Just a Spoonful

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
For generations, practitioners of that uniquely American art form known variously as old-time or string-band music – progenitor of country, precursor to bluegrass – have labored in obscurity, their talents unrecognized, their provenance maligned. The men of Tangleweed are proud to uphold that tradition.

Their personal histories, while colorful, bear witness to the manifold hardships and hard-scrabble existences so commonly borne by folk artists. Only one was educated on the Continent. Most were forced to leave college after graduation.

Like most such groups, Tangleweed typically performs at drinking establishments and other communal gathering places, where ordinary people come to wash away the trials and tribulations of their workaday lives. Such venues are far removed from the niceties of the concert hall. Yet they testify to the formative influence that context can exert on performance style. How easily does the plaintive keening of Tangleweed's vocal harmonies rise above the whine of milk frothers and espresso machines. How cleanly do their finger-picked melodies cut through the din of mobile telephones and personal computing devices.

Tangleweed’s repertoire, which encompasses traditional fiddle tunes, African-American blues, rags, and stomps, was born in the rich soil of the rural agrarian South. Unlettered and without formal training, its originators gave rise to a deeply expressive musical idiom that spoke for and to a vast, poverty-stricken community of Euro- and African-Americans, for whom such music functioned first and foremost as an accompaniment to social dance. Tangleweed is proud to claim this rich cultural legacy, without in any way sharing in it.

Relieved of the burden of authenticity, unencumbered by troublesome notions of historical accuracy or, indeed, of personal accountability, the men of Tangleweed are free to pursue their own startlingly original interpretive impulses. So does a great tradition reinvent itself, often beyond all recognition.

Album Description
Tangleweed made every effort to record this in the style of an old field recording. The recording was made live to 2-track analog tape in the empty second-floor apartment of a two-flat in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. All the tracks were recorded in one afternoon in November, 2004, by Bob Weston. Everything is live and unedited. There are no overdubs.

The band was literally gathered around the antiquated stove used to heat the apartment. Bob set up two microphones to capture the instruments, as well as an old RCA ribbon mic in the general vicinity of the vocalists. No headphones or monitors were used. The band played through most of the songs theyt knew over the course of the afternoon, never taking more than a few passes on any tune.

You can hear floorboards creak between takes. You can hear feet stomping. You can hear voices crack to be heard above the din of five instruments. It is a flawed record, but also a very human one.

Just a Spoonful, Music, Tangleweed, Acoustic Americana that combines hard-driving musicianship with high lonesome harmonies., Alternative, Folk

Superhits: 1966 (Time Life Music)
Average customer rating:
Superhits: 1966 (Time Life Music)
Bobby Hebb , Bob Lind , The Mindbenders , The Happenings , The New Vaudeville Band , The Seekers , B.J. Thomas and the Triumphs , Petula Clark , Dusty Springfield , and Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Manufacturer: Time Life Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000SY0MPQ

Product Description

SONG LIST :1. California Dreamin - The Mamas & Papas 2. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys 3. Sunny - Bobby Herb 4. DayDream - The Lovin' Spoonful 5. Elusive Butterfly - Bob Lind 6. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield 7. A Groovy Kind of Love - The Mindbenders 8. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - Cher 9. See You in September - The Happenings 10. Message to Michael - Dionne Warwick 11. When a Man Loves a Woman - Percy Sledge 12. You Can't Hurry Love - The Surpremes 13. I'm a Believer - The Monkees 14. Sweet Talkin' Guy - The Chiffons 15. Cherish - The Associations 16. She's Just My Style - Gary Lewis & the Playboys 17. You Didn't Have to Be So Nice - The Lovin' Spoonful 18. Georgy Girl - The Seekers 19. Winchester Cathedral - The New Vaudeville Band 20. My Love - Petula Clark 21. (You're My) Soul and Inspiration - The Righteous Brothers 22. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - B.J.Thomas

COUCH POTATOES DON'T JUST HAVE EYES, THEY ALSO HAVE EARS.

Average customer rating:

COUCH POTATOES DON'T JUST HAVE EYES, THEY ALSO HAVE EARS.

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000BD5LQY

Product Description

Selections include: 1. David Grey, Babylon 2. SR71, right now 3. Eve 6, Here's to the night (explicit) 4. Vertical Horizon, Best I ever had 5. Robert Bradley's Baclwater Sirprise, Baby 6. Tarsha, Be yourself 7. Public Announcement, Mamacita 8. Kristine W., Stronger 9. Etta James, Miss You 10. Jim brickman, Change of Heart 11. Lonestar, Amazed 12. Martha McBride, There You Are 13. Alan Jackson, www.memory 14. Rob Base & DJ E_Z Rock, It Takes two 15. Mary MacGregor, Torn Between two lovers 16. Aretha Franklin, Freeway of Love 17. Delphonics, La La means I Love You 18. The Lovin' Spoonful, Daydream 19. the Lovin' Spoonful, Do You Believe in Magic 20. Andrea True Connection, More, More, More

Average customer rating:

Plenty of live exuberance and energy....a little ragged but right
authentic imitation
These guys rock !
Skillet Lick'in good

Just a Spoonful
Tangleweed
Manufacturer: Squatney
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Country | Styles | Music

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General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Where You Been So Long?

