O Brother, Where Art Thou?
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.56 You Save: $4.43 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.10 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Free Music Review: Proof that REAL music by REAL talent is NOT extinct !!!
Hit: 5 Stars
.This is a terriffic CD loaded with real Americana that touches the soul. I grew up with this kind of music in the 1930's.
I gave this CD five stars because I couldn't rate it with four and a half. At the risk of sounding like a "dog in the manger" I was slightly disappointed that, great as it is, it is not quite up to the aesthetic quality of the film tract. To me it seemed a bit too slick and "overproduced."
Much of the problem probably occurred in the recording studio, where everyone wanted to improve on an already near perfect product. If it ain't broke, why try to fix it? In the CD the sirens were hauntingly seductive, but not quite as seductive as those in the movie. This lessening of sensuality was not due to the lack of accompanying video. I think the degradation is the result of inadequate aesthetic sensitivity in the mixing. It's hard to describe so I'll just say the CD sounds too accoustically perfect and somewhat plastic, in the Garth Brooks mode.
The chain gang recording, though incredibly good, could have been even better if the sledge hammer blows could have been toned down a bit in volume so as not to overpower the emotion of the soulful chanting of the prisoners.
Previous viewers have voiced these same criticisms. Other than for these minor impressions I found this CD to be among the all-time best of sound tracts. Don't let my comments deter you from getting this CD. These songs just get better with each listening. The words alone to IN THE JAILHOUSE NOW, BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN, YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, and the other great songs make this sound tract worth having. The slightly off-key music sung by the little girls is an especially enjoyable experience. This is pure imagination and auditory candy.
Votes on the "helpfulness" of reviews seem to reflect the voter's agreement or disagreement with the reviewer's likes or dislikes of the CD rather than the objectivity of the reviewer's comments. I therefore expect to get very few positive votes because just about everybody loves this CD. But rather than unreservedly joining the approving crowd, I want my review to be helpful in alerting a prospective buyer to what I see as its minor shortcomings so there won't be any surprises.
In summary, You absolutely CAN'T go wrong with this CD. The entire family will enjoy it, especially the kids and older folks, and it will never get boring or out of date.
Al Thompson, Brady, Texas
Free Music Review: GREAT ALBUM . . . BUT TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
Hit: 5 Stars
Let's get something straight. "O Brother..." is one of my favourite films of all time. Not only that, but the musical soundtrack is one of its strongest features. And as far as the soundtrack album is concerned, I can only thank the producers for having given the world such a valuable cultural document, and for bringing this wonderful music to a wider audience. They deserve all the CMA, Grammy (and perhaps Academy?) awards they get. In short, this is an album that anyone who loves country, bluegrass or folk music is likely to want in their collection. So why, as I write, am I tossing up whether to only give it four stars?
The answer is that I'm attempting to review it, not as a collector's item or a socio-historical document but as an album of music for repeated listening in the comfort of your own home. For that reason I'm not going to review the film rather than the album, as some reviewers here have done, because I don't assume that every listener is going to have the movie playing back in their heads as they listen to the music.
Rather, my comments are based on how this album will sound to someone who has picked up on the hearsay, or watched the Grammy ceremony, and is tempted to go out and buy this as a musical compilation. And in that setting, many listeners are going to be disappointed. The fact that a song has integrity, emotion, historical importance or great musicianship doesn't automatically make it great entertainment.
There are some standout contributions: The title song is long-term loveable (although why four different renditions of the tune are needed on the album is a mystery - a couple of the "period" instrumental versions which work well on the movoe soundtrack are somewhat less successful as pure listening music. Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch are as usual faultless. Ralph and the other Stanleys are devastating. But how many times will you want to listen to the 4+ minutes of prison chant that opens the album? Or the squeaky kiddy song (the Peasalls)? Or the ancient ditties like "Big Rock Candy Mountain"? After a couple of spins, you may find yourself reaching for the skip button more than is comfortable.
I'm not really knocking this record - in a sense it's a masterpiece. And it's rightly selling by the millions. But if you haven't seen the film I'd give it a whirl in the listening booth before you part with your cash.
Free Music Review: Another Coen Brothers Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
The music from this masterwork of the Coen Brother's imagination is eye-opening to say the least. I find it difficult to separate the movie from the music, so in this review I review both. Only the Coen Brothers, the team behind hits like The Big Lebowski and Fargo and masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would parody the plot line of Homer's Odyssey. The movie takes place in 1930s Mississippi. After the trio escapes from a work-farm, George Clooney, talks his chain-gang buddies John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson into helping in search for a treasure.
A prophetic blind man on a railroad truck tells them the story of their lives, even though at the time, they think he is crazy. Pay close attention to this scene (it comes early in the movie) because it is the single most important scene in the movie.
Anyways, without giving the whole movie away, it's basically a road-movie and it lends itself nicely to the DVD format. The picture, the sound is wonderful. 5.1 is always clean and the music in this movie is fantastic.
