songwriters my wife and I have ever discovered (Thank You PBS). We like a ton of music from Johnny Cash to the Beatles and now also John Prine. Then I go to the record shop and there is John Prine off in an obscure corner in a Folk Record Bin. And I say to my dear wife.....If I ever run a record shop that will be the end of catagories. Let's just put everything in alphabetical layout. You want Frank Sinatra go to F you want Beatles go to B, etc, etc,......but my biggest beef is still with negative record reveiwers, as in another example: in a record magazine review I read: Neil Young can't play guitar. And now I think: Neil Young can't play guitar, but, geez you freakin butthead-if-there-ever-was-one-reveiw-writer: Neil Young has only written and performed a few thousand songs on his accoustic guitars, so if Neil Young can't play a guitar then Mr. Negative-Reveiw-Writer, you just Do Not Exist. OK, that said, back to John Prine. There are a few good Rock Tunes on Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings. Of all of John Prine's CD's Wife and I's favorites are Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings and The Missing Years........but we also like just about everything else John Prine has recorded so far. And another big plus for us was when we first learned about John Prine's association and collaborations with the Late, Great, Steve Goodman. Steve Goodman wrote one of the greatest tunes of all time: "City Of New Orleans". John Prine and Steve Goodman are great together. They were meant for each other. Check out Steve Goodman's "Affordable Art" CD and others and Like Wifey and I, You'll be happy.

Prime Prine
Ok, so I stole the title from one of his albums. Sorry, John. Another long-time Prine fan here (have been hooked ever since "The Accident" back in 1976). Not surprisingly, this one became another of my favorite albums. I don't know how he does it, but the sentiments he expresses in his music seem to follow my life. Maybe that's because his music isn't cookie-cutter, "perfectly crafted popular hit songs" and is open to so much varying interpretation, there's always something there that I relate to at any particular time. And it always makes me think. Sometimes his meaning (or my best guess at his meaning) doesn't become clear for years. "Lake Marie" is one of my favorites on this one. First heard it during my divorce, when John sings about being up in Canada, "trying to save our marriage, or catch a few fish, whatever comes first." He has lifted my spirits and brought so many smiles to my face over so many years and through so much turmoil. I'll always be so grateful that he didn't make a lifelong career out of delivering "more junk mail than the junkyard could hold." If you're a Prine fan you will probably love this one. If you're not a Prine fan, or you're not sure, it's anyone's guess. John Prine isn't for everyone - if he was, I'd probably hate him. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A four-star CD, and the DVD makes it five-plus-stars.
This is an excellent record. Like others, I too find Rice to be reminiscent of David Gray, mainly of Gray's earliest recordings. I'd actually describe this record as David Gray meets Tom Waits, with a more ethereal tone than either of those artists. Rice has an unabashed emotional/sentimental streak (like Gray, and Waits as well, I suppose), and the production reminds me Waits' organic "clanky" style, similar to Waits' work on "Mule Variations" (in fact, both CDs have a track entitled "Cold Water....coincidence? Probably).

But there are plenty of other reviews of the CD. I want to talk about the DVD. Is it worth spending an extra three or four or five bucks to get the "Limited Edition w/ DVD" version of this record? In a word, yes. In five words, yes-yes-yes-yes-yes.

The DVD contains three video tracks, with Rice performing with vocalist Lisa Hannigan and cellist Vyvienne Long. The songs are filmed in black-and-white, in a studio, and are alternate "stripped-down" versions of "Cannonball," "The Blower's Daughter," and "Volcano." The quality of the videos is excellent, the sound is superb, and I actually prefer the sort of live, unplugged sound of these tracks over the album versions.

If you're any kind of a Damien Rice fan, this DVD is a must-have addition to your collection.

O boy...
By looking at the reviews, it seems like most of the people that own this album are cult fans that have seen Damien in concert and things. I first heard of Damien Rice on VH1, where I saw the video for "Volcano". I decided to check the album out to see what it was like, and I just couldn't get into it.

I tried to give this album a chance, but I just think it's boring. In fact, I almost fell asleep a couple of times while I was listening to it. Also, Damien doesn't have the greatest singing voice, so it's really annoying to hear him oversinging in songs like "I Remember". Speaking of which, things don't get much better with the insane production in that song, not to mention the terrible tenor chorus in "Cold Water". And "Cannonball" ends really abruptly.

