7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless..., July 4, 2007
This review is from: Ballads (Audio CD)
I first purchased this on LP format at Melody Records in NYC around 1975. I found it in the American Folk bin along with artists like Jean Ritchie, etc. It was long out of print. I was listening to the likes of the British folk-rock group Fairport Convention at that time. They were mining the treasures of musicologist James Child's Ballad Book. To be quite frank, I wasn't prepared for what came through my headphones that winter evening - I felt transported to another time, another place - far away from my Park Slope brownstone. Niles' voice, phrasing,enthusiasm - he "is" what he sings - with poetry or prose set to music - he became the timeless traveling minstrel carrying tales of love, longing, betrayal, spirituality, humor, terror, and then some. BEWARE - his music is an aquired taste - listen several times, get his "Ballad Book"( your local library may have it - you pay taxes, this is free!) - and explore - when you connect with this music it will forever become part of you as it is part of our cultural past. The tales themselves are ageless - the melodies beautiful.
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