Downloaded this last week. I don't know whether I like it or not - I'm thinking maybe I should have downloaded the debut album first. Adamus is a Polish-Canadian musician who blends blues, folk, singer-songwriter and country genres. Mostly sings in French. The novelty of his sound keeps me coming back to listen again despite the fact that I'm not completely bowled over. (Although the track 'Ouias Ben' is playing as I write, and I'm liking it a lot.)
The blues is one of the hardest things to get right; overdone to the point of redundancy, its a style that has all but gone out of style. Tell that to Bernard Adamus, the Polish-Québécois folk singer-songwriter who shot to prominence with his 2009 debut Brun, winning the ADISQ Award for Discovery of the Year and the FrancoFoliess Félix-Leclerc prize in 2011. Hes charged up, gritty and grimy as ever on this great followup. Opener Les obliques uses banjo, trombone, a light bass drum and snare for a lazy back-yard lament; while Entre ici pis chez vous is a rapid-fire piano rocker; 2176 could be a lost Jean Leloup acoustic jam; Ouais Ben has a bit of Beck funk; and Le scotch goûte le vent is a wailing, heartfelt ballad. Adamus is the real deal, and this album establishes him as a long-term talent with authenticity to spare. **** - The Montreal Gazette
@kez - not a groundbreaking album, Juba Dance is nonetheless a solid and inspired set of traditional Blues songs. Davis definitely has a good shuffle throughout.
Revisiting my emusic days. This album is one of my BEST emusic finds. I must have discovered it in the newly arrived list, which would have been in 2009 - four years later, I'm still playing it often. I would want this with me on that proverbial desert island. It apparently is hard to find these days - was going to provide a link to the emusic page, but it looks like it isn't available on emusic anymore.
However - I did notice that emusic has this one, and it is causing me a whole lot of frustration because I can't find this CD anywhere else. I was just about to resort to buying it on emusic as a non-member, but alas, it's available for download to members only! I need this album. But do I need it enough to re-join? Maybe. I can't tell enough from the little snippets. Emusic link
EDIT// Yay! I see 7digital has it. I keep forgetting about them.
UPDATE// Downloaded from 7digital. It's nice - but nowhere near as good as the earlier album. Still, I don't regret purchasing, and it may grow on me when I can hear it in an environment where I can give it my full attention.
Grateful Dead, 5/21/1974, University of Washington, via a free app called Listen to the Dead. This is a simple iOS app that streams Dead shows from the Internet Archive. Even scrobbles to Last.FM, if you are into that sort of thing.
I generally hate that Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan crap, the over-drenched sound that made for not-so-clever self-pity of 50s and 60s country. This album finds a way not just to modernize the sound, but to make it seem genuine. The songs sound like a conversation between hurt lovers, not an excuse to make people cry in their beers at the honky tonk. Every now and then the singers betray their Britishness, but still ...
A random acquisition as the result of 50% meandering around I'm doing at eMu - actually having some fun, almost like the good old days.
Freaking awesome pedal steel guitar album - Lloyd Green was on a gazillion records but he's just playing for himself here.
Impassioned, thoughtful Southern Gothic Rock. There's a lot of impressive things on this album, including the Nick Cave delivery and infectious shuffle. However, it sounds textbook to me.
Comments
Thanks for pointing out the deal, amclark2!
Craig
1971-08-06 Hollywood Palladium, from Internet Archive.
Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways
@ amc, craig, and kez: Get it! Get it! Get it!
Modular Concepts - Benedikt Jahnel Trio
ARP & Anthony Moore - FRKWYS Vol. 3
Craig
1977-05-08, Barton Hall, Cornell University, from Internet Archive.
Bernard Adamus - No 2
Downloaded this last week. I don't know whether I like it or not - I'm thinking maybe I should have downloaded the debut album first. Adamus is a Polish-Canadian musician who blends blues, folk, singer-songwriter and country genres. Mostly sings in French. The novelty of his sound keeps me coming back to listen again despite the fact that I'm not completely bowled over. (Although the track 'Ouias Ben' is playing as I write, and I'm liking it a lot.)
Info @ Emusers
:-)
Thanks Kez and Germanprof
Glorious
Revisiting my emusic days. This album is one of my BEST emusic finds. I must have discovered it in the newly arrived list, which would have been in 2009 - four years later, I'm still playing it often. I would want this with me on that proverbial desert island. It apparently is hard to find these days - was going to provide a link to the emusic page, but it looks like it isn't available on emusic anymore.
However - I did notice that emusic has this one, and it is causing me a whole lot of frustration because I can't find this CD anywhere else. I was just about to resort to buying it on emusic as a non-member, but alas, it's available for download to members only! I need this album. But do I need it enough to re-join? Maybe. I can't tell enough from the little snippets.
Emusic link
EDIT// Yay! I see 7digital has it. I keep forgetting about them.
UPDATE// Downloaded from 7digital. It's nice - but nowhere near as good as the earlier album. Still, I don't regret purchasing, and it may grow on me when I can hear it in an environment where I can give it my full attention.
The Caretaker - Patience (After Sebald)
Good collection of Gaelic songs.
Wow!
I generally hate that Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan crap, the over-drenched sound that made for not-so-clever self-pity of 50s and 60s country. This album finds a way not just to modernize the sound, but to make it seem genuine. The songs sound like a conversation between hurt lovers, not an excuse to make people cry in their beers at the honky tonk. Every now and then the singers betray their Britishness, but still ...
A random acquisition as the result of 50% meandering around I'm doing at eMu - actually having some fun, almost like the good old days.
Freaking awesome pedal steel guitar album - Lloyd Green was on a gazillion records but he's just playing for himself here.
File under: There's No Pleasing BT.
Impassioned, thoughtful Southern Gothic Rock. There's a lot of impressive things on this album, including the Nick Cave delivery and infectious shuffle. However, it sounds textbook to me.