Free Music Notes for Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live

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Free Music Notes for Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live

Free Music Review: THIS IS THE WAY THESE WONDERFUL SONGS WERE MEANT TO BE HEARD
Hit: 5 Stars

Of course there are a few miraculous standout live sets. Some artistes were made for live music; a theatre audience draws out of them some deep primal magic that the studio cannot capture. Most of the jazz greats were like this: John Coltrane, Miles Davies and so on. Elvis had it; so did Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen. Their best live albums made your heart ache that you weren't there yourself, even as you were uplifted by the feeling that in a strange sense you were there yourself.

Now we have AKUS Live. And while the great FM-listening masses may not put them in the same class as the King or the Boss, this latest album has some of that same rare charisma. It's very reasonably priced; the sound is outstanding; the performances are dazzling, and the audience presence is just enough to communicate a sense of excitement without swamping anything. Above all, you get about 100 minutes of Alison and the extended Soggy Bottom family at their incisive best.

They know how to play a song live, these guys - enough like the studio performance that you don't ever get the urge to go, "Hey! That's not right" (a common enough fault with live work, you don't need me to tell you), yet with enough elbow-room for that extra free spark of creative genius to shine out. This is rivetting, gorgeous, exciting live artistry that makes you want to be there.

The song selection could hardly be bettered. Inevitably you'll wish something had been left out for your special favorite. Mine is `Daylight', and many people would have gone for `Momma Cried'. But hey, this is incredibly generous and virtually everything you really need is here (including Ron Block's awesome solo hit, `Faraway Land', and of course the obligatory `Man of Constant Sorrow').

My final comment is this: You need have no fear that by buying `Live' you are simply duplicating songs you already have. In fact, after just a few spins, these performances have become the reference versions in my mind, and the original studio cuts now sound relative tame and muted in comparison. To so redefine a set of songs, that the concert version becomes the standard by which the original studio recording is judged, is a rare achievement. Joni and Bruce did it repeatedly, and so did Neil Young. I think AKUS can hold their heads up in that company.

Free Music Review: Satisfaction guaranteed!
Hit: 5 Stars

Besides Alison, the band includes Barry Bales, Ron Block, Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminski and on about half of the tracks, guest percussionist Larry Atamanuik. The appearance of this tasteful Nashville session drummer serves to reinforce the eclectic nature of this band's repertoire that is probably best classified as acoustic country, with occasional bluegrass selections. And, it is their instrumental virtuosity and vocal prowess that have personalized their sound and built their large fan base. Tyminiski handles the lead vocals on four tracks, and he's probably at his soulful best singing a song like "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn." Ron Block sings his own composition, "Faraway Land." Music arranging has always been a clear strength of this band, and I always especially enjoy hearing how the group capitalizes on Ron Block's versatility as both a guitarist and banjo-player. If only he could play both instruments at once in a live show like this. Four instrumentals are included: Choctaw Hayride, Cluck Old Hen, We Hide and Seek, and Jerry Douglas' solo on A Tribute to Peador O'Donnell/Monkey Let the Hogs Out. The only thing I occasionally miss in AKUS' sound is more mandolin, but Dan Tyminiski does pick that instrument on five tracks. When one audience member shouts "I love you, Alison," another chimes in with "I love you more." After listening to this project, we'll all surely fall into either the former or latter category of fans. Satisfaction Guaranteed! (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

Free Music Review: Smokin' bluegrass at a smokin' price
Hit: 5 Stars

I first took note of Allison Krauss and Union Station when they released their incomparable cover of the Foundations' pop classic, 'Baby, now that I've found you.' It's either the jazziest blue-grass or the blue-grassiest pop jazz ever conceived, and it stands completely apart from the original. Most covers--and most especially Nashville covers--add absolutely nothing to the original arrangement, which usually amounts to a net subtraction. This is never the case with Union Station. Krauss' voice alone--a lilting high-lonesome wail, at once brash and plaintive, seductive and scared--would lend moment to a railroad timetable. The instrumental virtuosity and the supporting voices--and the eclectic tastes of the musicians--make for an unequaled experience in what we might call American post-roots music: The instruments of bluegrass and the melancholy of the hills combined with the pace and complexity of modernity.

