Dude Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Just in case you didn't have enough to spend your hard earned dollars on between the Beatles remasters, the Wilco vinyl reissues, 7 Worlds Collide and so on and so forth, along comes this: 54 of Woody's songs remastered from the original master tapes on 4 CDs, 6 never before released songs, 68-page booklet, postcards and doohickeys for $58.99. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dude Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 Rolling Stone gives it 5 stars: http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/29203523/review/29716114/my_dusty_road There are umpteen collections of the music of legendary folkie storyteller, agitator and Dylan role model Woody Guthrie, and almost all of them sound like they were recorded in a refrigerator box. But this one qualifies as genuine news. The back story is a crate-digger's wet dream: cardboard drums filled with pristine 78-rpm metal masters, given up for lost long ago, were found in the basement storage bin of a Brooklyn apartment belonging to an Italian lady who inherited them from the daughter-in-law of a business partner of Folkways Records guru Moses Asch. The 54 songs on My Dusty Road, most of them familiar, are part of roughly 250 tracks — many featuring second guitarist Cisco Houston and harmonica man Sonny Terry — recorded over a six-day marathon in New York in 1944, during the thick of World War II. The sound quality is astonishing. On songs such as "This Land Is Your Land," "Stackolee" and "Pretty Boy Floyd," fingerpicked melodic fills emerge from surface noise, vocals step up to shake your hand. It's the sound of Guthrie as a man, not a ghost. In addition to extravagant packaging (four discs and a couple of archival postcard repros in a hobo-style cardboard valise), there are a half-dozen unreleased tracks. The most impressive are "Tear the Fascists Down," a no-shit bit of wartime cheerleading, and "Bad Repetation" [sic], a nudge-winker about romantic problems — one of the occupational hazards for a trouble-courting troubadour never afraid to sing exactly what was on his mind. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
W(TF) Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Excellent news. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 dang, just shelled out 20.99 for a used copy of Danzig's Lost Tracks now have to get this and the Summerteeth vinyl. think its time to pull out the over-time card at work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Kinsley Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 I can't help but think that somewhere Woody is saying, "Holy Shit! You're charging people $60 for that! Damn capitalists!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 this is cool. sixty bucks? Someone has to capitalize on it!! LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Kinsley Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 Oh, I'm good with it, but what would Woody think of the price tag? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Moss Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 Can't they space this stuff out a bit better? Beatles boxes, Big Star boxes, REM remasters, I need a second job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Dear Santa, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Can't they space this stuff out a bit better? Beatles boxes, Big Star boxes, REM remasters, I need a second job!Dear Santa is right.... Hey, how is the music biz supposed to survive if they don't keep getting our money?? If people like us don't buy this stuff, who will?? LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 disc 4, track 2 of this set is a song called Do You Ever Think of Me (aka At My Window.) from the 30 seconds of it i've heard so far, the lyrics appear to be different than the Mermaid Avenue version but the chorus seems to be slightly similar. maybe someone who has heard this entire track can comment on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Synthesizer Patel Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 does it sound any better than this?: http://www.amazon.co...1743310&sr=8-10 i've got that box set, and i'm not sure if i need another one, unless it's a massive improvement. i had once had another woody guthrie cd that was so badly mastered that it sounded like he was playing a casio keyboard - which actually made it interesting, "so this is what woody would have sounded like in the 1980s!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dude Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 does it sound any better than this?: http://www.amazon.co...1743310&sr=8-10 Supposedly it is a massive improvement given the discovery of the original metal masters. Maybe you can do a side by side comparison between tracks off your collection and the sound samples on Amazon...? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HungryHippo Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 i have vol. 1 of the Asch Recordings. i really like that live version of This Land Is Your Land done with Cisco Houston. of course that "sschhh-sschhh-sschhh" sound is annoying but its a real cool historical document. wonder if any other live recordings like this exist? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
howdjadoo Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 In 2001, The Woody Guthrie Archives received 2 spools of wire recordings from a live Woody Guthrie performance held in Newark, New Jersey in 1949. With the help of many talented recording engineers, the Woody Guthrie Foundation transferred this rare live performance from a delicate wire recording to digital audio, and, with state-of-the-art technology, restored it to near-perfection. This is one of the most significant recent finds in folk music history. Track Listing: 1. How much? How long? 2. Black Diamond 3. I was there and the dust was there 4. The Great Dust Storm 5. Folk singers and dancers 6. Talking Dust Bowl Blues 7. Tom Joad 8. Columbia River 9. Pastures of Plenty 10. Grand Coulee Dam 11. Told by Mother Bloor 12. 1913 Massacre 13. Quit sending your inspectors 14. Goodbye Centralia 15. A cowboy of some kind 16. Dead or Alive 17. Jesus Christ has come! 18. Jesus Christ 2008 GRAMMY AWARD WINNER for Best Historical Album! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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