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"...Bound For The Promised Land... "
First thing's first - I'm reviewing the 5CD Hardback Book Deluxe Edition - a gorgeous thing to look at and behold for damn sure. And in 2021, it has been reduced to below thirty-quid which is a deal if ever there was one. But the listen however is a very mixed bag indeed – yo-yoing from formative genius to scratchy unlistenable and travelling through all points in-between. Here is a basic breakdown...
UK released June 2017 - "American Epic" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Sony Music/Columbia/Legacy/Third Man Records/Lo-Max 88875099692 (Barcode 888750996923) is 5CD 100-Track Deluxe Edition Hardback Book Set. Each CD is themed by 'area' of the USA and then broken down further to cities that featured prominently during those formative years.
CD1 THE SOUTHEAST – Memphis – Bristol – Johnson City – Louisiana
Recordings from July 1927 to June 1931 - 59:10 minutes (19 Tracks)
CD2 ATLANTA – The Origin Of Commercial Field Recording
Recordings from April 1926 to December 1930 - 52:47 minutes (17 Tracks)
CD3 NEW YORK CITY / EAST COAST – The Birthplace Of Electric Recordings
Recordings from April 1916 to July 1935 - 63:19 minutes (21 Tracks)
CD4 THE MIDWEST – Chicago – St. Louis – Richmond – Grafton
Recordings from Dec 1926 To February 1936 - 74:08 minutes (23 Tracks)
CD5 THE DEEP SOUTH & THE WEST – Birmingham – Jackson – Hattiesburg – New Orleans – Shreveport – Dallas – San Antonio – Los Angeles – San Francisco
Recordings from March 1927 to November 1936 - 66:33 minutes (20 Tracks)
A companion to the multi-award winning 'American Epic' film trilogy – the Hardback 98-Page 10" x 10" Book features many unseen black and whites of artists (of all colours) that haven't had their moment in the recognition sun - in some cases - ever. I can't imagine the amount of hours it must have taken to accumulate these stunning images (all are given whole pages of tribute - see photos provided) or meticulously do the transfers of battered 78s and field recordings - most of which range between 70 and 100 years old.
On that – you need to temper those expectations - the audio restoration is amazing but it also flits from severe crackles and hiss on Disc 1 for The Memphis Jug Band recorded September 1928 to the near almost eerily perfection gained on the iconic November 1936 recording of "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson, arguably the starting point for all modern Rock music as we know it.
In-between there are many familiar names – from the Blues we get Big Bill Broonzy, Son House, Blind Willie McTell, Lead Belly, Blind Gary Davis, Charley Patton, Skip James, Ma Rainey, Sleepy John Estes, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, Jimmie Rodgers and more – from Country and Roots we get The Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon and Charlie Poole - alongside genre music like Hopi Indians, Mexican, Hawaiian and loads more.
Each pages affords discography info (if any) on each song that is sided by a paragraph of reminiscences from an artist who knew the singers or can shed a light on their (often) murky back-stories. There are lyrics in English or Spanish or South American and reams of cleanly rendered photographs - men and women on porches with acoustics, fiddles, banjos and jug bottles - a lot of whom seem to be wondering why someone is pointing one of those new fangled cameras at them. Amidst black and whites of recording studio buildings long gone is an occasional 78" represented and oversized Test Pressing (RCA, Victor, Columbia, Bluebird, Paramount etc), cartoon trade adverts for the latest 75c craze and some of the artist portraits – like the full plate given to a young Lead Belly and his girl on Page 46 – are breathtaking – beautiful even.
The listen can at times be taxing – all that crackle – languages you don't understand, themes of poverty and the underbelly of hurt from out-and-out racism – but "American Epic" is never anything less than fascinating and feels like a privilege to be able to eavesdrop on history like this - voices to be heard.
The actor Robert Redford is quoted on the front cover sticker – "...This is America's greatest untold story..."
Well, rarely has it been afforded such respect and lavish loving attention. Never mind the hiss folks - feel the hustle, the excitement and the sheer lifeforce flowing from all those pioneers we owe so much to...
