Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 18, 2000)
• Original Release Date: January 18, 2000
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00003Q5BW
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,044 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Negro Speaks of Rivers

2. I, Too

3. The Atlanta Years [Excerpt]

4. If We Must Die

5. St. Isaac's Church, Petrograd

6. The Tropics in New York

7. The Creation [#]

8. We to America [#]

9. Nocturne at Bethesda

10. Heritage

See all 37 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Muhammad Ali at the Ringside, 1985 [#]

2. Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane

3. The Idea of Ancestry

4. Bang, Bang Outishly

5. Shazam Doowah

6. The End of Civilization as We Know It [#]

7. Cruelty (Continued)

8. Lucy (Pt. 6) (Continued)

9. Endangered Species List Blues [With the Firespitter Band]

10. I Live for My Car

See all 34 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Poets & Teachers, But Not the Lyricist Lounge crowd, July 9, 2000

By 

Scott Woods (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers (Audio CD)

This is an excellent primer for poets and teachers, particularly if your interest lies in the development of the Black literary canon. A must have for slam-heads of any type. Very few of the fiery performances a lot of these poets are known to do. Incredible to hear some of the older poets (Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen) reading their work, in light of the number of people who would (improperly) assume they would have frowned upon the current rave of spoken word/slamming.

It starts to peter out at the end, not necessarily catching the best work by some of the most recent additions (Saul Williams, Carl Hancock Rux, Tracie Morris), but I'd rather have these than nothing.

Not a lot of music...this isn't "Lyricist's Lounge" or the "SLAM" soundtrack, but excellent for anyone who claims to have a sense of where poetry's been and wants to see/hear how a solid poetry CD should be put together. More educational than fun, but an important collection nonetheless.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spoken word at its finest!, July 28, 2001

By 

Clarissa Bolding "clbzone" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers (Audio CD)

I enjoyed this set for many reasons. It is filled with the pictures, portraits and prose of, about, and from the poets featured inside. When listening to the voices of Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Claude McKay, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen -- the list goes on -- it is amazing to hear the clarity, consciousness, power and range of emotions in their distinctive voices. Some of the pieces date as early as the 1930's (ie: The Creation by James Weldon Johnson) and that in itself is pure history.

There are 38 selections on the first disc and 37 selections on the second, with the most current pieces being recorded in the late 90s (Tracie Morris, Saul Williams, Nikki Giovanni, etc). If you are a lover of spoken word and cherish the story telling, teaching and emotions it invokes, this is the collection for you. Youth of today need to take the time to learn where rap artists get their "voice" and spirit from, and I'm not talking about the mainstream songs plastered on tv and spit out of the radio these days. Take a listen to Public Enemy's "Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos" (track 34, second disc)

Spoken word is where it all began and the ancestors of this art continue to move and "speak" through us today.

Peace. CLB.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for Poetry Fans, May 1, 2000

By 

Nick O. (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers (Audio CD)

This is an amazing CD. The strongest selections include the readings by Amiri Baraka, Etheridge Knight, and Nikki Giovanni; Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (a must-have); Tracie Morris' "Project Princess"; and "Dark Symphony" by Melvin B. Tolson, which is utterly engaging, even if it sounds a bit insane. I was a bit disappointed by Langston Hughes' mundane and sentimental reading of "Harlem," and startled, both pleasantly and not, by Gwendolyn Brooks' offbeat reading of "We Real Cool." Still, Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers is a remarkable journey, and a wonderful introduction to poetry. The CD also includes an interesting and informative booklet; all in all, the entire package may be a bit costly, but the price is more than worth it. Teachers will benefit highly from this CD, which serves as a wonderful accompaniment to any poetry unit. The CD's parts are great for that sort of thing, but they cannot compare to sum of its parts, a rich, spiritual journey into the heart and soul of poetry.