From the Air

M Shanghai String Band | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 29, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Red Parlor
• ASIN: B000QFCDE0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,077 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More Good, But Not Great, Acoustic Folk/Country Music from Brooklyn, NY, June 29, 2008

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the Air (Audio CD)

Much to my amazement, a recent Village Voice article failed to cite the M Shanghai String Band as one of the premier bands in the over-hyped, rather mediocre, Brooklyn, New York folk/country music scene:


http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0822,the-grand-ole-opries-of-brooklyn,451775,22.html

M Shanghai String Band is definitely the best band from this scene that I have heard, and one which has garnered some respectable interest regionally in venues ranging from the Berkshires of Massachusetts to the Mohawk River valley of New York. Theirs is a fine mixture of acoustic folk and country music, with a strong undercurrent of bluegrass too, played with the ample earnestness one expects from serious amateur musicians like them. But what of their songwriting craft? Without question, the best song is "From the Riverbed" which is a fine elegy to the generations of tunnel diggers ("sand hogs") who have built vast networks of tunnels for moving traffic and delivering fresh water within New York City, often under perilous conditions. However, the rest of the album doesn't quite match the smart, witty lyrics and fine melodies I've heard from the Wingdale Community Singers - quite possibly Brooklyn's best acoustic country/folk act, period - or from Tucson, AZ-based Nancy McCallion, a founder of the critically acclaimed the Mollys, and often compared favorably to the likes of Iris DeMent and Lucinda Williams. If you are interested in hearing traditional folk music with a contemporary twist, then M Shangahi String Band's latest may be quite all right for you, but if you want to hear great country music made by noted New York City-based musicians, then check out the latest releases from the likes of Roseanne Cash, Mark O'Connor and Chris Thile first.