Audio CD review:
The Carter Family - Anchored In Love: Their Complete Victor Recordings - 1927-1928

The Carter Family - Anchored In Love: Their Complete Victor Recordings - 1927-1928

Band: The Carter Family Title: Anchored In Love: Their Complete Victor Recordings - 1927-1928 Rating: Release Date: 1994-10-12 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Keep on the Sunny Side 2: The Storms Are on the Ocean 3: Wildwood Flower 4: Meet Me by the Moonlight Alone 5: The Wandering Boy 6: River of Jordan 7: I Ain't Goin' to Work Tomorrow 8: Anchored in Love 9: Little Darlin' Pal of Mine 10: Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow 11: Single Girl, Married Girl 12: Little Log Cabin by the Sea 13: Chewing Gum 14: The Poor Orphan Child 15: John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man 16: Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?

Poor Remastering The music is simple and enjoyable and the Carter Family's earliest recordings set the stage for what came later in both country and folk music. The other reviews are accurate in terms of the importance of the music. What holds this back from being a five star review is the poor remastering of the music. The process used created a high pitched whine near the end of most tracks, which is very annoying. There are better remastered versions out there, starting with the great Bear Family box. Seek out this music, but go for a different remastering. The Roots of Roots music , this is a great 2nd step. For all of you who just got turned on to "O Brother" etc. This album features the earliest records made by Sara, A. P. and Maybelle - before their radio show and before national fame. This is country music before there was country music, hovering somewhere between the twilight of Anglo-Scots balladry and the invention of Country & Western. The family did not write even one of these 16 tracks (although A. P. took credit for several), but they might as well have - no one has ever done them better. Just listen to Maybelle's classic guitar work on "Wildwood Flower," or those harmonies on "River of Jordan" and you'll see why every folk, bluegrass, country and old time musician in the world pays homage to the Carters. The paradox of these early recordings is the polish of the playing (again, particularly the guitar work) coupled with the rawness and energy of the performances. No record producer had yet had a chance to tinker with the sound and the result is entrancing. My personal favorites on the disc, aside from the original versions of "Wildwood Flower" & "Keep on the Sunny Side," are "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow" (high and tight harmonies with some dynamite bass string guitar solos) and "John Hardy Was a Deperate Little Man," a period ballad that has been largely forgotten. For anyone ready to take the plunge into roots music, you'll find no better recording. Genesis1:1 of Country Music It's important to remember that this is music from another world and values, long ago and far away; before advanced science and aesthetics and before information overload intruded, accessible now only through these recordings. This is it, the beginning of time as far as country music is concerned. It's also important to remember that the participants were quite young at the time-Maybelle was still a teenager and her cousins Sara and A. P. were in their mid-twenties and mid-thirties, respectively. Because of all this, the topics available were God, the life-to-come, forsaken love, Mother and Father, my old Clinch Mountain home, and most of the rest of Dixie, in just about that order, but thinking about it, is there really much else in life? Maybelle was already a budding guitar master and Sara's vocals, in a higher register than later years, gradually draw you in and hook you permanently and the primitive recording techniques actually helps the other-worldly quality of the songs and harmonies. I do wish Charles Wolfe would expand his invaluable liner notes for the series into a full-fledged biography, concentrating on the personalities involved, particularly the relationship between Sara and A. P. Did they invent harmony? I'm working my way through the whole re-issue series. I guess not, but it seems that way. This is simply timeless, essential music. Unike Carter Family is timeless. The original american folk-sound. You can see a complete list of all The Carter Family discography, or go back to the The Carter Family tabs