Customer Reviews

With the Country Gentlemen

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not a new album. As a neophyte bluegrass fan I purchased this album in the 1960's on the Starday label (anybody who really knows Bluegrass really knows the Country Gentlemen. Starday was the home of their original recordings) and found my way into what was to become known as "progressive bluegrass". Full of mindboggling picking by Waller, Adcock, Duffy and company, this album brims with sparkling instrumental virtuosity and wonderful, clean harmonies as only Bluegrass can showcase! Twice in my life, my record collections were lost in long moves, and this marvellous album was consumed in the first musical tragedy of that class. I have been looking for it to appear on CD reissue for years, and now here it is. This is an underappreciated example of the magnificent music of a known, but less-appreciated than they should-be group I await it eagerly ("cuts" have appeared in various collections, but here it is whole!) with full knowledge of what I have in store. I am a bluegrass musician and know the field. P.S.: Listen to "Red Rockin' chair", "Sunrise", and "Two little boys" first!

The Country Gentlemen have always been one of my favorite Bluegrass groups, if not THE favorite, but this CD was disappointing. First and formost--Where is the audience, and the "live" performance? The CD artwork never mentions "Live" but the Amazon ad says "Live". This is not like "Live in Japan" or any other live performance I have ever heard, including the times I have seen the 'Gents in person. No audience sounds at all, no chatter between songs, no introduction nor any other indication they are really playing at Carnegie Hall. It is strictly 14 songs like a studio recording. The recording quality is heavy with echo, so much it seems like they are playing in a bucket or something. I think someone found an old collection of studio takes that probably never made the grade to be released, put them in a misleading package in an attempt to recycle material and make money. Even beyond the false presentation, none of the tracks are up to normal Country Gentlement standards. Pass this one up.

This isn't actually a live performance, from what I've read on other websites. It is a collection of studio recordings done around the time when the Country Gentlement played Carnegie Hall. That said, this is a great record. The recording quality is not pristine--it has an old timey feel to it. It does kind of sound like they're playing in a bucket. But it still sounds really good. The playing and singing on this album are just really great. Many of the songs are slower--not like the hyperspeed stuff typical of a lot of bluegrass. So if you're into older, slower, not-overproduced bluegrass, this is a record you should check out.

These horrible recordings contain treasure more precious than gold. The sheer artistry of Charlie Waller, John Duffey, Tom Gray, Eddie Adcock and Kenny Haddock (dobro) is a pleasure to enjoy though the reverb is way, way, WAY too high and the mixes are
less than desirable yet the proof of genius is there for the most attentive of listeners. Were they bluegrass? Were they folk? They were a tempestuous mix of the two that embodied traditional American roots music with the folk music of the day. In my opinion, a masterpiece of American traditional music. In a nutshell, get it---but expect to work a little to enjoy it!

My husband loves this CD and I must admit I do too. It doesn't have the applause mixed in with the recordings and I am grateful for that. Too many of the live performances of other stars do, and it is annoying. Dana Pearson

The only thing about this album that has anything to do with Carnegie Hall is the cover photo. I know this because I was there, sitting in the first row. That being said, there are a lot of great cuts on the album from the CG's Starday era. If one wants to hear some things from the Carnegie Hall concert, there are six cuts on the Smithsonian Folkways CD "The Country Gentlemen: On the Road"(SFW40133), which, of course, are also great and include the fine dobro playing of Kenny Haddock.

My situation is so much like another reviewer I hesitated in commenting on this CD. I, like him, am a musician and bought the record in the early 60's and just about wore it out. Not a bad cut on the whole CD! The harmony on "Willie Roy" and "New Freedom Bell" is worth the price of the CD! Listen to John Duffey's mandolin on "These Men of God"! Man! This album and the one they released on the Design label (which to my knowledge has never been re-released unfortunately) were the first two of their's I bought and the last two I'd part with.
five starts all the way!!