Til We Out Number Em

Indigo Girls, Billy Bragg, Bruce Springsteen, Ani DiFranco | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 30, 2000)
• Original Release Date: May 23, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Righteous Babe
• ASIN: B00004SR2K
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,492 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #7 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Pop
  • #26 in Music > Indie Music > Rock > Singer-Songwriters
  • #38 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Folk

Track Listings

1. Hard Travelin' Hootenanny

2. Payback

3. 1913 Massacre

4. Regular Fires

5. Aginst Th' Law

6. Riding in My Car (Car Song)

7. Pretty Boy Flloyd

8. Free in Every Moment

9. Do Re Me

10. What a Song Is

11. Dust Storm Disaster

12. It Ain't About Bein' Perfect

13. Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)

14. Ramblin' Round

15. Born Naked

16. Talking Dust Bowl Blues

17. Til We Outnumber 'Em (This Land Is You Land)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short shrift, June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Til We Out Number Em (Audio CD)

I have just finished listening to the new Woody Guthrie tribute album, 'Til We Outnumber Them, and couldn't resist a twinge of disappointment. A case of unreasonable expectations, perhaps, but I was really looking forward to this recording of the Cleveland concert organised by the Rock'n'Roll Hall of fame to honour Guthrie. The liner notes say that the concert went on for two hours or so, which makes it particularly disappointing that the memento released four years later barely stretches beyond 41 minutes. That said, many of the individual tracks - from Ani Di Franco's highly original take on Do-re-me, through Rambling Jack's authentic-sounding versions of Woody classics, Billy Bragg's passion on what is presumably a previously unreleased song, and the enthusiastic singalong on Hard Travelin' - are outstanding. But there certainly could have been a lot more of the same. And it's a travesty that Pete Seeger, who was present at the concert, goes unrepresented. Besides, the way the album has been edited detracts somewhat from the spontaneity that probably manifested itself at the concert (there's just a hint of it in Bruce Springsteen's version of Ridin' in My Car). A worthy project, undoubtedly, but the outcome is half-baked - and can't really hold a candle to the Guthrie memorial concerts of 1968/70 (going purely by the recorded versions, that is).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE WOODY RENAISSANCE CONTINUES, May 31, 2000

By 

Michael (Philadelphia, Panama) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Til We Out Number Em (Audio CD)

As long as young folkies pound old guitars, Woody Guthrie will never die. The current Woody renaissance, more than thirty years after his death and better than half a century since his musical heyday, is among the richest yet, yielding two Billy Bragg/Wilco MERMAID AVENUE compliations, the monumental ASCH RECORDINGS, and now this.

This is actually the second Carnegie Hall tribute concert to make it to CD. The first, in 1970, is also available on CD and features stirring performances by Arlo, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Country Joe McDonald, Richie Havens, Odetta, Tom Paxton and Woody contemporaries Jack Elliot, Earl Robinson and Pete Seeger, in addition to dramatic readings of Guthrie's prose by actors Will Geer, Robert Ryan and Peter Fonda. It is well worth seeking out.

This set, 26 years later, makes an excellent sequel/companion piece to the original. Arlo, Ramblin' Jack and Country Joe are back for this one, along with Bruce Springsteen (doing an exuberant "Car Car"), The Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco (Ani's "Pastures of Plenty" and the Amy/Emily/Ani "Ramblin' Round" offers some gorgeous harmonizing), the ubiquitous Mr. Bragg, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum (!) and actor/filmmaker/second generation folkie Tim Robbins, last heard on Appleseed's Pete Seeger tribute (where's your CD, Tim?).

Woody Guthrie was the Twentieth Century's Walt Whitman, a poet/philosopher/social commentator whose work will be remembered far into the next milennium. Last year the United States government finally acknowledged his contributions by putting him on a postage stamp. If they really wanted to do him justice, let them make "This Land is Your Land" the national anthem.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Songs, OK Performances, January 8, 2001

By 

richlandwoman (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Til We Out Number Em (Audio CD)

I found this a bit on the weak side. Only Ani DiFranco's "Do Re Me" is really distinctive, and most of these songs have been covered much better previously. For instance:

"Riding in My Car" -- Bob Dylan; "Deportee" -- Springsteen (in 1981); "Ramblin' Round" -- Odetta; "Pretty Boy Floyd" -- Bob Dylan

And I wish this CD would have included Joe Ely or Jimmie Dale Gilmore, both of whom performed at the show and can be seen in the cover photo.

As another reviewer noted, the '68/'70 "Tribute to Woody Guthrie" CD is far better, with excellent performances from Dylan, The Band, Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, etc. Unfortunately, even that CD cuts out a couple of strong tracks that were on the 2-LP original (Richie Havens' "Vigilante Man" and Judy Collins' "So Long" were two of my favorites).