Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed

Amazon.com
Scoring mostly sonic triumphs--with a few awkward stylistic conflicts--Tangle Eye blend the Southern voices musicologist Alan Lomax recorded for the Library of Congress between 1947 and 1960 with hip-hop beats, New Orleans funk, bluegrass, and other genres. When the duo, producers Scott Billington and Steve Reynolds, hit the mark, the results are spellbinding. "Hangman," which blends Almeda Riddle's wraith-like Arkansas folksinging with Crescent City drumming, Nashville fiddle, and Mississippi fife-and-drum music, transcends its eras and elements to create its own hypnotic realm. So does "Drownded," which builds an ethereal nest of Dobro, church organ, and drums for Mrs. Sydney Carter's melodious alto delivery of the spiritual "Pharoah." On the other hand, there's "John Henry," which pairs a horribly cheesy lounge-funk arrangement with convict Ed Lewis's chanting voice, robbing him and his tribal beat of their raw spirit. The trouble here is terminal competence: sometimes Tangle Eye and their studio musicians sound a bit too slick and pat to carry any emotional weight. --Ted Drozdowski

Product Description
With its debut release, New Orleans-based Tangle Eye brings a fresh approach to the art of the remix, creating music, beats and sounds that bring new light to original vocal performances sampled from Alan Lomax's Southern Journey field recordings. A few years ago, the word "remix" most likely would have indicated a club version of a pop hit, strictly meant for dancing. However, such recent recordings as Verve Remixed and Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project has established the remix genre as a creative new music style with seemingly boundless possibilities. There's a difference, however, in Tangle Eye's approach, for their music is ultimately about the voices sampled. It can be astonishing to hear the raw beauty and passion of these voices, most of which were original a cappella performances, in the new settings created by Tangle Eye. Contributing contemporary musicians include Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., Galactic guitarist Jeff Raines, pianist Henry Butler, old-time fiddler Dirk Powell, bluesman Corey Harris, keyboard work from Davell Crawford, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and bluegrass Dobro virtuoso Rob Ickes.

Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed,Tangle Eye,Zoe Records,Downbeat,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed

Average customer rating:

The best of old and new
Africanness sneaks up on you
Open Your Ears and Open Your Mind
Sure, it's great, but have you heard..
Weak and derivative

Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed
Tangle Eye
Manufacturer: Zoe Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Champagne & Grits
Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook
The Wolf That House Built
Stone Cold Ohio
Hard Grind

ASIN: B0001DMW4S
Release Date: 2004-02-24

Tracks:

John Henry's Blues
Drownded
Heaven
Home
Parchman Blues
Holler
O Death
Chantey
Hangman
Work Song
Soldier Intro
Soldier

Amazon.com

Scoring mostly sonic triumphs--with a few awkward stylistic conflicts--Tangle Eye blend the Southern voices musicologist Alan Lomax recorded for the Library of Congress between 1947 and 1960 with hip-hop beats, New Orleans funk, bluegrass, and other genres. When the duo, producers Scott Billington and Steve Reynolds, hit the mark, the results are spellbinding. "Hangman," which blends Almeda Riddle's wraith-like Arkansas folksinging with Crescent City drumming, Nashville fiddle, and Mississippi fife-and-drum music, transcends its eras and elements to create its own hypnotic realm. So does "Drownded," which builds an ethereal nest of Dobro, church organ, and drums for Mrs. Sydney Carter's melodious alto delivery of the spiritual "Pharoah." On the other hand, there's "John Henry," which pairs a horribly cheesy lounge-funk arrangement with convict Ed Lewis's chanting voice, robbing him and his tribal beat of their raw spirit. The trouble here is terminal competence: sometimes Tangle Eye and their studio musicians sound a bit too slick and pat to carry any emotional weight. --Ted Drozdowski

Album Description

With its debut release, New Orleans-based Tangle Eye brings a fresh approach to the art of the remix, creating music, beats and sounds that bring new light to original vocal performances sampled from Alan Lomax's Southern Journey field recordings. A few years ago, the word "remix" most likely would have indicated a club version of a pop hit, strictly meant for dancing. However, such recent recordings as Verve Remixed and Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project has established the remix genre as a creative new music style with seemingly boundless possibilities. There's a difference, however, in Tangle Eye's approach, for their music is ultimately about the voices sampled. It can be astonishing to hear the raw beauty and passion of these voices, most of which were original a cappella performances, in the new settings created by Tangle Eye. Contributing contemporary musicians include Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., Galactic guitarist Jeff Raines, pianist Henry Butler, old-time fiddler Dirk Powell, bluesman Corey Harris, keyboard work from Davell Crawford, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and bluegrass Dobro virtuoso Rob Ickes.

