Volunteered Slavery

Rahsaan Roland Kirk | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 10, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B00006IT4N
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,925 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Volunteered Slavery

2. Spirits up Above

3. My Cherie Amour

4. Search for the Reason Why

5. I Say a Little Prayer

6. Roland's Opening Remarks [Live]

7. One Ton [Live]

8. Ovation and Roland's Remarks [Live]

9. A Tribute to John Coltrane: Lush Life/Afro-Blue/Bessie's Blues [Live]

10. Three for the Festival [Live]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't Buy Collectables Version, June 7, 2007

By 

DW (chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Volunteered Slavery (Audio CD)

Once again Collectables have messed up another re-issue. The second side of Roland Kirk's Volunteered Slavery (tracks 6-10) is recorded live without pauses. On the Collectables version there are annoying 1-2 second gaps between each track. This makes the disk very hard to listen to.

Buy the original Rhino/Atlantic re-issue. There are no gaps between tracks.

[DW]

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music That Makes Us Cry, Love That Money Can't Buy, May 23, 2006

By 

El Lagarto (Sandown, NH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Volunteered Slavery (Audio CD)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk was not born blind; his blindness was caused by the ineptitude of a nurse who, either high or simply careless, overdosed him with too many eye drops. He said once that his entire life was an inflated tear. Kirk combined rage with sensitivity, curiosity with an almost maniacal need to push life to its breaking point.

The entire range of Rahsaan's emotional architecture can be heard and felt in this absolutely extraordinary CD; were you to own only one Kirk CD, this should probably be it. The original LP was split, side one offered five studio tracks, including two covers of schmaltzy top 40 fare, a favorite Kirk habit. Side two featured a live performance at the 1968 Newport Jazz Festival - as blistering a piece of live jazz as has ever been recorded by anyone.

The CD begins with Volunteered Slavery, an infectious tidbit with some very interesting lyrics. Kirk was a relentless iconoclast, and the concept of volunteered slavery is a provocative one - for black and white alike. Spirits Up Above, with choir, is an invocation, an anthem. Kirk breaks out the flute for My Cherie Amour, as is always the case when he covers a standard, he retains the original beauty while adding on layers of irony, edge, and originality. Search For The Reason Why, also with choir, is Kirk at his catchiest and most sincere - this is music you might sing in the shower. The cover of I Say A Little Prayer would probably give Burt Bacharach a heart attack. Long time Kirk collaborator Ron Burton deserves special credit here, his piano playing is particularly strong. Kirk slips into one-man orchestra mode, playing multiple horns simultaneously. This track builds steadily from one plateau to the next until it achieves a state of euphoria, something resembling religious ecstasy.

At this point you switch over to the Newport concert and - school is out, way out. Kirk is in total control, he owns the crowd. From his outrageous comments, to his mind-boggling multi-instrumentalism, to the almost hysterical energy level, he simply overpowers and awes the audience. Every second counts, but the standout here is his eight minute tribute to John Coltrane. In eight minutes Kirk shows that he understands Coltrane as well as anyone ever has, deeply honors and respects him, and is brilliant enough to actually interpret him without losing what made Coltrane unique.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk is impossible to categorize, which is one of the reasons he does not get the credit he so richly deserves. His exuberance and joy is not tidy, in Roland Kirk you have the splendid messiness of real life.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favourite Jazz Record, December 7, 2005

By 

Allmusic "Martin" (Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Volunteered Slavery (Audio CD)

Unbelievable! This cd mixes so many genres and moods, but the most important word here is energy. It's crazy and just pounds on your brain, but in a positvie way. You know from the very start that this is going to be great, when Roland shouts "If you wanna know how it is to be free, if you wanna know how it is to be free, you gotta spend all night in bed with me, oh yeah"... No return from there. This is one of the very very few records that makes me really happy, and still rates among the very best albums ever, all genres included. Put on the record, turn up the volume, jump up and down, and let your brain get blown out by a record that celebrates not just music, but life.