Customer Reviews

Remember

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Maybe I didn't like this album too much the first couple of times I listened to it. This is one that takes a while to grow on you. But it is by far my favorite Rusted Root (I also own Rusted Root and When I Woke). The way Rusted Root expertly handles complex rhythms and melodies makes this one of my top 10 favorite CDs of the hundreds that I own.

This CD is best listened to all the way through from beginning to end. One song runs seemlessly into another. Although it's definitely modern rock, they draw on a wide variety of lyrics and melodies from different world music traditions that gives this album a gritty, primeval feel that is mesmerizing.

GET RUSTED ROOT LIVE AND HEAR HOW THESE SONGS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLAYED IN THE FIRST PLACE. THEY ARE SO MUCH BETTER DONE LIVE, WITHOUT HARRISON POLISHING THE LIFE OUT OF THEM.

Some people have given this CD bad reviews. There are some low points. Some of the songs are just bland and boring. They don't have that musical spark that is typical of the better Rusted Root material. And there are parts where Glabicki's yodelling style of vocals just grates on the nerves.

There are many great tracks on this CD and well over 40 minutes of very good music. The problem is that this CD is over 65 minutes long, and you have to wade through the weaker material to get to the better stuff. In addition, most of the weaker material is near the front of the CD while the better stuff is at the end. The CD takes on whole new life if you play the tracks in reverse order.

Rusted Root is a band from Pittsburg. They formed in 1990 and released Cruel Sun in 1994 on an independent label. That same year, they got signed by a major label and whipped out the fantastic album When I Woke. When I Woke works so well, because it was basically recorded live in the studio, which fits Rusted Root's manic style. The making of Remember was more deliberate and the album was overproduced in spots. The whole thing is puzzling. It was produced by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) who was very good at minimalist production values on his Casual Gods.

Rusted Root's music is similar in style to Dave Matthews, only with higher energy and the songs tend to be faster and shorter. Rusted Root relies on a manic african-influence percussive beat and overlapping vocals. A similar band is Poi Dog Pondering from Austin.

SOME HAD SAID THAT THIS IS THE TYPE OF CD THAT GROWS ON YOU. THE MORE YOU LISTEN TO IT, THE MORE YOU LIKE IT. IT IS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION THAT IS REALLY THE CORRECT ONE. As you listen to a CD repeatedly, your mind starts categorize what is significant to you and what isn't. If you have an attitude that you basically like the CD, then your mind only pays attention to the parts you really like. Your mind will ignore the parts that aren't so good. That is why people tend to like CD's more after repeated playings. The same is true if you don't initially like an album, your mind will focus on the bad parts and you will hate even more as you play it more. That is why people are usually so passionate about music. Either it is fantastic 5 star material or it sucks. There is usually no in between. Since a person develops an emotional attachment to the music, giving it a negative review is like a personal attack.

When it comes to things that are spiritualized or supernatural, I tend to look to the darker side of that style of music--something that is not nescisarily religious or full of faith, just that it envokes an unreal effect with words/music/imagery like Sonic Youth. From what I had heard of Rusted Root before (When I Woke or Cruel Sun believe it was), they seemed to be sunny and hippiesque, pro enviroment, simple...all the things I usually cringe at. But I took a plunge anyway with this cd when a friend let me borrow it...

Remember is a spectacular achievement in the genre of 'flower child' music if you can call it that (no doubt they are big around the laid back college campus). It balances out the lighter side with the darker using fantastic often ethnic instrumentation (including great guitarwork, cultured vocal stylings with Arabian/Indian inflections, and African percussion) and a primitive writing style that seems to capture the spirit of olden tribalistic times with an equal balance of religion, delirium, confusion, and loss. Songs like "Faith I Do Believe" and "Heaven" follow the religious aspects and I often prefer the music to the words, but the tales of overwhelming confusion seem to outweigh these reflecting scattered imagery and being mesmerized by it ( such as my favorite track "Voodoo" in which he describes a variety of fragmented things, but "Baby Will Raam", "Infinite Space", "Circle Of Rememberance", and others are just as worthy).

There are darker parts to the album as well and I think these are some of the best tracks.."Bullets In The Fire" is beautiful and keeps re-occuring in my head, a morose tale of self-doubt/redemption/rising from a depressing incident. He really packs emotion when he foretells that his struggle or whathaveyou will get lost in history just like everything: "bullets in the fire, i believe I lost my head/ And will you ever know what was sent before it went down?". "Sister Contine", "River In A Cage", "Scattered" and "Dangle" are similar in their shadowed or even cathartic resonance.

The overal effect is varied exploration and trawl through an ancient bare boned world, reminds me a tad of Tom Waits' masterpeice Bone Machine. I think it's named Remember for a reason, so that we don't forget the past and all its lost treasures.

I know that other listeners may disagree, but I think this album is better than When I Woke. While that album may have the 'hit' in 'Send Me on My Way', this album is the more consistent. Songs like 'Sister Contine' sweep you away quite unexpectedly. I believe the amount of touring that Rusted Root did after When I Woke really paid off on this album. The songs are looser, develop more a groove, and seem more complete. There are elements of the album that remind me of Poi Dog Pondering, but that's not a bad thing! If you like acoustic-based, groovy tunes, this may be worth a listen. Take a chance!!

After hearing "When I Woke" and the even better first CD "Cruel Sun" (why isn't it for sale through Amazon?), I couldn't wait to hear "Remember". As the CD played, I kept waiting for the band to kick it into hyperdrive like they did on Ecstasy, Drum Trip and Martyr. Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm still waiting. Even Scattered (which also appears on the "Cruel Sun" CD) pales greatly when compared to the original.

Not the band's best effort, and you'll almost certainly want to program out "Virtual Reality." Get "When I Woke" first. It's still better than 90% of the rest of the music you'll hear, of course.

This falls between enticingly groovy and eccentrically loony, all over a bed of perhaps more normalcy than its brazen sound suggests.

I dismissed this album and the band over the years not enjoying the follow albums to cruel sun and when I awoke. This album is a masterpiece of artistic genius and I owe the band a sincere apology for my lack of culture!

Not the band's best effort, and you'll almost certainly want to program out "Virtual Reality." Get "When I Woke" first. It's still better than 90% of the rest of the music you'll hear, of course.

What an amazing album!! If you are trying to decide whether or not to buy the album, DO IT!! It's worth every penny and then some.