American Primitive, Vol. 1: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36)
Ignore the low fidelity of this 26-track compendium, and you have one of the most interesting gospel compilations ever released. Most of these songs were recorded among a variety of "race" labels between 1926 and 1936, mostly for Paramount and Vocalion. Copious liner notes provide the needed details for each track, along with an essay by label chief/folk legend John Fahey. Soundwise, some of these tunes are indeed primitive--there are more hisses and pops than a Mongolian BBQ. But underneath the surface noises, in tracks by Elder J.J. Hadley (a.k.a. Charley Patton), Washington White (a.k.a. Bukka White), and Blind Roosevelt Graves, there's something magical. Apparently, '26 to '36 saw a newfound interest in sacred street singers that, in turn, inspired record labels to hire blues artists to work under aliases. Whatever the motivation, these tracks are testimonies to a nearly lost era of great musicianship. --Jason Verlinde more
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ProductReviews96/100 (7 Reviews)
Recent Reviews
- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Feb-13-2007
- a thrill
A fine selection of gospel, most of which was probably sold through the "race" market, and I've never seen any of these, even in the vintage sellers. Buy it!
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- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Oct-01-2004
- Just buy it, you'll life will be better for it...
Albums like this make me feel great and really bummed out at the same time. Great because this music is as pure, raw and unpop as you can get, just amazingly real, but bummed because real music like this is gone and dead. At least we...
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- 3/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Mar-28-2002
- The music's great, find better copies of the 78s to transfer
Obviously the music presented here is really great. My only beef is the really poor condition of some of the 78s used. I know this stuff is really rare, but I bet there are cleaner copies of these records out there. Is it supposed to be...
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- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Aug-18-2001
- Another Outstanding Revenant Compilation
Revenant has issued some of the best old music compilations: Dock Boggs' "Country Blues," the Stanley Brothers' first recordings, the Anthology of American Folk Music Vol. 4 (not to mention the upcoming super-definitive collection of...
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Selected Reviews
- 5/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Feb-13-2007
- a thrill
A fine selection of gospel, most of which was probably sold through the "race" market, and I've never seen any of these, even in the vintage sellers. Buy it!
- read full review | report as inappropriate
- 3/5
- From: Amazon
- Posted: Mar-28-2002
- The music's great, find better copies of the 78s to transfer
Obviously the music presented here is really great. My only beef is the really poor condition of some of the 78s used. I know this stuff is really rare, but I bet there are cleaner copies of these records out there. Is it supposed to be...
- read full review | report as inappropriate
