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Sisyphus Rolls Review
A guide to currently featured music/artists on ST's flagship, talk-free broadcast
March 25 - 31, 2002
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Home | About Sisyphus Tracks | Pledge | Program Guide Message Board | Supporters/Links | Help | Contact Us | Listen |
New/Recent Releases
Clive Gregson, Comfort and Joy; Elliott Murphy, Soul Searching. Also, Hamilton Camp, Paths of Victory (reissue) and Bob Gibson/Hamilton Camp, At the Gate of Horn (reissue).
(We also continue to feature Drew Emmitt, Freedom Ride, which is not due for retail release until April 9 - see the March 18 issue for info and commentary.)Other Featured Albums
Dan Bern, New American Language; Kate Rusby, Little Lights; Darryl Purpose, A Crooked Line.Riffs
More on Bob Gibson and Hamilton Camp; Harry Manx
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Mar 11 Mar 4 |
Feb 18 Feb 11 |
Winter 2002 Featured Albums (all) About Sisyphus Rolls |
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new/recent releases
Clive Gregson, Comfort and Joy (Compass, March 12, 2002). In this long awaited follow up to 1999’s Happy Hour, Gregson returns with another mind-bending collection of melodically and lyrically dazzling original compositions, often focusing on the ironies of life and love. Taking the "solo" album concept to the extreme, Gregson wrote, produced and played all the instruments on the record, his second completely single-handed album in two years. He even learned a new instrument for the record. He says, “I thought accordion would sound nice so I decided to try it. I put banjo and accordian together on "Fingerless Gloves." That’s illegal isn’t it?” Gregson’s easy melodies combined with a naturalistic tilt can deliver airy, light-hearted foot-tappers such as "Antidote" and "If I Was Your Lover," as well as more emotive tracks like "Fingerless Glove" and "String of Pearls." All around, Comfort and Joy is another fine solo effort from this Nashvillian British transplant who earlier on made his reputation as half a duo with Christine Collister and as a member of the Richard Thompson Band.
Elliott Murphy, Soul Surfing (January 2002). European import, and new to us. Murphy has been living in Paris for the past 10 years and continues making records prolifically on both sides of the pond (last year's La Terre Commune with Iain Matthews was released on Eminent, a Nashville-based label). Click on the album cover for Elliott's website - you can purchase the album from there if so inclinced.
Hamilton Camp, Paths of Victory (pictured at left, Collector's Choice, March 2002, reissue of 1964 album); Bob Gibson and Bob (Hamilton) Camp, At the Gate of Horn (not pictured, Collector's Choice, March 2002, reissue of 1961 album). Whether performing solo or in a duo with Bob Gibson, Hamilton Camp served as a bridge between the 30s-40s folk of Woody Guthrie-Pete Seeger and the early Dylan-Tom Paxton-Phil Ochs version of the 1960s. Camp's tune "Pride of Man" was covered by San Francisco trips band Quicksilver Messenger Service in 1967, while his and Gibson's collaboration "Well, Well, Well" was recorded by Simon and Garfunkel on their debut album, Wednesday Morning 3 A.M,. in 1966.
Just prior to the release of Paths of Victory, Bob Camp changed his first name to Hamilton. This album, coming at the very end of the folk boom that was just about to go electric with Dylan's heresies, turned from the ballads and other traditional fare that comprised most folk albums of the day in favor of his own work and Dylan covers; indeed, seven of the latter's songs appear on Paths of Victory, including the rarely heard "Guess I'm Doin' Fine," "Walkin' Down the Line," "Long Time Gone" and the title track. It also included the original version of "Pride of Man" that Quicksilver shimmeringly covered a few years later to open their eponymous first album.
