The High Sign/One Week: Music For The 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: B000005J33
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,419 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. High Sign: Introduction

2. The High Sign: High Sign Theme/Help Wanted

3. High Sign: Target Practice

4. The High Sign: Blinking Buzzards

5. High Sign: Good Shot/Swearing in/Shooting Gallery

6. High Sign: Chase/Cop

7. High Sign: High Sign Theme/At the Home of August Nickelnurser

8. High Sign: Chase/Caught

9. The High Sign: High Sign Theme

10. One Week: One Week Theme/The Wedding

11. One Week: Reckless Driving

12. One Week: Construction

13. One Week: Oh, Well/Bath Scene

14. One Week: Oh, Well/The Piano

15. One Week: Fight

16. One Week: Housewarming Party and Storm

17. One Week: One Week Theme/Aftermath

18. One Week: Here Comes the Train

19. One Week: Oh, Well

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short & sweet, September 20, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: The High Sign/One Week: Music For The Films Of Buster Keaton (Audio CD)

Bill Frisell released this disc in tandem with his music for a 3rd Keaton film, _Go West_. Unwary consumers might assume that if they're looking for the better deal in terms of CD length, they should get this one, since it's got music to two films....but in fact this CD doesn't even break the 40-minute mark, as _The High Sign_ & _One Week_ were shorts while _Go West_ was a full-length feature. That said, a CD's value usually has little to do with its duration, & of the two discs I actually strongly prefer this one.

They are very different. _Go West_ has a few skeletal themes--riffs, really--that are cycled through in order to match the peaks & troughs of the film's narrative. It's an album that is mostly carried by Frisell's extended soloing, sometimes bittersweet or comically lugubrious, sometimes fiercely discordant & rhapsodic. _High Sign/One Week_ is quite different, more gentle & subtle, with less focus on prolonged or hard-edged soloing, & with more focus on the acoustic guitar. I've seen Frisell perform _One Week_ in tandem with the film, & it works surprisingly well; as a standalone CD it also is quite effective.

It's a pity that the freewheeling energy of the Frisell/Driscoll/Baron trio was never caught in the studio: these two somewhat sepia-toned Keaton projects are the only studio recordings by the group, & to get a sample of their more varied & off-the-wall treatments of other material you need to turn to the Gramavision _Live_ disc or the handful of trio tracks on _Have a Little Faith_ (especially the bizarre, over-the-top cover of Madonna's "Live to Tell"). Still, this is a lovely, very playable disc which I've always listened to with pleasure.

3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Inappropriate and cartoonish., July 20, 2005

By 

Nancy Beiman "Northernexpress" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The High Sign/One Week: Music For The Films Of Buster Keaton (Audio CD)

This music does not accompany the Keaton films; it competes with it.

While it may be okay jazz, it is very poor film music.