Cold Mountain
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Free Music Notes for Cold Mountain
Free Music Review: a girl who loves music
Hit: 4 Stars
The Cold Mountain soundtrack offers a study in opposition. On the one hand there's the vibrant sound of the Sacred Harp Singers and the breathy anticipation of Cassie Franklin and on the other hand there's the insincere sounding Jack White and the tentative Alison Krauss. The CD is worth its sticker price just to hear the Sacred Harp singers for their two songs. Their full-bodied vocalization is refreshing after listening to other tracks where the musicians sound restrained. "I'm Going Home's" boisterous rhythm and "Idumea's" poignancy are refreshing after hearing Jack White's five songs that feature his dull, listless voice. While the lyrics are captivating to most of White's tunes his performance has been touted with far too much praise than this production merits. The Sacred Harp Singers' substance and vitality present a much needed respite to White's domination on this soundtrack. It's the genuineness, the authenticity of the Sacred Harp singers that is so intriguing because those qualities are actually captured in their unique sound that wasn't manufactured in a recording studio; rather their two pieces were recorded during an actual singing in a wooden-framed church in Northeastern Alabama where Sacred Harp singing regularly takes place. These weren't "outsiders" bussed in to learn Sacred Harp, these are the Real McCoy on this recording - true Sacred Harp Singers who love and respect their traditions.
Not only does White's performance lack energetic substance, so does Alison Krauss's. Her lovely voice wants to find its usually powerful place, but there's that restraint to it that lends an air of artificiality to both of her songs, but most especially to "You Will Be My Ain True Love." In contrast to the seasoned Krauss is Cassie Franklin who makes her recording debut. Franklin sings "Lady Margret" in a crystal clear voice that rises and swells throughout the haunting ballad and leaves a lump in your throat when the song has ended. Her voice, warm and close, sounds as if she were almost near enough that you could catch a glimpse of her as she sings; and it's hopeful that we'll be able to catch that glimpse in future recordings.
Tim Eriksen's two songs offer an opportunity to whet the appetites of those unfamiliar with his voice. Like others on this recording, he sounds like he's holding back, but despite that barrier he breaks through with enough of his sparkling effortlessness to hear the quality his voice. Definitely look at Eriksen's self-titled recording and those he's done with Cordelia's Dad.
Several other artists finish out the playlist. Reeltime Travelers and Stuart Duncan's songs help add an Appalachian texture to the recording. Gabriel Yared's pieces are played with a degree of passion but are excessive with all four lined up in a row. Listening to one instrumental after another sounds too much like canned elevator music.
Free Music Review: A Defense
Hit: 4 Stars
Since the knives seem to be out in some quarters for this album, I feel I need to say a few words in its defense. First, as to the matter of credentials: Stuart Duncan, Norman and Nancy Blake, Mike Compton, Riley Baugus, the Reeltime Travelers, and (yes!) Tim O'Brien are all on here, and at the top of their form. I'd hate to see their work go unappreciated because of what appears to be a controversy over who had the "right" to do this album. Second, while Jack White is definitely an "outsider" to bluegrass and old-time music (as is ex-punk rocker-turned-ethnomusicologist Tim Eriksen), their voices are perfectly appropriate to the material, working nicely with that of Baugus, one of the most "authentic" voices appearing here. In the movie (which I have seen in preview), the music they perform is largely played by a trio of itinerant backwoods musicians/Confederate deserters (including White) led by Ruby's (Rene Zellweger's) father, who entertain the women from time to time. They sound, in fact, much more appropriate for the parts than a more polished, mainstream performer would. And the music, while quiet and parlor-like, is perfectly appropriate to its function. I think particularly of "Great High Mountain," sung in the epilogue as the survivors sit down to Easter dinner; Ralph Stanley's mystical vision is transformed here (evidently with Dr. Ralph's blessing) into a happy account of life's journey toward heaven, and a benediction on the struggles of people whose trials have dwarfed anything we experience.That said, I, too, find the album uneven. Alison Krauss's made-for-the-Oscars songs are flaccid, and in any case I think she sings much better with a fiddle in her hand. Gabriel Yared's movie music is just that. Nor am I keen on White's original song, which sounds greatly out of place (though T-Bone Burnett's song "As a Songbird That Has Fallen," done by the Reeltime Travelers, is exquisite).
Yet the good in the end far outweighs any exceptions for me. Finally, while I must confess that (like several other reviewers here, I suspect) I know and have sung with Cassie Franklin and the Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church, I'll nonetheless say that they're the most important reason to buy the album. Franklin's voice is a jewel, and her styling of "Lady Margret" is wise beyond her twenty years. The Liberty Church tracks are overpowering, especially "Idumea," which in the movie serves as a sort of Greek chorus, proclaiming to shattering effect the imminence of Eternity and the Last Trump over the din of the Battle of the Crater. If you see the movie, find the words to "Idumea" before you go; you'll understand it much better.
Free Music Review: Outstanding!