At The Gate Of Horn was recorded over three April 1961 sets at the Chicago club that was the duo's hometown haunt. See Riffs below for more information on Gibson and Camp.
other featured albums
Dan Bern, New American Language (Messenger, Oct 2001). "If you judge me tonight, judge me by the songs I write," Dan Bern sings in "Black Tornado," thus serving notice that he's sick of the comparisons to various iconic songsters. Bern has never suffered from a lack of ambition, tackling pop culture and personal foibles alike with fervor and an utter disregard for taboo. Bern takes on similar subjects here, but backed by a five-piece folk-rock combo and warmly produced by Chuck Plotkin (the Dylan and Springsteen vet who presided over Bern's 1993 debut), he strips away the sophomoric gags and cloying cleverness that have plagued his past. Only the title track falls for the easy, ironic cop-out (key lyric: "OK, I guess, whatever"). Cuts like "Turning Over" ("I can't find me one new leaf worth turning over") and "Albuquerque Lullaby" ("Don't let your heart get broken by this world") come off heartfelt and unforced. And while much of New American Language finds Bern mellowing into a newfound maturity, he's still happy to poke holes in hype and hypocrisy. "Toledo" offers wry tribute to "The Church of the Holy McDonald's," while the freewheeling "Alaska Highway" sucker-punches everyone from Eminem to God. -- Anders Smith Lindall
Kate Rusby, Little Lights (Compass, June 2001). Kate Rusby's fragile, haunting voice is only the first reason among equals that makes Little Lights such an unmitigated delight. Just as wondrous are her delicate acoustic arrangements of traditional tunes, the sensitive musicianship of her collaborators (notably guitarists Ian Carr and John Doyle, and the refined backing vocals of Eddi Reader), and, last but definitely not least, her burgeoning songwriting skills. There are more Rusby originals here than on her previous two solo albums, with the catchy story-songs "I Courted a Sailor" and "William and Davy" proving standout items. That is until the extraordinary climax of the album with "My Young Man"--a deeply personal song about Rusby's own grandparents--in which her molasses-rich voice is accompanied by a heavenly brass choir. Elsewhere, an achingly mournful cover of Richard Thompson's "Withered and Died" once again demonstrates Rusby's subtle magic with other people's material. (As a bonus track, the Rusby clan gets together for an impromptu family rendition of "The Big Ship Sails.") Anyone charmed by Rusby's Mercury Award-nominated Sleepless or her mature debut Hourglass need not hesitate. Those yet to discover one of the finest voices in British folk should rush to acquire all three. --Mark Walker
Darryl Purpose, A Crooked Line (Tangible Music, October 2, 2001). Darryl Purpose might be a folk music progressive, or a roots-rocking singer-songwriter, or a traditional acoustic troubadour -- or all of the above. His 2001 album A Crooked Line, a splendid sampler of his diverse, engaging songcraft, may prove the final option to be the most apt.
Warm acoustic tones surround Purpose's gently emphatic melody "Bryant St.," which features Ellis Paul on guitar and string player Darryl S. on cello, while "Late For Dinner" conjures up a haunting Western scenario, abetted by Dan Tyack's distant pedal-steel cry, Dave Carter's stalking banjo, and Tracey Grammer's ghostly harmony vocals. Carter composition "The River, Where She Sleeps" is the album's sole cover, a rhapsodic, delightfully wordy tune accented by harmonica, violas, vibes, and Paul's guitar. (Purpose and Paul also co-wrote the mountainous "I Lost A Day To The Rain.")
Yet Purpose is at his best on his serene melody "California (Rutherford Hayes In The Morning)," which tunefully outlines Hayes' Reconstruction-era term, with his footnote as the first President to visit the Golden State -- to the accompaniment of acoustic guitar, cello, pedal steel, violin, and Grammer's vocals. Similarly, the humming, up-tempo "Koreatown" is a running monologue that offers a kaleidoscopic, Purpose-ful depiction of his Los Angeles home, with lines like "They're building a subway here/And the city's sinking." Purpose closes out the album with the inspiring "I Can Get There From Here," which finds him backed by a string quartet, in a clever arrangement by Danny Seidenberg which ranges from neoclassical to Afro-Cuban.
