Customer Reviews

American Primitive 2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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...

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.

This is a truly great collection that,in many ways, surpasses Volume 1. I love pre-WWII music,but I hadn't heard of many of the artists in this collection, which was it's big appeal to me. As I delved into the booklet I was made aware of why that is: most of these artists cut maybe four sides of recorded material and were never heard from again.

There is a ghostly, other-worldly feel that overtakes you from the first track,a spiritual by Homer Quincy Smith who plays the organ like a crazed genuis (Hello Garth Hudson!). Other highlights include the wildly disparate tracks of the Two Poor Boys,The Nugrape Twins transcendent soda-pop jingle 'I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape', Geeshie Wiley who rivals the toughness of Memphis Minnie, and the imaginative combination of instruments wielded by The Bubbling Over Five. Those are just tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Given that the collection was put together by the good folk at Revenant you know the packaging is worth the price of admission.
Beautiful artwork and an insightful booklet with comprehensive artist biographies (well as comprehensive as you could get with such unheralded artists) make this a great collection that any old-time music lover will enjoy.

From the Captain Beefheart and Albert Ayler box sets, to the Doc Boggs cd release, I've been hard pressed to find a cd by Revenant that I don't love. That said, while I do have a few minor complaints, this two disc set is no exception: It features a wide range of rare and very eclectic old time American music, featuring songs that run the gamut from amusing to astounding listening experiences. Anyone with an interest in music from this era should have no reason not to like this collection, that is unless they already have most of these songs. But, as someone who fancies himself a collector of old time music (on cd, at least) I only had three or four of these songs prior to my purchase.

Now for the complaints, minor though they may be: The elements of mystery and primitivism have been emphasized, sometimes at the expense of valid and readily available information. Though we have little info pertaining to most of these performers, some vital facts have been omitted in the interest of conceptual continuity. Even the oldest and perhaps most mysterious song present, "Poor Mourner" is described in a much more elaborate manner in the "Lost Sounds" collection, including biographical information on the "revenants" who apparently appeared to record the song and then vanished. Moreover, "Lost Sounds" even features another song by the same duo. I wouldn't be bothered otherwise, but this lack of information just makes me wonder what else is missing. My only other complaint is concerning the large gap between "Poor Mourner" (recorded in the 1890's), and the rest of the songs in this collection (picking up in the early 1920's). It would've been nice to have a more balanced sampling without such a huge gulf separating one recording from the rest.

As mentioned earlier, these are mere quibbles when one considers just how great the tracks are, and what an invaluable collection this is to any lover of old time music.

Hard to describe the kick I got out of the record American Primitive Vol. 2. It's up there with Harry Smith's Anthology for sure. This predates homogenized America.

The idea that there was a unique mysterious wisdom, or just misterioso, floating around on the foggy marshlands of America - well for my money it goes back to Poe, maybe Irving. But it was out and about outside of literature, in song Americana immemorial no doubt. No matter what I think: this foggy mist of an idea gained a big shot in the arm with Greil Marcus's Invisible Republic in 1997.

I take it that Revenant's archive is a John Fahey archive. He was the central figure/performer at the label running up to his death. Over the years, Fahey's fantastic blues scholarship and collecting was overshadowed by his mystical and precise guitar work. A monograph on Charlie Patton was one of his greatest contributions to blues studies. This American Primitives series pay homage to the barnstorming musicians of the southern past , but also to Fahey. Fahey appears in the liner notes to American Primitive Volume 2 as writer Scott Blackwood describes meeting up with him in Chicago.

In Chicago for a gig, a scant Fahey is staying in a hotel near where Blind Lemon Jefferson died. We know that give or take a few years Fahey, who is just returning from a long skid row slide, doesn't have long for terra firma. Blackwell couches the conversation - they stop at a Salvation Army to, like guerillas, insert some recent Fahey 78 recordings in record bins - with reference to Borges and mystery for the sake of amazement. Odd, I know I found Fahey's Blind Joe Death in a Salvation Army record bin.

NuGrape transubstantiatin'

"Revenant" it seems, means `a spirit who returns after a long absence. "Crucial to the Revenant ethos is the notion of the neglected gem." And so, American Primitive forgoes Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Jug Band, or Scrapper Blackwell, because they have been covered in previous prospecting. So on this Vol 2 we have the Salty Dog Four, Pigmeat Terry, and Two Poor Boys doing Ballin the Jack, Black Sheep Blues and Two White Horses. Alfred Lewis doing what I called BlueFrog Blues. Clarinets over imagined pie-stealing hobo soft foot shuffles. You got the hiss, the high-droning banjos, kazoos, juke joint pianos and harmonica combs moaning low, haunting violins. Did you ever hear churchbell tone?

The voices are not trained. They come as messages from beyond. You sense the location of the recording could be a hotel of the `30s, or a crossroads dessert radio station ala Oh Brother.

The harmonies are one-ofs. Could not be reproduced in commercial Nashville studio day without significant economic disruption.

There's plenty to be said about plenty of the sides contained herein. Sometimes my reviews go on forever but for this one I feel like just a few words can validate the power of the entire experience. Geeshie Wiley - Last Kind Word. Most of the time I can't be too specific about favorites, in the larger picture of life. This, though. This is IT. One of the very few songs/performances I'd quite often list as an all-time favorite. It always does it for me. Geeshie was a goddess, and this is her ultimate side. If she has a counterpart on American Primitive, Vol. 1: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36) (in emotional weight, not as a stylistic comparison) it's Blind Mamie Forehand. With her Honey In the Rock and Geeshie's Last Kind Word, you may as well be touching the face of God.

There are no words. Everyone should get to sit in the dark at least one time in their life as Last Kind Word plays.

Revenant Records knows how to let the acoustic purity come through. If you've ever considered buying their Charley Patton (Screamin' & Hollerin') boxed set but balk at the price because you're unsure of the sonic quality, pick up American Primitive, Vol. 1: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36). The couple Patton sides there blow away everything on the complete JSP box, catfish box, etc... and can be used as a cheap (1-disc price) preview of the quality of the Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton.

American Primitive is definitely a collection of work that reflects the passions and obsessions of John Fahey. Thank God it got done.

Otherworldly artistry from way back before WWII. Some of this stuff was even recorded in the 1800's. Hard to imagine...

It's more of that weird, old America Greil Marcus is always going on about...

Special kudos must be given to the NuGrape Twins...their plaintive "I Got Your Ice-Cold NuGrape" is incredibly powerful and haunting...

Another winner for the extremely weird and wonderful Revenant label, founded originally by John Fahey.

I can't get enough of these two discs - I really can't! I'd say why don't they make music like this anymore but truth is the America that this music was made in vanished a long, long time ago. Grab your kazoo and get ready to be transported to the ancient future! This music is completely and absolutely HIGH GRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SENOR FAHEY!