Here is a list of the songs on the soundtrack 1. Po Lazarus - J. Carter & Prisoners 2. Big Rock Candy Mountain - Harry McLintock 3. You Are My Sunshine - Norman Blake 4. Down In The River To Pray - Alison Krauss 5. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - The Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Dan Tyminski 6. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues - Chris Thomas King 7. Man Of Constant Sorrow (Instrumental) - Norman Blake 8. Keep On The Sunny Side - The Whites 9. I'll Fly Away - Gillian Welch & Alison Krauss 10. Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby - Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss & Emmylou Harris 11. In The Highways - The Peasall Sisters 12. I Am Weary - The Cox Family 13. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (Instrumental) - John Hartford 14. O Death - Ralph Stanley 15. In The Jailhouse Now - The Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Tim Blake Nelson 16. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (With band) - The Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Dan Tyminski 17. Indian War Whoop (Instrumental) - John Hartford 18. Lonesome Valley - The Fairfield Four 19. Angel Band - The Stanley Brothers
Pros: The Coen Brother's version of Homer's Odyssey, funny, intelligent Cons: Hard to follow for some
The Bottom Line Great DVD, Great Soundtrack, do yourself a favor, pick up both the DVD and the CD, you won't be disappointed.
Recommended: Yes
Free Music Review: A Salute To Mountain Music
Hit: 5 Stars
Sometimes a revival of a musical form, like the "talking blues", that highlighted the urban folk revival of the early 1960's is driven by a social need. In that case it was to provide a format for the "glad tidings" that a new political and social movement was a-bornin'. In the case of the revival several years ago of what is called "mountain music" it was the films "The Song Catcher" and, more importantly, the very popular movie starring George Clooney " O Brother, Where Art Thou?' The CD under review is a compilation of music from that movie, a not unnatural tie-in in the modern entertainment business. The movie deserves a separate review, however, this CD can stand on its own as a very nice cross section of "mountain music", some familiar most not so.
Without straining credulity "mountain music" is the music of the simple folk of Appalachia, those who worked hard in the coal mines, on the hard scrabble farms and in the isolated mills of the region. This was their Saturday night entertainment and with the advent of radio was a unifying cultural experience. The songs "speak" of hard and lonely lives, the beauty of the then pristine countryside, the usual vagaries of love and lost and the mysterious ways of a very personal, if arbitrary, god. Throw in a few upbeat tunes reflecting the love of "corn" liquor, women and the sometimes funny side of coping with life's trials and tribulations and you have the mountain version of the folk experience. Sound familiar? Sure it does, except, it is done with simple guitar, a blazing fiddle and, hopefully a full-bodied mandolin.
Here you have all the above types of songs mentioned above in one spot. The cadence of the work in hard prison life gets a nod in "Po Lazarus". The hobo's national anthem (Great Depression era version) "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is also here. The vagaries of love get spelled out in "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby". For uplift try the one everyone knows- "You Are My Sunshine". Norman Blake, worthy of a separate review of his own as a master of mountain music, provides a very rich instrumental "A Man Of Constant Sorrow". Finally, no recent compilation of mountain music is complete without Ralph Stanley's eerie "O Death" and "Angel Band". If you need a primer for learning about mountain music here you are.
Free Music Review: One Of The All-Time Best Movie Soundtracks.
Hit: 5 Stars
The integration of music into movies began even before the talkies when piano players played a score to accompany the silent pictures that were shown on the screen. Since then, movie music has grown and evolved into an almost essential element in making a movie. In general, the music in a movie accompanies everything else that one sees on the screen. However, sometimes the music of a movie is the most memorable thing about the picture and sometimes the music in a picture considerably detracts from the action on the screen. However, the best films are usually accompanied by a great score and/or soundtrack that doesn't just accompany the screen action, but is an integral part of it.Movie soundtracks don't get much better than the soundtrack to O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? This album is a wonderful collection of folk, bluegrass, country, and gospel songs that is a most integral part of the film. In fact, the Coen Brothers (with help from T Bone Burnett) had a musical blueprint made long before the movie was finished. The movie and the music are inseparably intertwined together.
This album is stock full of great songs. Some of my favorites include "Down To The River To Pray" sung by Alison Krauss; "Big Rock Candy Mountain" sung by Harry McClintock; "You Are My Sunshine" sung by Norman Blake; "I'll Fly Away" sung by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch; and "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" sung by The Soggy Bottom Boys. Not everyone will enjoy this album; this is music in it's most pure form, sung straight from the heart without any technological gadgets, synthesized pop rhythms, or temptatious visual gimmicks. Nevertheless, anyone with the least bit appreciation of music will find something enjoyable on this album.
Some have suggested that this album is a tribute to the lost musical heritage of our nations deep rural culture. This is not true. Though it maybe true that you probably won't hear music like this played on many radio stations, one can listen to music like this played in churches, restaurants, schools, festivals, and camps throughout the country. Great music like this lives on and thanks to O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? a whole host of new people have been introduced to it. Amen to that, brother.