Hit: 4 Stars
If the soundtrack to "Cold Mountain" is an indication of what's to come in this highly anticipated movie, there is a huge winner in store for everyone. Part mountain music, part piano based, part gospel, the music on this soundtrack flows wonderfully, and can stand by itself as a listening pleasure.Four key acts contribute to this project, and representing the biggest suprise, Jack White leaves behind his White Stripes mate and shows extreme talent in a more rootsier setting. His two original tracks, "Never Far Away" and "Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over" are gems, and his cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Sittin On Top Of The World" is an outstanding blues performance, and shows that there is a lot more to White than his affection for primary colors and his 3 minute rockers.
Alison Krause's two contributions, which include a new Elvis Costello number, are both gorgeous - after her performance on the "Oh Brother..." soundtrack last year, and this contribution, its clear that this girl's voice was made for the movies. Krause continues to rack up impressive performances on outside projects (don't miss her contribution to this year's Dolly Parton tribute), and has righteously earned the title of top true country singer in America today.
The Sacred Harp Singers, a group of vocalists I had never heard before, will blow away your ears with a style known as "shaped note" singing. Don't miss the spiritual "I'm Going Home", and you will hear vocals like you have never heard before.Also contributing a number of pieces to the soundtrack is the pianist Gabriel Yared - his style of soft, sweeping play is perfectly suited to the overall sound of this project.
This disc is enjoyable from beginnning to end, offering songs that quietly seep into your conciousness and subtly demand your attention. I was amazed by Jack White's contributions, completely surprised by the Sacred Harp Singers, and reminded how much I love Alison Krause's voice
Free Music Review: If you're a "Cold Mountain" junkie--gotta have it.
Hit: 4 Stars
My (English-professor) mother Anna Elaine Galstad Thompson Case, who recently passed away, was the person who originally turned me onto the novel, and I must say that it affected me more deeply than just about anything I've ever read in my life. One could argue that, together with "Huckleberry Finn" and "Moby Dick", it is truly perhaps one of the great American novels of all time. (The last time I drove home to northwest Arkansas from Washington, DC, I stopped off in southeast Tennessee, and drove over Smoky Mountain National Park to spend a day exploring the area around Cold Mountain in northwestern North Carolina--a trip I highly recommend.) Wish I'd written the novel myself; my great-greatgranddad (C.S.A. cavalry) Capt. Gould B. Thompson underwent an almost identical experience in the summer of 1863, trying to make his way home across no-man's-land to the Ozarks after the fall of Vicksburg--his story had a HAPPY ending. Fans of the novel have likely seen the film by now; although I would've cast it differently and OF COURSE filmed it around Cold Mountain in North Carolina instead of in Romania's Transylvanian Alps, it's nonetheless a very good film. As for the soundtrack, the two songs by Alison Krauss are superb, and I personally find the raw spiritual energy of the two songs by the Liberty Church Sacred Harp Singers (Henegar, Alabama, in AL's northeast hill country) mesmerizing. The unvarnished folksy "honesty" of the "Like a Songbird That Has Fallen" and the piano work by Gabriel Yared are very compelling and worthwhile, and the bread-and-butter remainder of the album by Jack White, Stuart Duncan, Norman & Nancy Blake, and Dirk Powell is very good. If you liked the novel and liked the film, you MUST buy this CD while it's available (soundtracks are usually in the record stores about a couple of months, according to my experience). If you like it a LOT, you should go out and IMMEDIATELY buy the soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", too--if you haven't already.Free Music Review: evocative, true to the film
Hit: 4 Stars
Although I'm not familiar with bluegrass music, it seems obvious that the purpose of this soundtrack isn't to give an overview of the genre, but bring together a variety of styles, traditional to more contemporary, that help tell the Cold Mountain story, which the soundtrack does very well.
The songs and the arrangements perfectly complement the mood and tone of the film. Cold Mountain isn't a boisterous, joyful movie, and neither are these songs. They're plaintive, haunting, and melancholy. Even the energetic, inspirational Sacred Harp hymns are tinged with sadness and a longing for what awaits us on the other side.
The modern contributions (by Sting, Elvis Costello, Jack White) are just that -- modern. But it's clear that they're inspired by traditional music of the Civil War era as well as the themes of the film and, in that sense, blend seamlessly with the other songs in the collection. My Ain True Love and Scarlet Tide are two of my favorite songs on the CD. They were written with a sensitivity which transcends typical "movie music." The delicacy of Alison Krause's vocals on these songs mirrors Ada's character and definitely captures the tentative way in which the love between Ada and Inman develops, and the sadness in the way that it ends. When I saw the movie, it was hard for me to tell if Ain True Love was written in that era or if it was composed for the film. Sting outdid himself!
People who are unfamiliar with but curious about the bluegrass sound and/or enjoyed the music as they were watching the movie most likely won't be disappointed with this soundtrack. But, again, be aware that the traditional songs chosen for this soundtrack serve the purpose of the film first and foremost, as they should. People who are looking for a representative collection of bluegrass music should probably look elsewhere.