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Overall Rating: ( 7 reviews )

1. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Sep 26 2007

   There are some truly haunting performances here, and some funny ones, and some of everything, really. This stuff is so far deeper and weirder and spookier than any folk I've ever heard. It's the motherlode; Harry Smith wandered around and got these recordings before radio started, and thus we get true folk music, passed down the generations and from that area, or from the motherland of the musicians, with the spirit of the New World. The vibes are palpable, varied, and intense. Lots of "mistakes", but so much feeling that missed notes only add to the experience. If you've ever liked any folk music at all, whether Leadbelly, the Seegers, the Carter family, early Dylan, or if you need to know where real country music comes from, this is your collection. Too many highlights to list. Beautiful and detailed booklet with notes on each tune makes it even better...though listening first with no preconceptions and creating your own story for the songs is probably an even better way to let this stuff seep into your subconscious. Best of all, it's probably at your local library.

2. Posted: Jul 12 2007

   Great stuff. Yet some of the singing is almost too real, too raw. Bob Dylan cites this album as a main inspiration, and you can hear his singing and songwriting style in a lot of the songs. Not for everybody, and may be even too much for casual folk music fans. Has to be listened to in the context of a historical document.

3. Posted: Feb 15 2007

   This CD compilation set is more than just an album of music--it's a historical document. I first heard of the AAFM in a Bob Dylan biography--after buying this and listening to it, I can understand how Bob was inspired to ditch his Little Richard aspirations and travel the rugged road of folk. Through the three sections--Ballads, Social Music (mostly instrumentals), and Songs (kind of like ballads, but less story-oriented), this collection not only contains some great, timeless music and performances, it's also steeped in pure humanity--the real essence of true folk music. The people Harry Smith collected and anthologized were mostly just that: folk. People like you and me who love music, and play the songs they've been handed down. You don't have to be Bob Dylan to appreciate and be moved by songs that have been passed down through the generations and soulfully interpreted by many different artists. Aside from some essential listening ("Coo Coo Bird," "Stackalee," "Mississippi Boweavil Blues," "I wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," etc. etc.), the package has some great supplementary material. It's very interesting to learn about the song information and performer information that Smith collected with his anthology, but it's also interesting to get a glimpse into his project, seeing how he relentlessly collected and chose which songs to represent. He was a true lover of music, and that love is reflected in his project. Please don't come to this compilation expecting pristine sound quality--it was assembled in the 50's, which means that the recordings come from then as well as much earlier--it's about the music and performers anyway, and a little bit of scratch really doesn't detract that much from the organic, down home experience. It IS a bit of a shame that there are 6 CDs, but really only about 4 full CDs worth of music--it would have been OK with me if the Ballad/Social Music/Songs organization was not cleanly divided between discs to save space, since the division isn't very efficient, but I suppose the reissuers wanted to emulate the original vinyl collection. I don't really find the material to be homogeneous like the second spotlight reviewer does, although I do agree that Roots and Blues: A Retrospective is also a great compilation--I'd recommend getting both for a great complementary experience. Hopefully this set never goes out of print, as it's a great piece of art that any music fan or musician can learn a lot from--and enjoy, too! It's a shame that Smith had to preserve this music as it was beginning to die out even as he was collecting it, but it's also heartwarming that such classic sounds can be preserved for us to hear so many years later and keep the tradition alive. Enjoy the living history!

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Overall Rating: ( 6 reviews )

1. ( 4 of 5 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 26 2005

   This album is so pervasively laced with sorrow that even its most upbeat songs are tearjerkers. But the trick here is the saddest moments feel like the most uplifitng as we see into a heart thar seems the most familiar. While this joy breaks the spell on the subsequent album, the pleasing but less resonant "The Ghost of Fashion", "Your Favorite Music" never dispells the sensation that the sparse, but never spare, music and clever lyrics delivered in a broke, but nerver broken, voice deliver. Something for the musicians and the lyrically obssessed equally. With songs like "Loneliness Finds" and "Sweet Mother Russia", when the coffee house accoustic groups find these songs, this album will live a long time. It is a wonderful album extolling the idea of good music supporting sublime lyrics. While we are giving thumbs up to songs, let's give two more for the funny but grim "1989" and the rousing folk of "Failed Messiah Blues". This album is so good, I have hesitated to check the recent stuff because I don't want this dream to end. Moat certainly recommended for those seeking classical folk rock kicks with just a touch of punk.

2. ( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jan 13 2005

   Clem Snide's second album is not one of many moods, but the mood it sustains--through lyrics that toe the line between clever and smart, half-sung and half-whispered over shuffling folk arrangements--is good enough to last. Resigned, wry, always about to wind down into nothingness, the best tracks on the album transcend the unabashed jokiness of what's being sung through their sheer charm. A little play on words--"we're going to party / like it's 1989" becomes undercut by refrains that poke fun at its hollowness. On the title track, he sings "your favorite music / well it just makes you sad," as fiddles drone and the rhythm track shambles along. And that's true, but we like it anyway.

3. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 2 2004

   Simple, beautiful melodies with an acoustic/countrified feel and offbeat lyrics. "Dairy Queen", "Bread", and "Messiah Complex Blues" are the standouts in my opinion. Throw in a nice cover of "Donna" and you've got an impressive disc.

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