So even though one learns that it's best to stick to the straight and narrow, Darryl Purpose shows the kind of happy discoveries that are possible while following A Crooked Line. -- Drew Wheeler, CDNOW Senior Editor, Folk
riffs
Re Bob Gibson and his role in American folk music, the following is by Richie Unterberger of the All Music Guide:While Bob Gibson's recordings may sound like run-of-the-mill white-boy folk to modern listeners, he played an important role in popularizing folk music to American audiences in the 1950s at the very beginning of the folk boom. His
12-string guitar style influenced performers like Gordon Lightfoot and Harry Chapin; he was a mainstay at one of the first established folk clubs in the U.S., the Gate of Horn in Chicago; and he wrote songs with Shel Silverstein and Phil Ochs, as well as performing in a duo with Hamilton Camp. Most of all, he was one of the first folkies on the scene--when he began performing and recording in the mid-'50s, there was hardly anyone else playing guitar-based folk music for an educated, relatively affluent audience.
Gibson was a salesman for a developmental reading company before he was inspired by take up folk music in 1954, after hearing Pete Seeger perform. He learned Jamaican music while working cruise boats off Florida, and taught some to the Terriers, who recorded the "Banana Boat Song" (made famous by Harry Belafonte). On his first recordings for the Riverside label in the late '50s, he played banjo and 12-string guitar with light accompaniment, presenting a wide assortment of traditional folk tunes, as well as some originals.
Gibson helped Joan Baez and Phil Ochs in their early days, and was managed by Albert Grossman, who later handled the affairs of such giants as Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary. In fact, Gibson has said that Grossman wanted to team Bob and Hamilton Camp up with a female singer before hitting upon the same type of trio approach with Peter, Paul & Mary, although Gibson wasn't interested in the idea. But Gibson probably was a little too retro for bigtime folk success in the '60s anyway. He was older than most of the performers on the scene, and his approach too tame and clean-cut, even though he and similar performers had helped created the sparks of the folk boom just by playing such material to begin with. In the latter period of his life he did continue to perform in Chicago, and help out with programs for that's city's Old Town School of Folk Music. He died in September 1996 at the age of 64.
Re Hamilton Camp, let's add this by Craig Harris, same source, on the strange evolution of a folkie:
. . . Camp's musical career has been dwarfed by his success as an actor. First attracting attention for his skills in improvisation as a member of Second City in Chicago and the Committee in San Francisco, Camp played recurring roles in such TV series as He & She in 1967, Too Close for
Comfort in 1980, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Lois & Clark :The New Adventures Of Superman in 1993. In addition to appearing in such films as American Hot Wax (1978), Heaven Can Wait (1978), Eating Raoul (1982) and Dick Tracy (1990), his voice was heard in animated movies including The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1993), Pebble and the Penguin (1995) and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1996). Originally known as Bob Camp, he adopted the name "Hamilton" in the mid-1960s. According to the liner notes of his album, Paths of Victory, the name change was inspired when "his soul had an argument with itself and the side that won decided to stop killing itself, to stop singing for release and to start singing for love."
Finally: Someone posted something on our message board last week re one Harry Manx. We checked out his website and liked what we heard, in full agreement that he belonged on Sisyphus Tracks' playlist. We have thus added several tunes by this Canadian (originally from the Isle of Man) performing songwriter who specializes in lap-slide guitar and a hybrid of Eastern music - particularly Indian raga - and Blues.
For more information on this artist, click his name.
Notes by Michael Westerfield unless otherwise indicated.
CD LINKS NOTE: When highlighted in gold, click on artist name for associated website or album name (or cover) for more information and/or to purchase if desired. Album links are generally to Amazon or CDNOW, or when appropriate to an independent artist's website. You also may use the searches below to Amazon and CDNOW if you prefer one over the other or want to compare price for an item; note that your purchases help support our community radio-style programming, and we thank you in advance.
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