Another Thought [Import]

Arthur Russell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 9, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Orange Mountain Music
• ASIN: B000FOT8EK
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,921 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

During his lifetime, the classically trained composer, cellist and disco artist Arthur Russell studied and performed with a wide variety of musicians and artists such as Ali Akbar Khan, Allen Ginsberg, John Hammond, David Byrne, Rhys Chatham, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Jerry Harrison, Garret List, Frank Pagano, Andy Paley, Leni Pickett, and Peter Zummo. As a solo act in the 1980’s, Arthur Russell produced successes such as “In the Light of the Miracle” and the album “World of Echo” which incorporated many of his ideas for pop, dance and classical music for both solo voice and cello format. When Arthur Russell died in 1992 at the age of 40, the Village Voice wrote: "his songs were so personal that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music." The re-release of “Another Thought” by Orange Mountain Music is a celebration of this collection of Arthur Russell songs and tribute to a great musical innovator.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a re-release of this outstanding collection, January 12, 2007

By 

somethingexcellent (Lincoln, NE United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Another Thought (Audio CD)

Originally released in 1994 on Point Music, Another Thought went out of print like so many other albums before a renewed interest in the work of Arthur Russell made the prospect of a re-release more likely. Other than being remastered and some minor liner note changes, the album has been unchanged, and yet like so much of Russell's work, it still manages to sound fresh twelve years later (and probably roughly fifteen years since it was actually created). Another Thought was actually the first posthumous release from Russell, and despite all the great work that has followed on the Audika label, it's great to have it back in print.

Sure, there are tracks on the release that have been featured in different forms on newer releases (most notably "Lucky Cloud" from World Of Echo and "Keeping Up" from Calling Out Of Context), but Russell himself notoriously reworked his own tracks over and over, seemingly rarely actually finishing a track in his own perfectionist way, while oftentimes leaving several and uniquely outstanding versions of the same track on tape.

In many ways, Another Thought is the most pop-oriented release in the entire Russell catalogue so far. The first half of the release finds tracks structured in very normal ways, with some of his more mainstream sounding instrumentation. "A Little Lost" finds him weaving his usual cello bowing with some nice acoustic guitar and line after line of catchy vocal melodies. The aforementioned "Lucky Cloud" finds him plucking out more rhythmic cello work, but again his vocals dip and climb and veer all over, keeping one step ahead over the course of the two minute piece.

Elsewhere, the six-minute "Keeping Up" is not only one of my favorite songs by Russell, but possibly within my top 20 favorite songs ever. The song is fairly simple musically, with only plain rhythm programming and sparse cello work with vocals, but it's what Russell does with the space that's so magical. His cello moves from dancing, melodic notes to hyper-fuzzy passages that sound like overdriven electric guitar, while the male/female vocal parts (some of them clipped and edited uniquely) and repetitive lyrics push the song forward at a relentless pace. In other places, you can hear the worldly influences (polyrhythms, etc) that bled into his music and tracks like "In The Light Of The Miracle" sound like alternate-universe versions of tracks from Remain In Light by the Talking Heads.

If you've listened to any of his work to date, you know that he had a truly varied range (including everything from dense disco to avant garde cello and voice experiments and almost musique concrete). In that regard, Another Thought might very well be one of the best places in his entire catalogue to start if you haven't yet heard him. It's not as dancy as Calling Out of Context or the Springfield EP, yet it's not quite as obtuse as World Of Echo or First Thought, Best Thought. Some have said that Russell sounds like Nick Drake if he had a cello and some effects instead of a guitar, and that description isn't too far off. It's amazing, heartbreaking, inspiring music.

(from almost cool music reviews)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, challenging and worthwhile, August 11, 2006

By 

Thomas W. Altizer (Arlington, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Another Thought (Audio CD)

With his John Martyn-like voice, Arthur Russell takes the listener on a journey to places varied and always interesting. Most of these songs are voice and cello, but percussion sometimes enters the soundscape and two songs sound like Talking Heads, circa "Remain in Light." This is not music for casual listening. It is however very beautiful and I have never heard anything else quite like it. Enjoy!

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the Arthur Russell collection to own, February 12, 2009

By 

Robert Keith "Baskervilles" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Another Thought (Audio CD)

This collection has the most unusual, and in my opinion, the most enduring Arthur Russell recordings. I don't love all of it, but the great songs are stunning. Keeping Up is a highlight.