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Birthright
 
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Birthright

James Blood Ulmer
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews) | More about this product
List Price: $16.98
Price: $16.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Frequently Bought Together

Birthright + Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions + No Escape from the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions
Price For All Three: $50.94

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (May 24, 2005)
  • Original Release Date: May 24, 2005
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: HYENA Records
  • ASIN: B0009HLCHE
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,859 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #20 in  Music > Blues > Regional Blues > New York Blues

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Take My Music Back To The Church 4:42$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. I Can't Take It Anymore 2:39$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Where Did All The Girls Come From 5:06$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. I Ain't Superstitious 3:47$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. White Man's Jail 3:59$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. High Yellow 3:17$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. The Evil One 3:33$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Geechee Joe 4:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Love Dance Rag 4:08$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Sittin' On Top Of The World 4:12$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. My Most Favorite Thing 2:49$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Devil's Got To Burn 9:31$0.99 Buy Track

Editorial Reviews

Seattle Post Intelligencer, May 24, 2005
"The most authentic and important blues preacher since the Rev. Davis...a modern milestone in the story of the blues."

Product Description
James Blood Ulmer is in the midst of a career revival—an artistic renaissance if you will. A new generation of music fans have discovered his music, while at the same time older fans from throughout his 40-year career have shown a renewed fervor for his iconoclastic genius.

Ulmer's previous two recordings, "Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions" and "No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions" led to much recognition, including a Grammy Award nomination, Rolling Stone Magazine "Best Album" honors, a performance at Martin Scorsese blues celebration concert at Radio City Music Hall and high profile appearances with the likes of Government Mule, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.

On Birthright, his latest studio album, Ulmer goes it alone. It’s just he and his guitar singing and playing 12 of the most stark, personal and spellbinding songs he’s ever recorded. The blues hasn’t sounded this honest in a long, long time. It’s clearly the work of an American music legend continuing to reinvent himself, while remaining as musically vital today as at any point in his long and distinguished career.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ulmer's Modern Masterpiece, June 18, 2005
By Robert Pawn (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
I've had the opportunity to see James Blood Ulmer a few times over the last few years. I've become a big fan of his distinct originality on the guitar. He plays with freewheeling abandon and gutteral instinct. Of course, in becoming aware of his music, I picked up copies of the two blues records, Memphis Blood and No Escape From the Blues, as well as some of the older stuff like Odyssey and Freelancing (on vinyl). I love all of those albums. The two blues discs are some of my favorites of current recordings in the genre.

But little prepared me for Birthright, which might just be James Blood Ulmer's masterpiece. It's just James Blood Ulmer here completely solo. The record almost feels ancient. Like a Son House or Robert Johnson recording but in the modern day. Parts of it are haunted as Ulmer digs and slashs on the guitar, his voice trembling with a natural vibrato. Truly Spectacular. Other songs like Geechee Joe and a reworking of his song, Where Did All The Girls Come From, are quite beautiful and imbued with grace. At times the music almost seems like folk art. Ulmer doesn't sound schooled in the blues -- there's not a traditional blues lick to be found. The music sounds like an exorcism -- a natural release of song and sound. Birthright is actually a perfect title because it's exactly what an album like this is. What Ulmer's doing can't be faked. It's his and he owns it.

I highly recommend this to people in search of the real thing -- of real music, of real expression, of real soul. James Blood Ulmer - Birthright is a modern gem and one of the most compelling CDs I've heard all year.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Real (New) Old-time Blues, June 17, 2005
By Read-Only (New York City) - See all my reviews
When I first heard this album, I thought it was mostly Ulmer covering old and somewhat obscure acoustic blues songs. But in fact, he wrote all but two of the songs. Somehow he was able to capture the spirit of the real old-time blues within his own personal guitar style, which is derived from the very modern harmolodic approach. It is a solo ablum, with him singing on every cut and playing a spacey flute at the very end. Nonetheless, the sound is very rich, and he manages to fill in all the spaces of the music so that you don't feel that anything is missing.

I have liked most of what Blood Ulmer has put out, but this strikes me as being one of his most beautiful albums. It is heartfelt, musically intriguing, and rich in the tradition of the blues. The original blues players wrote songs about their everyday lives and events, mentioning people and places that they knew. Ulmer recaptures this tradition on Geeche Joe, a song about his grandfather, which is extremely touching in his love for the old man and his struggles with life and racial prejudice. And his rearrangment of Sitting on Top of the World is amazing and beautiful.

I heard his previous blues CD, Memphis Blood, and I found it entertaining but not particularly interesting or deep. This CD is all those things, and I expect to return to it often.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The NEW version of Country Blues!!!, May 6, 2006
By Rev KM Williams "revkmwilliams" (dallas, tx United States) - See all my reviews
This James Blood Ulmer CD is his Best since FREELANCING and TALES OF CAPTAIN BLACK;but actually more innovative because He takes old Country blues and fuses it with his Ornette Coleman harmodelics and he comes up with the most innovative approach to Country Blues since John Lee Hooker;Blood Ulmer has finally found his Calling!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Intensely personal
Not a party record, and not something for driving, this is an intensely personal album, made to be listened to. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Hank Schwab

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Blues Artist with a Unique Style
James "Blood" Ulmer is a great guitar player, but only a decent Blues artist. He is mainly known for jazz guitar and experimental music. Read more
Published 12 months ago by D. B Pepper

2.0 out of 5 stars Over hyped
I really can't understand the rave reviews given this recording. This type of material has been covered much more effectively by others (especially John Lee Hooker} The guitar... Read more
Published 20 months ago by E. rauschenbach

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Birthright
64% buy the item featured on this page:
Birthright 4.2 out of 5 stars (6)
$16.98
Back in Time
25% buy
Back in Time 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
$16.98
Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions
12% buy
Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions 3.2 out of 5 stars (4)
$16.98
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