Customer Reviews:

The best of old and new.......2006-07-13

This is a unique CD that will make your friends ask "What is this? I like it!". Probably unlike anything you've heard before, old recordings are newly mixed with a modest boost to the music tracks. The result is an edgy rawness of soulful, bluesy music of a high quality. This CD pays homage to the awesome talents that predated good sound quality, and the mixes serve to highlight their greatness and the depth of life experiences that slip into their songs. A must-have for the sophisticated musical pallet.

Africanness sneaks up on you.......2005-02-28

I bought this used thinking it was a sampler from the "Long River of Song," the great series of African American traditional music recorded by the late Alan Lomax and his father John Lomax across the South in the 1930s and the early 1940s for the Library of Congress. In his last years, Lomax who died a couple years ago, edited the thousands of recordings his father and he had made into a set of CDs covering the whole South. There is such great music there. People really neglect Black folk music and they will realize why they shouldn't once they hear these recordings.

Say what you will about them--and I have critiqued the view of culture and manipulations of tradition the Lomaxes have done elsewhere, see in particular my Amazon review of the complete Mississippi recordings Lomax did with Muddy Waters--the whole Long River of Song is simply essential for anyone who wants to know the real roots of Black music, the real roots of so much non-Black southern traditional music, and for the matter just to listen to some good sounds.

On this CD, we have contemporary jazz-blues musicians sampling these traditional Black southern songs--blues, dance music, chain gang music, cries to God--and coming up with a comfortable mix between the original folk musicians and themselves. The outcome shows the marriage of contemporary Black music with its folk roots.

At first I was annoyed because I thought I was going to hear more traditional music. I am a traditional banjo, fiddle, and guitar player who seeks to replicate the sounds of traditional black string band music. However, as the CD went on, I became to see what was in common to all the selections was the common Africanness of the music. The basic rhythm patters of the music, how you move and dance in African Aerican is revealed by the way the two musics move In many ways this reminds me of recordings contemporary black bluesologists like Taj Mahal have made with African string players.

This is nice. But if you want real music get Lomax's Long River of Song CDs. They are organized by state with a special gorgeous Black Appalachia Album.

Just for those who do not know, John Lomax who died in the 1940s, I believe, and Alan Lomax who died a couple years ago were the chief American folklorists of the 20th Century. This began with John's love and collection of cowboy songs from his Native Texas. In the 1930s Lomax Senior was able to convince the library of congress to support his travelling about the country, especially in the South, collecting traditional folk music, accompanied by his very young son.

The Lomaxes published many of the songs that they found in a series of books from the 1930s until the late 1980s. Many of the recordings they made for the Library of Congress were released to the public and helped to provide a basis for the 1930s-1940s and the 1950s folk music revivals. They helped to find folk singers like Leadbelly and recorded such great folk singers as Woody Guthrie.

Open Your Ears and Open Your Mind.......2004-12-08

Narrow minded people may hate this because it isn't 'authentic enough'. But if you listen with an open mind its really a great album. I have heard some of the original tapes and thought they were interesting from a history of the blues point of view. They are not something I would need to hear more than once. The remix is music that you can dance to, drive to work to and enjoy on many levels. Tangle Eye didn't lose any of the emotional force of the orignal, their music adds but doesn't subtract I have been listening for weeks and still hear more in it. I am giving it to some of my more musically adventurous friends for Christmas.

Sure, it's great, but have you heard.........2004-06-29

... Greg Hale Jones? If you like Tangle Eye, you'll love his stuff!

He has also remixed recordings of Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress plus other materials. You may have heard "She Began to Lie" and other songs from the "General's Daughter" soundtrack. It's unforgettable!

After you're done buying Tangle Eye, go listen to some of Greg Hale Jones' tunes on his website: http://www.gregjones.com/ I think you'll find it a bit less fonked-out, but a bit more haunting and sophisticated.

Weak and derivative.......2004-06-29

This Cd is OK and very slick (esp Hangman) but for the real white lightning you should check out the source. The first guy to do this kind of work (using some of the same field recordings) was Greg Hale Jones, years ago, way before Moby, even.

You can find the work on the movie soundtrack for The General's Daughter. or you can find him on iTunes. Great stuff.

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