Customer Reviews

The High Sign/One Week: Music For The Films Of Buster Keaton

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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.

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

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