Most of the songs on here seem to blow right by you without being very memorable. And the last song, "Eskimo", is followed by not one, but TWO hidden tracks, which are okay. Too bad I can't say the same for this album. Maybe it should have been called Z (as in sleeping) instead of O.

Anthony Rupert

Outstanding Piece of Work
I first heard of Damien Rice when he made his television debut on David Letterman. I was instantly blown away. When I listened to "O" my awe of this artist increased exponentially. Damien Rice is easily the best thing to come out of Ireland since U2. The CD tells a story and in keeps you enthralled from the opening lines of soft and sincere "Delicate" to the angry and scornful "I Remember" operatic climax of "Eskimo" (the greatest song to be written about writer's block I think). Although he has been called demanding for only agreeing to do a certain number of appearances a week (Damien: "I'm not promoting my album; I'm protecting it.") he is destined to be one of the greatest artists of our time.

extending a drive...
I heard Damien play a song on Carson Daly's super late program, and it woke me from my sleep. I even got up and wrote his name down in my groggy state. A few months later, I found his CD at one of my local stores. It was the limited edition disk, but I figured may as well take a chance for a few more bucks. Jumped in the car, setting aside my other CD purchases, set the preset to C&W, and popped in "O". I spent the next hour driving around in awe of what I was hearing. Each song was intricately beautiful. The lyrics were amazing, each instrument does exactly what it's supposed to, when it's supposed to, the mixing is flawless, and just when you get to the end of a song, it flows right into the next. This CD followed me into the house, and back to the car again for about a week before I remembered that I bought a few others, and decided to give them a go.
My few complains are that he lets his female counterpart sing too many notes in disharmony with him. There are points when it is beautiful, but there are points when it gets old. His lyrics are a bit young sometimes, but you can feel the emotion and the passion behind them, so this can be forgiven. My final complaint is that some of his better songs were left OFF the CD. The songs: The Professor and Lonelily are two of my favorites and they are absent from the disk.
In short, this CD is like a great novel. You get involved with the characters and the emotion, and you can't get away from it. And when you can finally come up for air, you insist that your friends give it a go as well. I can hardly wait to see what Damien gives us next.

Pure acoustic album
This is minor album in terms of greatness, but a great debut that shows the confidence Rice has in his songwriting. It's unfettered by superfluous percussion and a rock rhythm section. There's also a slow charm that accompanies the songs, it never seems like it's in a hurry to express itself. A plus to this album is that it's so easygoing but not like easy listening at all. In comparison, it sounds like David Gray only in a more lyrical musical setting that's pretty sparse compared to the electronic work on "White Ladder" and full band arrangement on others, but not more sparse as his acoustic moments. Gray is also a better vocalist than Rice because he knows his limitations better. Sometimes Rice will have a song that is out of his range and he'll just sing it with more passion. It works, but it would be more powerful if he would just sing it in his own range. In terms of what the better album is, I'll leave that up to you. If you're in the mood for an acoustic album, then go for Rice's, it's consistently strong all the way through. ... Read more

Album Description

Import only collection spanning all five albums theacclaimed singer/songwriter's produced in her first 12years. 16 tracks including 'Fast Car', 'Crossroads','Telling Stories' & 'Give Me One Reason'. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very very Cool!
I just purchased this album in HDCD format on eBay (sorry Amazon). It is absolutely fantastic. I have not stopped playing it for three days. The HDCD format really lets Chapman's voice soar and her guitar sing in a way that I have never heard before. Highly recommended. I too qonder what's become of her. Guess she just got tired of all the hoopla. By all accounts she's quite shy and does not like the limelight too much.

Smooooth...Sounds
Excellant collection & great CD for listening by yourself or significant other. You won't be diappointed with the selections personally picked by Tracy Chapman.

