American Primitive 2

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Revenant Records
• ASIN: B000B5UNHO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,114 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Despite Some Recycling, A Transcendant Anthology, December 28, 2005

By 

Frank M. Young III "eubiecat" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Primitive 2 (Audio CD)

To be honest, I almost passed on buying this set. A great deal of the material here is available elsewhere -- in several other places. Buyers of Yazoo's ambitious three-disc "Before The Blues" discs of 1997, or anyone half-familiar with other CDs by Document and Yazoo, will recognize a good half of the 50 tracks here.
As well, Revenant Records is devoted to replicating the experience of listening to one of these original, battered shellac discs. They're the polar opposite of John Davies and JSP Records. I think that, were it possible, Revenant would import MORE pops, scrapes and thunks into the music.
The surface damage adds something divine to the listening experience. This set, which spotlights performers and performances that defy the conventions of professionalism and "good taste," bare the cold, windy soul of American life in the 1920s and '30s. These night-soaked, doom-ridden performances pack quite a punch. Some of them are actually quite funny and light-hearted, but the Grim Reaper is still peering over the listener's shoulders on each and every selection here.
The Nugrape Twins are the most haunting, moving performers here. It's hard to imagine where they were coming from, exactly, but their music has the perfect blend of the creepy and the divine.
Homer Quincy Smith's two spirituals, from 1926, are perhaps the eeriest, even most frightening recordings I've ever heard. With an organ to his accompaniment, Smith bares his soul via two minor-keyed, chill-making religious songs. To paraphrase the set's liner notes, these two songs are a private, highly personal dialogue with The Creator, from a mortal voice who seems to doubt his faith while clinging desperately to its tenets.
The scary mood of many of the performances here probably wasn't intended by the artists. It just comes oozing out of their musical pores. In high contrast to the white music of the Jazz Age, these recordings suggest what a threatening, unfulfilling and grim place 1920s America must have been, especially to the disenfranchised and downtrodden who created and purchased these records.
Some other endearing-haunting performers/songs are Elizabeth Johnson's two entries, "Be My Kid Blues" and "Sobbin' Woman Blues," with their cartoon woodblock percussion and muted fiesta cornet. The style of these two tracks does not exist anywhere else in recorded music. It barely hangs together, and its flirtation with failure makes the performances moving and even troubling.
Pigmeat Terry's curious off-key, wordless emanations, sounding like a mistreated alto sax, make her two pieces delights. And new to my ears is the sublime "Ballin' The Jack" by The Salty Dog Four. The set's thick liner-note booklet describes this music as "scorched-earth freek jazz." I can add nothing more to that perfect description.
Old-time music fans know all about Geeshie Wiley, The Two Poor Boys, Blues Birdhead, John Hammond, Moses Mason and Bayless Rose, to name some oft-anthologized performers represented here. As said earlier, the inclusion of so many tracks long-familiar to me almost persuaded me against the purchase of this set. The miracle of this collection is that, by its careful jutxaposition of moods and themes in the music, it makes these workhorses fresh once again.
If you are fortunate to be new to some or all of this music, do not hesitate to purchase "American Primitive, Vol. 2." And even if, like me, you're not new to most of it, it will give you a new perspective on many of these done-to-death staples of P.D. old time music comps.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Manic hillbilly jam sessions... drunken ragtime jamborees... backcountry kazoo virtuosos... droning banjo ragas..., January 13, 2006

By 

svf - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Primitive 2 (Audio CD)

I feel like I should clarify a few things right away here...
1. I haven't heard American Primitive Vol. I
2. I am far from an expert or even really a fan of Americana / roots / blues / folk / old-timey jazz / etc.
3. There are many things I'd rather do than listen to a bunch of digitally remastered scratchy old 78rpm records
4. I love this album...

Billed as "John Fahey's final curated work for Revenant," American Primitive Vol. II inspires a very rare and exciting sense of wonder and discovery in each of its 50 tracks. You feel as if you've been granted exclusive access to a secret, forgotten, and neglected library of old recordings that have been buried in dusty attics and rickety storage sheds for decades. Of course, Revenant Records seems to specialize in sonic revelation, previously lavishing upon us two of the greatest CD box sets of all time -- Charlie Patton: Screamin' and Hollerin the Blues and Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost.

It would be pointless to attempt a track-by-track description of this two disc set -- just dive in head first and enjoy the ride... You'll hear spooky gospel dirges... manic hillbilly jam sessions... yelping bluesmen... drunken ragtime jamborees... freewheeling Appalachian shape note singing... backcountry kazoo virtuosos... droning banjo ragas... barely coherent harmonica solos... barroom jazz-folk-blues ballads... scary sung/spoken fire-and-brimstone sermons... For a few precious minutes, each track transports you to some kind of strange yet very vivid alternative early American universe.

The sound quality is surprisingly clear and clean throughout, especially considering the age (and likely condition) of some of the source recordings... in fact, some of this music sounds so "modern" (or "post-modern?") that you almost wonder if it's all some kind of elaborate Fahey-esque prank (some of the liner notes make you wonder too...) Perhaps my jaded ears can hardly believe that there was once a time when a recording could be so raw, sincere, unpretentious, unproduced, and defiantly "unmarketable." While these records were all apparently "professionally" recorded and produced in one way or another, they have more of the unaffected sound and spirit of "amateur" home recordings.

John Fahey and Revenant should be saluted as American heroes for preserving and sharing these forgotten treasures for all of us to hear. American Primitive Vol. II is evidence of an American musical past far more varied, eccentric, exciting, and just plain fun than you've ever imagined.

As an added bonus (just as you'd expect from this label), the artwork, packaging, and extensive liner notes are a total class act. Vol. I, here I come...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Note on sound quality, March 16, 2006

By 

Benjamin I. Smith "BSmith" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Primitive 2 (Audio CD)

For any complainers out there, or more importantly any interested listeners who are concerned about the sound quality herein, don't be.

The remastering is wonderful, and if this type of music had no tape defects, hiss or background distortion, well then it would be a much different experience altogether - one you wouldn't recognize as the rugged and nocturnal sound of music coming from the era of the Great Depression.

Revenant consistently gives us an honest and pure sound, and while it isn't always perfect, it is when compared to the alternative - not having these recordings to listen to at all.