Customer Reviews

Always Lift Him Up: A Tribute to Blind Alfred Reed

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What a great CD! And I stumbled upon it by pure chance. After a Tim O'Brien concert here in Italy, I was so enthusiastic about his playing that I decided to have one of his records. Unfortunately, they were all over by the time I reached the selling booth and so I settled for this one. I couldn't have done a better choice. Why? Firstly, it's still a Tim O'Brien album, after all: he sings, produces, plays a variety of stringed instruments in about a third of the 19 tracks and also writes the liner notes (he was also very kind to sign my album copy).

Secondly, I discovered a songwriter I was unaware of. To excuse myself, I must say that I shared my ignorance with quite a good company. From the liner notes: "most of the participants in this tribute were unaware of the man and his music until asked to participate."

This album tries to make Alfred Reed justice and in my opinion it succeeds. Sure, sometimes his songs are preachy ("Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls"), patronizing ("Beware") or pathetic ("The Prayer of the Drunkard's Little Girl"), but they are never dull and you listen to them even though you may differ. Of course, the best songs are when he's more compassionate than preachy. And I'm thinking of his devout hymns to God (the two renditions of "Walk in the Way With Jesus", "There'll Be No Distinction There" and "I Mean to Live for Jesus"), his ballads with heartfelt compassion for the tragedies of the common people ("Explosion in the Fairmount Mines", "Fate of Chris Lively and Wife") or his passionate commentaries about the poor and the sinners ("How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" and "You Must Unload").

Despite the dark themes of his songs, the music is always quite lively. My favourite songs are "Beware" (preachy yes, but so funny and energetic), "The Telephone Girl" (the chorus is made for sing-along), "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls" (I like Ann Magnuson's facetious tone), "Money Cravin' Folks" (I love the thumping of the pump organ), "You'll Miss Me" (nice duet between Mollie and Tim O'Brien), "Explosion in the Fairmount Mines", "Fate of Chris Lively and Wife" and "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live".

But I'm doing wrong to the other songs I haven't mentioned. They are all good, really. With 19 tracks and with more than 1 hour of music, this album has both quality and quantity. The best purchase of the year so far. Moreover, even though (or more likely "because of") written in the Depression era, some songs like "Money Cravin' Folks" and "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" are still damn relevant today! Do yourself a favour and buy this disregarded gem.

Bought this on the strength of Ry Cooder's previous covers of Blind Alfred Reed songs and Tim O'Brien's participation in this project. Have never heard the original recordings. Some of the tunes on this CD have moving, insightful lyrics. Others songs are quite humorous. The level of musicianship here is generally quite high. Standout tunes include "You'll Miss Me" (Tim and Mollie O'Brien), "There'll Be No Distinction There" (great a capella singing by Bare Bones), and "Explosion in the Fairmount Mine" (by someone named John Lilly who does a very nice, heartfelt version of this tune). That's the good part. Some of the other tunes are, unfortunately, just silly, trite, or tedious. I won't go into great detail, but I suspect you'll find yourself reaching for the "Skip" button on your CD player shortly after some of these songs begin. The tunes mentioned above (and a few others) are excellent, but there are some serious clinkers on here as well.