A good album
All the important hits from Tracy's first 5 albums are featured on "Collection". I sometimes wonder where people like Tracy have gone...people who talk about things that are uncomfortable. She does that for example in her fantastic songs "Fast Car" and "Subcity" (my favourite song on the album), not to forget the superb "Talking 'Bout a Revolution".
Moreover, her great lovesongs "Baby Can I Hold You" and "The Promise" are among the most romantic ever written.
She taught us that all that we have is our soul...Tracy Chapman has plenty of it. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

Just incredible
I can't get over this album! I'm kicking myself that I missed their recent show in DC, because eastmountainsouth is one of my favorite new bands. This album is simultaneously gorgeous and uplifting as well as a little sad-- good music for an introspective mood. I just love both Kat and Peter's voices, as well as the incredible musicianship of the instruments they play. You can hear different influences in their music, which makes them appeal to a wide variety of listeners-- you can hear bluegrass, folk, and even Celtic music.

This one will be in my CD player for a good long time!!

"Eastmountainsouth" doesn't go far enough
Folk-rock group Eastmountainsouth stay in safe territory for their self-titled debut. "Eastmountainsouth" is pretty enough with some pleasant ballads and solid folk music, but somehow it never really takes off. It's enjoyable, but it doesn't come fully to life.

The weakest track is perhaps the alt-country opener, a sort of bluegrass cover of "Hard Times." A different sound comes in with twangy folk-pop ("Winter," the unpleasant "You Dance," the vibrant "Rain Comes Down" ) and soft-edged, wistful ballads (the ethereal "Ghost," "So Are You To Me," the charming "Still Running") before rounding off on the pleasant "On Your Way."

Eastmountainsouth are at their best when they do ballads and rely on Kat Maslich's pretty voice. Their bouncier numbers tend to be pop-inflected folk, and many of them sound too similar. The ballads, on the other hand, are more solid and slow, letting the good instrumentation flow through.

Traditional instruments and songs are the backbone of their sound -- lots of banjo, guitar, piano, and a spattering of other stuff. And the songwriting is spotty; when it's good, it's very good (all of the vaguely psalm-like "As You Are To Me"), and when it's not so good, it's cliched ("Show me the river that leads to my home/back to the one that I love").

Both Kat Maslich and Peter Adams do lead vocals, depending on what song is being sung. But Adams really doesn't have that great a voice. As a result, Maslich's warm voice is the high point of "Eastmountainsouth," able to soar and waver like a diva's. In "So You Are To Me," she almost sounds like jazz wunderkind Norah Jones in her bluesier offerings.

"Eastmountainsouth" shows plenty of talent and musical promise that hasn't flowered as of yet. As it is, their self-titled debut is pleasant but not exceptional.

Breathtaking!
What an amazing album! I rarely buy CD's because I never like more than one or two cuts from an artist but EMS blew me away. Their melodies are haunting and graceful and their simple, yet brilliant instrumentation forced me to play this CD over and over again. Kat and Peter's voices blend like one. I want Mark's song played at my funeral. Wow!

wow
I bought this album over a month ago & I still can't get enough of it!!

What a gorgeous record
Part country - part blues - part new age - east mountainsouth's album is just one of the most georgeously beautiful records. Be warned however. Every now and then it surprises with a sharp edge in both lyrics and music. That just adds to its allure.

