Customer Reviews

"Big Tiger" Roars Again Part 1

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

 

 

Anyone that doesn't like this probably isn't a fan of the great Benny Martin. He's much more than a sideman, and insiders in the business have known this.

If someone thought he was going to record a bunch of old Flatt & Scruggs instrumentals this late in life, they must be crazy. This is Benny Martin music...Its great songs, great fiddling..He's a genius, and the genius is on exhibit here. No, he can't sing like he did in 1950, but he has more soul in his voice than most singers can amass in a lifetime. Besides, most of his musical contemporaries have been dead for some time now.

This recording is a classic! Welcome back Benny. You are the man!

as a long time friend and former neighbor of benny i,ve watched him struggle with his health problemsand i,m glad he has found the strength to get back in the saddle this is a great album and shows the respectthat those in the "know" have for the big tigers abilitys i love you benny

I thought Benny was dead! And then this - an incredible album with a who's who list. This is cool.

"The 'Big Tiger' Roars Again" is an epic release by one of the real geniouses of country music and its original style of bluegrass music.

While names like Vassar Clements, Johnny Gimble, Mark O'Connor and others seemed to become household names, Benny Martin remained a musicians musician; an artist whose contributions were influential, but whose profile became less visible over years of declining health.

This release is Benny's first recording since 1978 when he recorded and album with Lester Flatt just a few months before Lester's death. On this re-emergence, Benny displays his extraordinary talent with an incredible array of friends in the country music industry including Vince Gill, Tom T. Hall, Crystal Gayle, Earl Scruggs, John Hartford, Del McCoury, Bobby Osborne, Johnny Russell, Buddy Spicher, Jerry Douglas, Terry Eldredge and Ricky Skaggs.

A Country Music People review said in its July 1999 review and spotlight, "What a heartwarming record this is. Not simply because it brings back on record the larger-than-life Benny Martin, but because it radiates love and camaraderie among musicians who truly respect one another and their contributions to the country music story."

This CD includes CD-ROM video content of Benny Martin in the 1950's. Its an audio CD, but if you put it in your computer you can view the 1950's color video of Benny Martin at the peak of his career.

This is a must have release for every fan of country or bluegrass music.

There is a review of this cd currently on line with amazon written under my name that I definitely did not write. I played fiddle with Bill Monroe in the 1960's and I learned to play by listening to Chubby Wise and Benny Martin recordings, also to Vassar Clements. They were all innovators, and I have great respect for what they did for the music and the instrument. I have nothing but admiration for Benny Martin's most recent recording. While it does suffer a bit from technical difficulties, to have come back from the trials and tribulations that Benny describes openly and honestly in the liner notes to this work, and rallied the support of his friends and admirers to work with him is worthy of great respect. This work is a great accomplishment for Benny, and a testament to his determination and resiliency.

Fiddler Benny Martin was a key early participant in the early years of bluegrass, and a fixture on the festival scene throughout the 1960s and '70s, as well as a highly valued Nashville studio musician (and recipient of numerous shout-outs from alt-grass oddball John Hartford.) In the early 1980s, Martin developed a degenerative nervous disorder that paralyzed his vocal chords, and while he still sings a bit, the warm, husky voice of his youth has given way to a thicker, gurgling tone that many listeners may find a bit disconcerting. However, his fiddling remains stellar, and working alongside an all-star cast of pals and cohorts such as Vince Gill, Del McCoury, John Hartford, Buck White, Ricky Skaggs and others, Martin has crafted a striking set of late-period recordings. Even more impressive is the fact that all of these songs were written by Martin himself... and they are of a uniformly high calibre! Worth checking out.

This is a great CD...totally unique. I especially loved the CD ROM track that shows Benny Martin in 1950s color video...Its great video quality.

Benny was a giant, and its good to see him out with such a high profile release. Its really great music

OK, I'll say it -- this recording is a dog. I'm aware of Martin's importance in bluegrass history, but I had never sat down and listened to a whole album of Benny Martin recordings before. Well, this disc was the wrong place to start. Martin had one foot in the grave when he recorded this and it shows. The fiddling still has attitude but lacks timing, tone & intonation. The less said about the voice, the better. The scope of Martin's songwriting was rather limited -- one or two of his lonelyheart jukebox weepers would be fine, but a whole disc of them will drive you nuts.

It isn't just Martin who sounds tired. Most of the guest vocalists, with the exception of the still-sharp Del McCoury and the butter-smooth Vince Gill, are past their prime as well. Now some of my favorite musicians are or were elderly men when I became aware of them: the late Howard Armstrong and Stephane Grappelli, B.B. King, Clarence Gatemouth Brown. But they hadn't lost their chops the way Martin had.

If you're a completist or already well-versed in Martin's oeuvre, you're going to want this CD regardless of what I say. If you're not, then out of respect for the great fiddler he evidently once was, please don't start here.

I had the wonderful good fortune to play fiddle with Bill Monroe in the 1965 band along with Peter Rowan. I learned my fiddle by listening to the classic recordings chubby wise made with Monroe, and recordings of Benny Martin playing with Flatt & Scruggs. I have a fondness and great respect for what these fiddlers did for the fiddle and Bluegrass music. It's really unfortunate that Benny made this recording. He enlisted the help of wonderful artists to work with him, but his playing is out of tune, sloppy, and a sad reflection of a one-time great fiddler. He was an innovator on the instrument, but this recording should have never been made. If you want to buy it for nostalgia, fine. But don't expect anything like the old benny Martin.