Go West: Music for Films of Buster Keaton

Kermit Driscoll, Bill Frisell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 28, 1995)
• Original Release Date: February 28, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000005J32
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,286 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Go West: Down on Luck

2. Go West: Box Car

3. Go West: Busy Street Scene

4. Go West: Go West

5. Go West: Train

6. Go West: Brown Eyes

7. Go West: Saddle Up!

8. Go West: First Aid

9. Go West: Bullfight

10. Go West: Wolves

11. Go West: New Day

12. Go West: Branded

13. Go West: Eats

14. Go West: Splinter Scene

15. Go West: Cattle Drive

16. Go West: Card Game

17. Go West: Ambush

18. Go West: Passing Through Pasadena

19. Go West: To the Streets

20. Go West: Tap Dancer and Confusion

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Guitarist Bill Frisell's exploration of 20th-century Americana has led him to many places, but the films of silent-screen comedian Buster Keaton have been a special inspiration. What makes this "background" music so compelling is Frisell's ability to reimagine the particular landscape of Keaton's Wild West, its wide-open spaces and doomed humor. His compositional materials are almost minimalist. A few short melodies recur throughout, and the bass motif that appears with the brief "Box Car" appears again and again, in "Train," "Bullfight," "New Day," and "Cattle Drive," until it assumes the inexorable momentum of narrative. In his handling of these materials, Frisell is able to suggest a host of other musics (like the blues of "Card Game" and the dissonant near-flamenco of "Ambush") and a range of complex emotions. His then-regular partners make essential contributions: Kermit Driscoll provides rock-steady bass lines, while Joey Baron's creative use of percussion extends to using woodblocks for both humor and foreboding. Like Keaton, Frisell has the ability to take the expected, even the cliché, and make it resonate with subtle and sometimes disturbing dimensions. In the process, he has created a score that not only enriches the film but is able to stand on its own. For another Frisell take on Keaton, check out the shorter High Sign/One Week. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go West will keep on growing on you, April 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Go West: Music for Films of Buster Keaton (Audio CD)

I am a big Frisell fan, but just picked up this album recently. A wide range of music and reoccuring themes throughout make this one of my favorites. A very live, open-sounding production. Highly recommended if you're a fan.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Album Today, September 11, 2005

By 

J. Rich - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Go West: Music for Films of Buster Keaton (Audio CD)

This is one of my favorite Bill Frisell albums along side of "Have A Little Faith" and "Where in the World?" I'm a HUGE Bill Frisell fan and I have almost everything he's done (about 36 albums of session and solo work).

He's a genius at conveying emotions through his subtle touch and very textural sound. Bill is, without a doubt in my mind anyway, one of the most original jazz guitarists of the past 20 years. "Go West: Music for the films of Buster Keaton" capture Frisell at a very creative peak. This album along side of "The High Sign/One Week" were a departure and a new beginning for him. Many people say that these albums mark the end of the old Frisell. I look at these two albums as a departure, but also at the possibilities of what was to come for him. He made some of his most accessible work after these albums. Not saying that he compromised his musical integrity, but he plays alot different now then he did on this album and anything prior to these albums.

This album captures Frisell in a truly unique situation...film scoring, but to my ears this album has a really great flow to it. It's not stagnant or dry. It's really beautiful and yet it's in-your-face. There are themes that appear throughout the album that help make this album flow.

If you're a fan of Bill Frisell or a potential fan, do yourself a favor and pick up this one and "The High Sign/One Week." Get a glimpse of Frisell's genius with this incredible collection of songs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frisell does his thing, January 24, 2005

By 

N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Go West: Music for Films of Buster Keaton (Audio CD)

This is one of two albums Frisell has released featuring soundtracks to Buster Keaton films. (The other is _The High Sign/One Week_, soundtracks to two Keaton shorts; there are also a few tracks from his soundtrack to _Convict 13_ on the _Bill Frisell Quartet_ album.) It's an interesting choice of film since it's not one of Keaton's more celebrated full-length films. (Apparently it was difficult to film because the herd of cattle was hard to control.) The only time I've seen it was in Victoriaville with Frisell's trio performing the accompaniment live. I remember it as being quite a good film, actually, & rather moving--Keaton, though famously stonefaced, is always good at conveying his love for unlikely objects of affection, whether a boat, a train or (as in _Go West_) a cow. Maybe my experience of seeing the whole thing live has affected my judgment of this disc, but though I like it well enough I don't think it reaches the heights of the live gig.

Nonetheless, it's worth getting just because the Frisell/Driscoll/Baron trio made so few albums--aside from the Keaton projects, the only other one is the excellent though poorly-recorded _Live_ on Gramavision. I don't like this one as much as the tighter _High Sign/One Week_, but it does give you a nice taste of Frisell doing his thing at length over a series of incrementally elaborated grooves (about 3-4 simple themes that turn up in different guises again & again). One cute touch is that Driscoll for many of the tracks playing "walking bass"--with a bow! It's all a very handsome album, & a great way to hear Frisell soloing basically for 80 minutes on end, but without Keaton's visuals to sustain interest it does get a bit overextended, & the simple themes are a pretty thin basis for such a long piece of music. I always find that my attention invariably wanders before I reach the end of the disc--I tend to lose the thread circa track 20. Anyway, taken in smaller doses this is a lovely disc, recommended to anyone who admires Frisell's work: it's user-friendly without descending to the cloying niceness of some of his later work.