I've played it over and over. It rates with my favourite albums of the past several years, and is right up with some of the most listenable music in the past few decades. As a guide, my most played albums (recently) are "Poetic Champions Compose" (Van Morrison), 'The Healer" (John Lee Hooker), "Rubber Soul" (The Beatles), " "Born to Run" (Bruce Sprinsteen), "Circus Animals" (Cold Chisel), "Espresso Guitar" (Martin Winch), "The Girl in the Other Room" (Diana Krall) and "Rainy Day Music" (The Jayhawks). If you like these, listen to eastmountainsouth. I think you'll like them. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Vic Chesnutt has released a dozen albums in 15 years, and there's not many artists operating at that speed. However, Chesnutt warrants it; the pace simply matches his artistic growth. Ghetto Bells has a powerful resonance that reveals itself slowly. A couple of seven-minute pieces are the heart of the album, both moving forward slowly, but ever so purposefully. One of them,"Rambunctious Cloud," is further sweetened by the presence ofVan Dyke Parks on accordion (who appears throughout, on various keyboards) and a staggering guitar solo from Bill Frisell. It's a mark of Chesnutt's singular songwriting prowess that such a stellar band of disparate players came together, full of sympathetic invention, confidence and grace. -- David Greenberger ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Chesnutt's Sublime Bells
When people like Michael Stipe -"Top 10 finest songwriters today: Vic Chesnutt"- or Tom Waits -"He's fragile like Neil Young, Daniel Johnston and Aaron Neville, songs like strange things you find on the ground"- have this much praise to offer for a fellow musician, I think it is alright for those among us, who long to be moved by great songs, to stop and listen.
Chesnutt new album, Ghetto Bells, is a fine place to start, perhaps a perfect one. At least to me, it conjures up the bare poetic soul of his early classics -"West Of Rome," "Little," the Stipe-produced, or "Is The Actor Happy"- at the same time that it reminds me of the sophisticated musical vision of his amazing 2003's "Silver Lake."
For those who have already fallen under Chesnutt's spell, saying this much will be sufficient or, perhaps, unnecessary. The man has proven to be such uncompromising talent enough times to justify the purchase of his works "sight-unseen." For those who may not know them well, the rest of these words -I hope- may be useful to convince them of purchasing this album.
First and foremost, his lyrics -at once ironic, deeply emotive and deceptively simple-- deserve a place along the great songwriters of popular music. I'm thinking of people like Jimmy Webb, Springsteen or Leonard Cohen, none of whom are references in style, but a sign of Chesnutt's poetic stature.
Listen to songs like "Virginia" -a moving confession of troubled love for his mother- or "Ignorant People" -in which he expresses such sincere gratitude for the life he gets to live- as fine examples of his depth of feeling. Both particularly poignant when you realize that he has been paralyzed as the result of a car accident in 1983, when he was only 18. Both infused with courageous acceptance, and not a single gram of sentimentality.
Musically speaking, although his songs remain faithful to authentic simplicity, these melodies are utterly moving. In addition to the songs mentioned before, I'm thinking of "Forthright," "Rambunctious Cloud" and the incomparable "Vesuvius."
Of course, it does not hurt to have the assistance of Van Dyke Park on piano, accordion and organ -plus the exquisite strings arrangement in "Virginia" - nor the unpredictable beauty of Bill Frisell's guitar, or the masterful drumming of Don Heffington.
Finally, and perhaps the most impressive surprise of Ghetto Bells, is Vic's voice, which it managed to achieve a vulnerability nothing less than courageous, beautiful in its disregard to be perfect and most interested in connecting deeply with the listener.
As Van Dyke Parks said, "Add Vic Chesnutt to your short-list of great Southern Writers. A true Romantic poet! In his works is an unsparing candor, leaving the casual listener amazed, deluged and wrung out again-refreshed with truly informed optimism and shoots of ironic humor, sprouting up in most unexpected places."
This is an extraordinary album, a work that offers hard-earned joy, humble wisdom and and immense relief amidst the caution and self-consciousness so prevalent in recent recordings from respected and more famous artists today.

Masterful fusion of great musicians
This album sounds like a Vic Chesnutt album, with the inimitable vocals and dark-green sounding guitar but it also sounds like a Bill Frisell album as the man's sunsetty guitars perfectly weave through the songs adding dimensions. While Silver Lake had a very good backing band- here the band is not so much backing but adding their own very distinct and musical talents to the mix. Van Dyke Parks accordion (concertina?), string arrangements sound like open spaces or parisian streets. Vic's niece Liz Durrett's layered vocals on "What Do You Mean?" sound like ghosts in a southern forest. The album is well-produced but not over-produced.
Above all- if you like Vic's sparse earlier recordings you should love this as all the musicians add to the songs AND if you like Silver Lake you should love this as the recording is rich sounding. Besides, what other album would have a line about Neopolitan ice cream in a song called "Vesuvius"?

A New Classic....Ghetto Bells
Vic Chesnutt has created a work of art. Like a fine novel, or a film destined to be a classic. With every listen, the characters come to life and the soundtrack is the soundtrack to your life...real or imagined.
"Little Caesar" refers to the obvious leader of the (free?) world..and "Forthright" leads you to a kinder, gentler place...where sincerety is the rule, not the exception.
Excellent imagery abounds with every note, and word of every song, written by a down to earth dreamer. Vic Chesnutt will gain many new fans, with this new release. Deservedly so...
A FIVE STAR recording if ever there was... ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

