Face A Frowning World : An E..C. Ball Memorial Album

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:55:31
Personnel: Brian Manley (mandolin). Liner Note Author: Nathan Salsburg. Recording information: Ball's Home, Rugby, VA (08/1959); Rove Studio, Shelbyville, KY (08/1959). Photographers: Blanton Owen; Roddy Moore. E.C. Ball was a genius composer of old-time country and gospel songs, the man responsible for classic bluegrass fare like "Poor Ellen Smith" and "Pretty Polly," as well as the deathless gospel anthem "Tribulations." A tribute album like this, overdue as it is, is a tightrope walk: irony will kill it dead, but so will overarching earnestness, both of which, sadly, are tendencies among the urban singer/songwriter hipsters who are frequently drawn to such projects. It's a tribute to the professionalism of the mixed bag of musicians who contributed to this album that both irony and earnestness are kept tightly in check -- for the most part. Both Dave Bird (on "He's My God") and Catherine Irwin ("Cabin on the Hill") commit fairly serious crimes of quavery falseness on their contributions, but Rayna Gellert's beautifully understated rendition of "Lord I Want More Religion" is absolutely perfect, as is the Handsome Family's eerie take on "Jenny Jenkins." The Sandpaper Dolls pay "Jubilee" the respect it is due, by rendering it with plainspoken professionalism, whereas Bonnie "Prince" Billy joins with Bird and Irwin to halfway destroy Ball's holiday-gospel masterpiece "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem." Jon Langford delivers a loosely but wonderfully rocking interpretation of "When I Get Home, I'm Gonna Be Satisfied," and Joe Manning gives "Warfare" an equally fine country-rock setting. All in all, this is a deeply uneven but ultimately rewarding tribute to a man who deserves one or two more similar homages. ~ Rick Anderson
録音 : ステレオ (Studio)