Anthology of American Folk Music
Chris Ball
everyone here thinks about the remastered sound for the new cd release
of the Anthology. First of all, the sound is very nicely cleaned up.
Very little scratch and pop from the 78s. But the music is still
"powerful". Often I find that when old 78s are cleaned up and reissued
alot of the music is stripped as well. I especially find this to be
true with Col/Legacy releases. Yazoo is by far the best I think for
sound. Anyway, I'm just wondering what you all think about the job
Smithsonian Folkways did on the Anthology.
Chris Ball <cwb...@webtv.net>
Lyle Lofgren
No, the topic's not boring, but there was quite a bit of discussion
(some of it heated) about a year ago when the Anthology was reissued.
That's probably the reason for the sparse response. You might be able
to find the comments in Deja-News. Strangely, not much of the
discussion revolved around the quality of the songs chosen or the
quality of the sounds, but rather on whether Greil Marcus knows
anything about old-time music or not, and whether Harry Smith was a
fraud or not.
My own position is that, whether by astrology or some other means,
Harry Smith produced a musical masterpiece that isn't likely to be
matched in our lifetime. It's not a sampler of American music -- it's
not inclusive enough. It is, however, an emotional experience of the
first magnitude. After hundreds of listenings over almost 40 years,
I've concluded that the choice of pieces and their ordering is just
right. As someone commented, it's a symphony in 84 movements. I was
relieved when it was re-released with the same ordering as the
original.
You can denigrate it, but if you care about old-time music, you can't
ignore it. That puts it in the same class as Karl Marx and Adam Smith
in Economics, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in 19th Century literature,
Bartok and Stravinsky in 20th Century classical music, or Hank
Williams Sr. to some people who post to this group and wonder why they
get an angry response -- well, you get the idea: the Defining Moment
that changes the direction of the discourse.
Lyle Lofgren
Chris Ball
the Anthology is the greatest collection of music ever assembled. I've
read a little about Smith and his strange occult ideas and all that.
He's a very interesting character. His song selection on the Anthology
really is amazing. I don't know how long it took for him to assembe it
but I think I read a couple of years went into creating the set. It was
my first purchase of old time country music. Before that I lived off of
Guthire and Lead Belly and a few other notables like John Hurt and Blind
Willie McTell. After getting into the Anthology I have since gone crazy
getting my hands on discs from the Carter family, Charlie Patton, Dave
Macon, etc.... I can't get enough of this old time stuff. Especially
the new Yazoo releases. They are wonderful. They really have amazing
sound and song selection. They still don't hold a candle to the HSA
though in terms of overall feeling and streaming. Truly an eye opening
and enlightening collection.
Chris Ball <cwb...@webtv.net>
Oldtime1
vinyl collection and I have heard many copies of the original 78s. The CD
collection has better sound than the vinyl one and better in general than the
78 originals. That's because the reissue crew sought out the best available
copies and did not use discs from Harry's tape or collection unless it was the
best available one. Then after using the best 78 and best stylus and associated
stuff they did a digital edit, getting rid of some pops and cracks on the
original 78s. In some cases I hear they were able to go back to metal parts and
get new vinyl 78 discs from the old 78 parts. Some other folks thought they did
a good job. They got a Grammy for the craftsmanship involved in doing this.
This honor was voted by a panel of persons who themselves do this work. Four
persons shared the Grammy. The seeking out and mastering work was by two
hardworking Smithsonian employees: the fine archivist Jeff Place and great
sound engineer Pete Reiniger. Airshow founder and engineer Dave Glasser and
engineer Charlie Pilzer did the digital edit with Reiniger and shared the
Grammy award.
Yes, the Yazoo reissues on CD are also beautifully done. They are the personal
work of Richard Nevins, an owner of Shanachie Entertainment (which owns Yazoo)
and a record collector and sterling fieldworker for many years. It was Rich who
found and first recorded Tommy Jarrell -- and did much other good work such as
issuing the first Ladysmith Black Mambazo (SP?) discs in the USA, pioneering in
Jamaician and other world music, helping create the Irish revival via good new
recordings in the 70s - the list goes on and on. He continues to contribute in
outstanding ways. So hooray for him and others who care enough to do great
work. BTW, the current stream of oldtime, blues, gospel and older world music
reissues from Yazoo amazes me and I urge eveyone to lay hands on this goldmine
of sound. I learned the hard way to not assume that great reissues would always
be available. Joe Wilson
Lyle Lofgren
Thanks for the information on the Yazoo reissues. I have been
completely mystified as to how such high quality could exist in this
country! And I'm still trying to figure out how to afford to keep up
with all of them -- maybe if I declare my music collection to be an
IRA to support me in my old age?
Lyle