This acoustic supergroup joined forces in the summer of 1988,and the result was a true landmark in "new acoustic" music. As ifbluegrass (and even "newgrass") was too constricting, the quintet--SamBush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Bela Fleck (banjo), MarkO'Connor (violin), and Edgar Meyer (bass)--incorporates classical-stylethemes and arrangements within the context of bluegrassinstrumentation. Their unbelievable technique and musical ability wasnever in question; however, what makes the album special is the uncannyblend of precision and freedom, of improvisation and structure. Each ofthe 10 compositions were written by a different twosome (do the mathpermutations). Playful bluesy lopes ("Pink Flamingo") accompany tingesof reggae ("The Locks of Dread"), Celtic ("Macedonia"), and MiddleEastern ("Blue Men of the Sahara") music. There are urgent burners,somber mood pieces, and tender ballads, all delivered with grace. --Marc Greilsamer ... Read more

Reviews (40)

Definitave NEWgrass bluegrass!
As much praise as has been heaped upon this album, one can hardly add anything new, but I simply must put in my two cents.

This album is *very* important in the history of bluegrass for several reasons.

First, because of the assembly of an absolute superstar lineup: Bela Fleck (banjo), Mark O'Connor (fiddle); Sam Bush (mandolin), Edgar Meyer (bass), & Jerry Douglas (dobro). All of these people are considered to be at the top of their field, and some of them are numbered amongst the legends of all time.

Secondly, because of the originality of the material. Most of the members of this group have plenty of experience in other areas (i.e. Fleck with jazz & world music, Meyer is a classical composer, etc.) Many of these songs have classical structures and incorporate elements of jazz as well. The amazing thing is that despite all of these outside elements, its still bluegrass music. Of course, its not old style like Bill Monroe, but all musical forms change and evolve, and this is certainly well within and respectful of the bluegrass tradition.

To go on and on about the players prowess would be silly, because everyone knows these guys are la creme de la creme. You know its innovative bluegrass though when there are songs titles like "Macedonia" (with a nice dobro & mandolin solos and trade-offs), "Blue Men of the Sahara" (which sounds like a runaway train during the jam) and "Lochs of Dread" (with its reggae beat.) This isn't your grandaddy's bluegrass, but he'd probably enjoy it too.

Timeless
This summit of acoustic genius remains the standard of excellence for blue/newgrass music some 13 years after its original recording. What makes "Strength in Numbers" such a compelling effort is the willingness of the musicians - all masters of their respective domains - to tone down the individual string pyrotechnics and work together as an ensemble.

The result is vibrant, diverse, and exciting music - from the mysterious opening strains of "Future Man" to the apocalyptic denoument of "Blue Men of the Sahara", the listener remains fully engaged throughout. If I had to pick three as an example of the breadth of talent at work here, I'd probably point to the "middle" of the CD - 1) "One Winter's Night," a lovely chamber piece involving beautiful interplay between Egdar Meyer's bowed bass and Mark O'Connor' violin; 2)"Macedonia", a bluegrass cum Greek dance song featuring the twin mandolins of O'Connor and Sam Bush (plus terrific, understated banjo backup from Bela Fleck), and 3) "Lochs of Dread", a Scottish/reggae (that's not a misprint) bounce-along composed by Fleck and dobro wizzard Jerry Douglas.

The appeal of "Strength in Numbers" goes beyond the "bluegrass jam" label. Some are clamoring for more from these five; I fear that any sequel would be a let down - then again, I wouldn't bet against them!

What the funk?
In my opinion, this album is something really special, and what a great range of styles get covered! I would have liked to hear more energetic solos, but I think that these great musicians make up for that in the creativity of this music. There were jazzy tracks, traditional or classical tracks, and some really funky tracks with a real groove!

Still A "Must Have" Album
These 5 newgrass musicians simply are the best of the best *at* their best. Stop wasting time and buy this album! 'Nuff said.

they'll never be another one
If you like any of these 5 musicians alone doing solo material, then you'll love this remarkable recording. These 5 chaps were pretty much a house band in some form or another at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado in the late 80's. Usually a few of them play with various groups every year at the festival. This album is a great showcase for each musician's command of their respective instrument. I wholeheartedly disagree with the guy from Milwaukee who said it was lethargic and that the band needed to play together more. If he knew anything about music he would recognize the amazing interaction on this Cd.

