"...The Piney Wood Hills..."
Buffy Sainte-Marie's 2nd
album for Vanguard Records came out Stateside in February 1965 in both Mono
(VSR-9171) and Stereo (VSD-79171) amidst the Folk and Blues revivals.
"Many A Mile" was heralded at the time and rightly so...
Using the Stereo mix - this
31 July 2015 UK CD Reissue and Remaster (August 2015 in the USA) on
Ace/Vanguard Masters VMD 79171 (Barcode 029667073424) is a straightforward
transfer of that rare 14-track Folk LP onto CD and breaks down as follows
(36:39 minutes).
1. Must I Go Blind
[Traditional Song cover, Arranged by Buffy Sainte-Marie]
2. Los Pescadores (The
Fishermen) [Buffy Sainte-Marie song]
3. Groundhog [Traditional
Song cover, Arranged by Buffy Sainte-Marie]
4. On The Banks Of Red Roses
[Traditional Song cover, Arranged by Buffy Sainte-Marie]
5. Fixin' To Die [Bukka
White cover]
6. Until It's Time For You
To Go [Buffy Sainte-Marie song]
7. The Piney Wood Hills
[Buffy Sainte-Marie song]
8. Welcome Welcome Emigrante
[Buffy Sainte-Marie song] [Side 2]
9. Broke-Down Girl [Buffy
Sainte-Marie song]
10. Johnny Be Fair [Buffy
Sainte-Marie song]
11. Maple Sugar Boy [Buffy
Sainte-Marie song]
12. Lazarus [Traditional
Song cover done Acapella, Arranged by Buffy Sainte-Marie]
13. Come All Ye Fair And
Tender Ladies [Traditional Song cover, Arranged by Buffy Sainte-Marie]
14. Many A Mile [Patrick Sky
cover]
The 12-page booklet has
detailed, incisive and affectionate liner notes by KRIS NEEDS (with additional
material from Fred Jasper of Vanguard Records and Music Historian/Collector
Alec Palao). There are some Trade Adverts (Cash Box Magazine), sheet music for
the American single "Until It's Time For You To Go" (Vanguard
VSD-35116) and the original vinyl album rear-sleeve liner notes by William
Riverside reproduced in the last few pages.
The remaster has been
carried out by NICK ROBBINS at Sound Mastering in London and is a mixed bag -
great and then not so great. Most of the primarily acoustic tracks are very
clean in the transfer - but some like "Come All Ye Fair And Tender
Ladies" where she uses her Mouth Harp have huge background noise and hiss.
It's noticeable too on the Acapella "Lazarus" while the acidic
"Broke-Down Girl" feels like its dubbed off a record despite its
clarity (sounds like rumble on the tapes). But then thankfully you get the
exact opposite on other tracks – her gorgeous original "The Piney Wood
Hills” and the revved-up Folk/Blues of "Fixin' To Die" both sound
utterly amazing. It was clearly recorded with 'feeling' outweighing uber-fidelity - so accept the remaster as
'warts and all'...
Buffy Sainte-Marie's
warbling high Vibrato voice is a Marmite thing – you either love it or you hate
it. And I have to admit that all that Sixties earnestness on stuff like
"Los Pescadores" and the dreadful cod Irish of "Johnny Be
Fair" are hard to take in 2015 – but there's other beauty and passion here
too. Dylan covered Bukka White's stunning "Fixin' To Die" on his 1962
Columbia Records debut - but the song’s angry and desperate lyrics go back to
1930s where Bukka witnessed a friend of his be murdered in the infamous
Parchman Farm Prison. Buffy uses her quivering Vibrato voice and fierce
down-strumming on the strings like a stabbing knife – her anger and hurt a
ferocious highlight and must have slayed audiences in the aisles when she
played it live in 1965. Even better is her own supremely musical composition
"The Piney Wood Hills” which ends Side 1 on an impressively warm melody.
She reaches for the best Bob Dylan could offer in this song and beats him (a
gorgeous plaintive melody that is thankfully free of excessive hiss levels).
The folky "Until It's Time For You To Go" is a very personal
love-song while Elvis Presley hijacked the album’s finisher and title track
"Many A Mile" during his awful Vegas years and made it a belated hit.
"Many A Mile" by
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE won’t be for everyone - but those Folk/Bluesy nuggets on the
album (and their excellent Audio) will be a huge draw for fans and the
Folk-Americana curious...
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