If you don't know it, the members of Union Station, with Allison Krauss' fiddle but minus her voice, made up 'The Soggy-Bottom Boys' on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, itself a bluegrass tour de force. They cover themselves on this album, Allison Krauss & Union Station: Live, doing the Boys' 'I am a man of constant sorrow,' itself a cover of the very old Clinch Mountain Boys standard. They also do 'Down to the river to pray,' which Allison sang so beautifully on the 'O Brother' soundtrack.

There are 25 songs in this collection, and many of them are uniquely-perfect Union Station covers of other artists' work: 'Baby, now that I've found you,' 'Ghost in this house' by Hugh Prestwood, perhaps the best-ever Nashville songwriter, 'Maybe' from Garth Brooks' underappreciated In... The Life of Chris Gaines album. Union Station had covered the Keith Whitley tune, 'When you say nothing at all,' for a Whitley tribute album, producing a version as haunting as the original without borrowing a thing from Whitley's rough honesty. If anything, the 'Live' version is even better.

And Union Station is a band that simply <I>is</I> better live. They are all virtuoso bluegrass players, but playing live they feed off the energy of the audience, taking that virtuosity to a higher level. This is a very complicated, Apollonian music, and at times the tension is almost unbearable.

Seize the splendor! This is a two-CD set for fifteen bucks, a smokin' deal and an excellent introduction to a very rich kind of bluegrass.

Free Music Review: Almost makes me ashamed that I gave OTHER CD's 5 stars...
Hit: 5 Stars

Other than the microphones what we are treated to here is the stunning artistry of 5 world-class musicians at the absolute top of their game. Alison Krauss has been playing with bassist Barry Bales and guitarist-banjoist Ron Block for more than ten years.... Guitarist-Mandolinist Dan Tyminski was added about 7 years ago and Dobroist Jerry Douglas about 2 years ago.

I doubt Ms. Krauss would allow any inferior musical product to be released with her name attached, but, listening to these amazing live recordings, it appears to me that it has taken this long for this band to "hit their stride".

To say that Jerry Douglas is "the world's greatest dobro player" is no small compliment, but your average music listening would likely be hard-pressed to name ANY dobro players. Introducing him Alison correctly states that Mr. Douglas is widely viewed as one of the worlds great musicians - and by THAT title I include him among ranks of very rarified ability - Yo Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Itzhak Perlman, Mark O'Connor, Chris Thile level of achievement. The addition of Jerry Douglas to the ALREADY very accomplished AKUS has simply driven all the other band members to new heights instrumentally. Ron Block sounds better than ever. Dan Tyminski plays like Tony Rice in his prime. Alison fiddles with the power and passion of Stuart Duncan. This is the current version of AKUS, instrumentally.

Vocally.... has there ever been a "Bluegrass" band this good? If you don't think Ms. Krauss is the most gifted female vocalist in the history of bluegrass you hold the minority opinion. The meteoric rise and acclaim of Dan Tyminski has only let the rest of the world know what the Bluegrass community has known for over ten years - Dan Tyminski has a voice that is other-worldly good. When they sing together.... it is almost painfully good to listen to - like the bite of the best dessert you ever put in your mouth or the odor of the best smell you ever experienced.

Writing about the talented Cox family Alison generously said that she expected when she arrived at heaven that they would be playing the Cox family's music.

I would guess that right now the angels are playing "Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live".

Free Music Review: Hot Damn, It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
Hit: 5 Stars

Now, for the fun surprise of the album (at least for me). In the Coen brothers' filmed tribute to southern roots music, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Alison Krauss's haunting voice is immediately recognizable as one of the tempting sirens (Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris are the other two) in "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby," as one half of the vocals (Gillian Welch is the other half) in "I'll Fly Away," and as the lead vocal on the beautiful rendition of "Down in the River to Pray."

Less recognizable in that film, however, are the mysterious voices and musicians that make up the Soggy Bottom Boys, whose "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" serves as leitmotif for the whole movie. Anyway, a few tracks into disc 2 of Alison Krauss & Union Station: Live, I felt the thrilling surprise of the yokel in O Brother who exclaims "Hot damn, it's the Soggy Bottom Boys!" as they launch into their hit single to thunderous applause. Sure enough, the mouthpiece for George Clooney is none other than Dan Tyminski, guitarist and vocalist for Union Station, and their live rendition of "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" is clearly a Soggy Bottom Boys performance. Nice.

Incidentally, for all you O Brother fans, "Down to the River to Pray" is also on the album.