| Product Summary | | Label: Cbs/epic/wtg Records | | UPC: 00827969286623 | | Release Date: 9/28/2004 | | Buy.com Sku: 63644853 | | Item#: MJMH45 | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25079 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Barbary Allen - Jean Ritchie ~ Various Artists |  | | 2. Pretty Polly - The Coon Creek Girls ~ Various Artists | | | 3. Ommie Wise - G.B. Grayson ~ Various Artists | | | 4. Little Maggie - Snakefarm (previously unreleased) ~ Various Artists | | | 5. Frankie - Mississippi John Hurt ~ Various Artists | | | 6. Deliah's Gone - Koerner, Ray & Glover ~ Various Artists | | | 7. Wreck Of The Old 97' - John Mellencamp (previously unreleased) ~ Various Artists | | | 8. Dead Man's Curve - Jan & Dean ~ Various Artists | | | 9. Buddy Bolden's Blues (I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say) - Jelly Roll Morton ~ Various Artists | | | 10. Coo Coo Bird, The - Clarence Ashley ~ Various Artists | | | 11. Volver Volver - Vicente Fernandez ~ Various Artists | | | 12. Foggy Foggy Dew, The - Burl Ives ~ Various Artists | | | 13. Black, Brown, & Beige Part IV (Come Sunday) - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra ~ Various Artists | | | 14. El Paso - Marty Robbins ~ Various Artists | | | 15. Trial Of Mary Maguire - Bobby Patterson ~ Various Artists | | | 16. Down From Dover - Dolly Parton ~ Various Artists | | | 17. Sail Away - Randy Newman ~ Various Artists | | | 18. Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts - Bob Dylan ~ Various Artists | | | 19. Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen ~ Various Artists | | | 20. Blackwatertown - The Handsome Family (previously unreleased) ~ Various Artists | |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | The impetus behind the rather bizarre and scattered collection of songs that is The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad comes from the book of the same name, put together by Sean Wilentz and Greil Marcus, which collects essays and drawings by several notable writers (Paul Muldoon, Joyce Carol Oates) and musicians (Jon Langford) that survey the American ballad. Conceptually it is a neat idea, considering the rich history of the ballad song form, but as a collection of music, The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad seems hastily compiled. It isn't that the songs aren't weighty -- almost every song on the collection boasts classic status in the heritage of American balladry -- but that comfortable listening seems to have held no importance in the consideration of sequencing. To ask the listener to follow the path from G.B. Grayson's "Ommie Wise," recorded in the '30s, to Snakefarm's electronic-tinged update of the traditional ballad "Little Maggie," recorded around 70 years later, and then to Mississippi John Hurt's run-through of "Frankie," recorded in 1928, is akin to pouring salt into the drinking water, thus rendering both the salt and the water unusable and unappetizing. Granted, some deviation in fidelity and style is necessary for a single-disc collection with a concept of this scope, but the songs on this set jerk back and forth so much that it is hard not to resent each song as it completely destroys the mood set by the song before it, the above-mentioned sequence and Duke Ellington featuring Mahalia Jackson tumbling into Marty Robbins' "El Paso" being the most abrasive examples. Furthermore, this same set of songs not only could be palatable were they set in a different order, but enlightening in their depth and entertainment -- not to mention that by sequencing the set with some faith to the time line, the listener would better grasp the arc of American balladry and its constants. Perhaps listening to The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad with the book counterpart in hand is the way to go, but on its own it just doesn't together in the watertight way it should. ~ Gregory McIntosh |
Producer: Gregg Geller (Compilation); Sean Wilentz (Compilation); Greil Marcus (Compilation) |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 09/28/2004 | | Original Release Date : 2004 | | Catalog ID : 92866 | | Label : Legacy Recordings | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00827969286623 |
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