Customer Reviews

Going Back to Brooklyn

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Be warned before you listen to this album that it contains some very crude language, and some very good songs. It displays Van Ronk's humor at its best ("Head Inspector") and its worst ("Tantric Mantra"). The guitar picking is superlative, including a couple of rags that will make you forget who Scott Joplin is, but one of them is wasted by using the names of offbeat cities in New Jersey as the lyrics. But the gems are worth poring through the ore for. "Blood Red Moon Rising " is a great blues song. "Closing Time" captures the desperation of the alcoholic (Lawrence Block used one of the lines from this for the title of his best selling mystery "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes.") "Luang Prabang" may be the best war protest song ever written! Finally, "Another Time & Place" and "Goodbye, Honey Hair" are love songs by a man who's been there and has the scars, and the memories, to prove it. Though a couple of things could have been left off, it's still one of the most original "folk" albums I've ever heard, and well worth listening to over and over!

I picked up this CD, sight unseen, never having heard Dave Van Ronk. I fell in love with the lyrics of "Last Call", which are quoted in Lawrence Block's book "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes", and snapped up this album for that song alone. What a revelation! This music is right in that wonderful little niche between folk and blues, and it works all the way across the gamut, from the cynical anger of "Luang Prabang" to the tenderness of "Another Time and Place". I'll definitely be buying more of his stuff.

This is my favorite of DVR's albums. His voice is at its gravelly best and he shows himself equally adept at blues, folk, ragtime, etc. Plus, it has one of the most beautiful love songs ever written, in my opinion: "Another Time and Place." Buy this version, which is superior to the remake he did on the "From Another Time and Place" album.

What do you like in your music? If you're a top forty sugar sweet treacle lover of the latest fad(s)...If you think voice as the instrument and who cares about the songs sentiment or thought as the thing then you'll want to stay far away from this album...
As a music lover of the tale and the viva la difference of singers not cut from the same mold, I am pleased to comment on this work with the experience of someone who has several of Dave's Albums and has appreciated him for a long time...
There is no one, not even Dylan who has such a distinctive voice. Imagine Louis Armstrong squeezed through a toothpaste tube then chewed on by Shel Silverstein and then lit on fire by Lord Buckley and you might begin to have an idea how good he sounds if you've never heard him...HAVEN'T HEARD HIM?!...I wish I could be with someone the first time they hear him!...He's a distinctive American treasure...
This album is definitely one of his best...One minute sublime, the next sincere, the next succulent, the next saucy...He never keeps the same mood on this album from one song to the next...
"Honey Hair" and any of the Joplin inspired rags on this album via his guitar are worthy of any love song pantheon or collection...A personal favorite don't miss of mine is the lewd and crude and absolutely wonderful " Whores Of San Pedro"...It's raunchy, it's nasty, it's vile, and it's...hysterically funny and a great take that goes further adventurously out of bounds than his usual stuff ( raw language kiddies!)...SOmeone in a previous write up disses the New Jersey inspired take that exclusively features the odd and beautiful city names of N.J...Doesn't belong here?! Au contraire mon frer!...What DOESN"T belong here?! It's a sweet little song that sticks with the rest of this like delicious mucilage...And what mileage of the tongue...Even Bobby D. would have a hard time remembering some of the lines that flow off of Dave's tongue...

Simply put...If you're a musical free spirit DON"T MISS this one!...As another reviewer put it...more people need to discover Ronk...He's fine champagne or the hair of the dog the morning after...take your pick!...

Every time I acquire another DVR album, there is always this initial period where I kind of wonder what I got into. Dave's music, at least most of it, has always had to grow on me, but once it does, it doesn't let go. This collection of original tunes only took about three listenings. The guitar arrangements are generally understated and perfect. His vocals are powerful and full of expression, and his original lyrics are mostly amusing. If you're already a fan, you won't be disappointed with this one. If you're newly exploring this very original artist, I suggest multiple listenings to let it grow on you. You'll be glad you did.

For those who spent time in the Village at Gerde's Folk City, and the other coffee houses on Mac Dougald Steet, a must listen.

I searched and searched for a cd copy of this album, and finally found one that had been mastered from an LP (long-playing record album made of vinyl, for you kids out there). Despite leaving a little to be desired in sound quality, I was thrilled with the cd. I don't give it 5 stars because it doesn't quite measure up with Van Ronk's best stuff (my favorite is Somebody Else, Not Me). All the tracks here are strong, many of them memorable. One cut alone, however, is worth the price of the cd. I've listened to a lot of war protest songs in my life, and not one is as powerful as "Luang Prabang". If you're new to Van Ronk, I'd start elsewhere, but if you've heard some of his stuff and want more I'd put this in about the middle of the pack of his cd's that are currentlly available. I have not heard this reissue, so cannot vouch for its sound quality.

of this CD a few years ago, and played it out. It is absolutely wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. It is a sad commentary that only three people have commented on this piece of music, while hundreds have commented on CDs that are far, far less worthy. If you like folk, or blues, or acoustic guitar, or especially all three, get this CD.

I have previously praised the work of folk singer/folk historian and "Mayor Of McDougall Street" (that is in Greenwich Village for those who do not know) in this space. I think that for most of his career however (and someone who has read Elijah Wald's memoir of Dave, "Mayor of McDougall Street", or has other knowledge, can fill in here) Dave covered earlier traditional folk songs from the old song books or that of his contemporaries in the 1960's (like Dylan's "Buckets Of Rain" or Joni Mitchell's "Urge For Going"). I do not recall (other than "River") that he wrote much that he performed (at least in public). This CD, however, is just that-filled from first to last with little ditties, snatches of songs and other pieces that are enough to fill up this short CD.

Frankly, the work here is uneven ranging from the incredibly poignant and pointed anti-war song, "Luang Prabang" that should be etched in the brain of every pacifist, to speak nothing of every radical anti-warrior, about the real stakes in war-unvarnished to the obscure Zen-like ditty/spoof "Tantric Mantra". Along the way we are treated to some hard lessons about heavy drinking, Greenwich Village nightlife , hitting the `big time ` folk scene and other tales of greed, vengeance and whimsy ("Garden State Stomp"). Be forewarned, if you are the least bit prissy then some of this material may offend thy ear. But then, if that is the case, you probably wouldn't be listened to this old gravelly-voiced crafty guy anyway.

This is one of, if not the best, album Dave Van Ronk did. The cut on it I
like the most is "Last Call" & also his commentary on the song on the liner. Van Ronk was a pioneer in the field of folk music & this album is a
wonderful classic.