Customer Reviews

Thatsum Rag

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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How does Dorian do it? After a superlative recreation of <That Demon Rag! American Popular Music from the Ragtime Era> (DIS 80107) and <A Trip to Coney Island: Descriptive Overtures from America's Golden Age> (DIS 80153), they come near to topping them both with <Thatsum Rag!> (DIS 93165). Here The New Columbian Brass Band under George Foreman syncopates again (they did the "Coney Island set) with 21 once very popular band tunes ranging from the 1895 "A Kansas Two-Step" to the relatively recent 1920 "Zampede." Not only does it all leave you (i.e., me) breathless at the end, but one might wish for a bit more than the 62 minutes Dorian provides on this CD. I urge you to have both the "Demon Rag" set with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and compare it with the sound of this set's band sound. Both are legitimate, both utterly authentic (as far as I can tell), and each complements the other nicely. So if you think your great-greats were still Victorian stick in the muds in the Edwardian age, these discs will show that even they knew how to have a good time. My only complaint is the producers printing the contents over a picture. More and more companies are doing this and it is very annoying. The information inside the booklet, however, is well presented and the illustrations wonderful.

I first listened to this CD in my mom's car...she never likes music very loud, so I was listening to it softly. DON'T do this. It was bland, uninteresting, and I regretted buying it. However, I got home, and put it into my bedroom CD player, and turned the volume up high...Wow! It was suddenly toe-tapping and swingy, and the melodies were sheer perfection (I love those raggy tunes).

My only complaint is the lack of stringed instruments like banjos (albeit not widespread in the repertoire/style for part of the target period) as a good grounding for the airiness of the winds, which seemed to be lacking in places. It's also great percussion, and drums just don't always do the trick.

But anyways, my advice is: turn the volume up--don't even listen to it on headphones--and lose yourself. A delight. :)