The tracks range from fairly straight forward bluegrass-newgrass to strange folk music. O'Connors's guitar playing on "Slopes" is incredible. Meyer's bass solo on "Duke & Cookie" proves he's definitely at the top on the instrument. Douglas displays his talent on "No Apologies" which shows why he is the most recorded musician in history (more than 500 albums with various artists). Fleck and Bush are excellent on every track. The strength of this Cd is the interplay of the different songwriters and musicians. It is not simply one person's band. Sure, if you want traditional bluegrass there are better albums, but this album shines after 15 years. Take this album for what it is - 5 phenomenal musicians & friends getting together and jamming. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential recording

Granted, Sweet Old World isn't the masterpiece that1988's LucindaWilliams is. The too-simple explanations of "He Never GotEnough Love" aren't up to Williams's mile-high standards, and thearrangements throughout are often so similar to that previous release'sthat the melodic differences here aren't as clear as they might'vebeen. But when she raises her vulnerable cry to sing the three, painedperspectives on suicide that are at the heart of this album--the titletrack, "Little Angel, Little Brother," and "Pineola"--Williams's veryhumanity provides its own proof that, while this world can indeed becruel, it can also be oh so sweet. --David Cantwell ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Such Sweet Sorrow
This beautiful album opens with the uptempo Six Blocks Away but soon turns sombre with songs like He Never Got Enough Love, the tender and poetic Sweet Old World (covered by Emmylou Harris on her Wrecking Ball album) and the painful Pineola, a harrowing story about a suicide and funeral. Little Angel, Little Brother is less sad, but gentle, perceptive and poetic too. The mood never seems to brighten after that, although Lines Around Your Eyes is a powerful love ballad and Prove My Love is a melodic, emotionally gripping country song. Sidewalks Of The City is a sad but hopeful Springsteenesque ballad, while Memphis Pearl reminds me of Emmylou's Red Dirt Girl or Joan Baez's version of Love Is Just A Four Letter Word in its theme and mood. Lucinda's sound is a perfect blend of rootsy country, folk and rock that fits her lyrics like a glove. This beautiful, sad and moving album ends, quite appropriately, with her cover of Nick Drake's elegiac Which Will.

Hugely disappointing
I bought this album several years ago on the strength of a print review and Lucinda Williams' reputation. After listening to it several times, and then letting it gather dust over the years, I finally just got rid of it. While some of the melodies on this CD are lovely, Lucinda Williams should stick to writing music for others (which she does with great success) -- her voice is nasal and reedy, and while she may be trying for an "honest, folky sound," she simply comes off as someone who needs voice lessons (esp. if she wants to avoid nodes on her vocal cords later in her career...) Furthermore, I'm truly surprised that others find her work insightful or moving in any way. "Sweet Old World" is written for a friend who committed suicide -- and I have never encountered such a complete misunderstanding of how depressed people & potential suicides see life. The song is just a lazy (yet jarring) litany of things that suicidal people realize they should appreciate, but can't. To anyone who has been in that position, this song is like a dripping water torture. The only song I found worthwhile was "Lines around your eyes," which wasn't strong enough to make me want to keep the album. If you are interested in a folky singer-songwriter, try Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Catie Curtis, The Story, or Christine Kane. Your money will be better spent there.

Poignant
This was my first Lucinda Williams CD and my favorite in many ways. Ten years ago it seemed as consistent as her first album, and I admit on re-listening today that it isn't. The instrumentation has become dated, and between that and the New And Improved production on her later releases, I can see how others may have skipped this one or may want to. It would be a loss, though, not to have this CD that speaks so poignantly to loss.

If I had to pick a single favorite Lucinda Williams song, the title track would be tempting. This song about suicide is her masterpiece, and you're not human if you aren't moved by it. It takes a poet to succeed with such a song. "Something About What Happens When We Talk" was the first of her songs I ever heard and remains a particular favorite. On hearing it I began my arguments with myself over whether her simple lyrics were trite or minimalistic. I eventually decided on the latter, and this song is so very intelligent and evocative, like so many here. The theme of suicide and loss from "He Never Got Enough Love" (those songs about men with abusive childhoods haven't stopped or become more subtle from here to "Sweet Side") through "Pineola" is perfectly realized. I don't have Lucinda's gift with words,