ASIN: B0009PAX8A
Release Date: 2005-05-23

Tracks:

Train 45
C-Jam Blues
Spoonful
Banjo in the Holler
Cindy
Make Me a Pallet on the Floor
Blackberry Blossom
Columbus Stockade Blues
Old Joe Clark
Katy Kline
Ragged But Right
Orange Blossom Special

Product Description

Tangleweed made every effort to record this in the style of an old field recording. The recording was made live to 2-track analog tape in the empty second-floor apartment of a two-flat in ChicagoÂ’s Logan Square neighborhood. All the tracks were recorded in one afternoon in November, 2004, by Bob Weston. Everything is live and unedited. There are no overdubs. The band was literally gathered around the antiquated stove used to heat the apartment. Bob set up two microphones to capture the instruments, as well as an old RCA ribbon mic in the general vicinity of the vocalists. No headphones or monitors were used. The band played through most of the songs theyt knew over the course of the afternoon, never taking more than a few passes on any tune. You can hear floorboards creak between takes. You can hear feet stomping. You can hear voices crack to be heard above the din of five instruments. It is a flawed record, but also a very human one.

Customer Reviews:

Plenty of live exuberance and energy....a little ragged but right.......2005-10-24

Playing Time - 29:17 -- Tangleweed is a self-professed Chicago-based "foot stompin', moonshine drinkin', bluegrass group" whose new CD, "Just a Spoonful" captures their live exuberance and energy. Ryan Fisher (banjo), Paul Wargaski (upright bass), Billy Oh (fiddle), Kenneth Rainey (mandolin), and Scott Judd (guitar) appear to share a chemistry that results in some good-time music drawing inspiration from old-time, bluegrass, jug band and swing music.

Playing regularly since mid-2004, Tangleweed chose to record their debut live to two tracks in an empty second-floor Chicago apartment . There are no tricks, electronic wizardry, or overdubs here. For folks who like a few "warts" on their music (ie. not the slick studio productions from the dimple of the universe), Tangleweed does the trick. Their enthusiasm is infectious. Each track spans 3 minutes or less, and includes a few floorboards creaking, feet stomping, and perhaps even some heavy breathing. While this approach captures their live energy, vocals are bit hard to understand at times. My guess is that this 29-minute set was developed as both a demo CD and as a product to be sold. Their repertoire draws from standard fare in the hit parade of bluegrass, with warhorses like Train 45, Cindy, Make Me a Pallet on the Floor, Blackberry Blossom, Columbus Stockade Blues, Old Joe Clark, and Orange Blossom Special. Besides the title cut, other favorites were C-Jam Blues and Ragged but Right.

Tangleweed has some rough edges. However, with too much polish on their chrome, Tangleweed would lose their bluegrass spunk. They're the kind of band that no doubt goes over better live than on a CD. I would imagine that they'd get plenty of people tapping their toes numbers like "Spoonful" despite its drug-related connotations. Their next project will be multi-tracked in a recording studio. Tangleweed is associated with TwangOff Records (...) which offers live recordings of Chicago showcase performances just minutes after the shows. For a mere $7, Tangleweed can also be heard on the December 2004 edition of "The Homegrown Series."

Tangleweed plays mostly watering holes, and their primary mission seems to be for everyone to have fun in their presence. This attitude will no doubt allow them to just keep getting better and better with a few more years of experience and maturity. In the meantime, they may not be quite ready for a Grammy Award, but I appreciate their spirit and ability to get the toes tapping in this less-than-half-hour set. As they sing at track 11, they're a little ragged but they're right. Pick up a copy of "Just a Spoonful" over the Internet.

authentic imitation.......2005-06-28

crank up your victrola and make sure those tiny new computer speakers are set comfortably around the living room. get out a bag of pork rinds, a bottle of red bull by your side, because it's going to get greasy and grassy in less time than it takes a pig to get out the poke or bill gates to buy another corporation.

tangleweed is arty americana, but the art stops with the cover art and the liner notes. in other words, this isn't bonnie prince billy strumming a guitar and muttering unintelligible lyrics, or johnny cash doing a danzig cover. tangleweed sounds like good, old-timey rags and blues with nary a pretension in either the playing or the vocals (singing that sounds eerily akin to many of those pre-multi mike strained but sweet voices desperately trying to keep their place over the clash of gut-bucket sound). and tangleweed also can play the hell out their instruments, for those of use who still care about such things.

a must buy for people who are tired of re-invention via boring attempts at ironic cool!

These guys rock !.......2005-06-03

When I recently received Tangleweeds CD " Just a Spoonful" I hardly knew anything about this band . But you guys are awesome !
Guitar and Banjo with deep and colorful interpretations , never losing steam , speed and passion .
The bass player a crazy butt kicking bastard , digging in the deepest holes of the American soul.
And singer and fiddle player right out of the times of "Billy the Kid" .
Especially the title song "Just a Spoonful" is kind of catchy .
Love it !

Skillet Lick'in good.......2005-06-01

These good old boys can really bring down the barn. They add spice and style to this great american artform.

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