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Past Didn't Go Anywhere

Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco - Past Didn't Go Anywhere Audio CD

A fair review of the Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco "Past Didn't Go Anywhere" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco reviews here, or go back to the Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco tabs.

Band: Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco
Title: Past Didn't Go Anywhere
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-10-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Bridges 2: Nevada City, California 3: Korea 4: Anarchy 5: Candidacy 6: Bum on the Rod 7: Enormously Wealthy 8: Mess With People 9: Natural Resources 10: Heroes 11: Half a Ghost Town 12: Holding On

I Love both Ani and Utah but...
It has been a drive to work staple for some 9 months. I bought this album after buying "Fellow Workers" another collaboration between Utah and Ani. I was expecting more of the same. But I found the only way to actually hear Utah's words which are why I bought this collection was to roll the bass completely off and boost the mid range up. Even so the electronic music seemed to bear no relationship to what Utah was doing.

I would have much preferred Utah doing this material by himself or with perhaps another acoustic musician or two behind him instead of all the synth sounds.

Stories Worth Remembering
I can't believe it's been 10 years and I can't get enough of Mr. I found this CD at a Goodwill in '97. Phillips' storytelling. I still listen to it regularly.

It's the love of life and humans of this person that affected me the most. I appreciate his strength: he has so much hope and humor after suffering through a war.

I want my children hear this CD one day just because it says the things that I want to say, but in a way that I can never do.

Big thumbs up for Ms. DiFranco as well. She chose the stories and wrote the best backing music to them.

Looking Along the Road I've Traveled
Looking it over I believe that the comments can be applied to this CD as well, obviously noting the differences in format. This review was originally written as a commentary on Utah Phillip's Songbook- Starlight on the Trial issued in 2005. Utah has been consistent throughout his career in both the kind of songs he writes and sings about. He has also maintained his same basic political philosophy so my comments about our political differences also apply. Nevertheless, treasure any CD of his you can get your hands on.

The political consciousness developed in my youth coincided with an expansion of my musical tastes under the influence of the great blues and folk revivals of the 1960's. Unfortunately my exposure to the blues greats was mainly on records as many of them had been forgotten, retired or were dead. Not so with the folk revival this was created mainly by those who were close contemporaries. Alas, they too are now mainly forgotten, retired or dead. It therefore is with special pleasure that I review Utah Phillips Songbook while he is very much alive.

Many of the folksingers of the 1960 have attempted to use their music to become troubadours for social change. The most famous example, the early Bob Dylan, can be fairly described as the voice of his generation at that time. However, he fairly quickly moved on to other concepts of himself and his music. Bob Dylan's work became more informed by the influences of Rimbaud and Verlaine and the French Symbolists of the late 1800's and thus moved away to a more urban, sophisticated vision. From the start and consistently throughout his long career Utah has acted as a medium giving voice to the troubles of ordinary people and the simpler ethos of a more rural, Western-oriented gone by day in the American experience. He evokes in song the spirit of the people Walt Whitman paid homage to in poetic form and John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck gave in prose. He sits conformably in that very fast company. Utah Phillips can justly claim the title of a people's troubadour.

A word about politics. Generally, one rates music without reference to politics. However, Utah has introduced the political element by the way he structured the Songbook. Each song is introduced by him as to its significance heavily weighted to his political experiences, observations and vision. Thus, political comment is fairly in play here. Utah is a long time anarchist and unrepentant supporter of the Wobblies (International Workers of the World, hereafter IWW). Every militant cherishes the memory of the class battles led by the IWW like the famous Lawrence strike of 1912 and honors the heroes of those battles like Big Bill Haywood and Vincent St. John and the militants they recruited to the cause of the working class in the first part of the 20th century. They paved the way for the later successful organization drives of the 1930's.

Nevertheless, while Utah and I would both most definitely agree that some old-fashioned class struggle by working people in today's one-sided class war would be a very good thing we as definitely differ on the way to insure a permanent victory for working people in order to create a decent society. In short, Utah's prescriptions of good moral character, increased self-knowledge and the creation of small intentional communities are not enough. Under modern conditions it is necessary to take and safeguard political power against those who would quite consciously deny that victory. History has been cruel in some of the bitter lessons working people have had to endure for not dealing with the question of taking state power to protect their interests. But, enough said. I am more than willing to forgive the old curmudgeon his anarchist sins if he'll sing `I Remember Loving You' the next time he tours the Boston area.
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a bolt of lightining
d hit me. that's how this c. i was a fairly new listener of ani difranco's. i bought this c. d because it was used and well i already had "living in clip" and her first c. d. so i figured "hey, one more and at a discounted price? bonus" so i went home to do my daily cleaning and decided to put it in to listen to while i cleaned, which i consider the best thing in the world,cleaning and listening to music, i am sick i know. but i ended up doing some heavy cleaning all throughout the house so all i really heard was the music and someones low baritone voice ,which i fleetingly questioned, but i loved the music so i figured i would listen to it more intently later on. well i finished cleaning and went into my room where my stereo was and layed on my bed, exhausted, i pressed play to start the c. d over and i layed there and listened to what this guy was saying. it almost seemed like my ears were listening too slowly so i shot up in my bed and turned up the volume and listened to each and every beat and each and every word with complete concentration. after the c. d was over i had to lay back down and absorb what i just experienced. well from then on, i was hooked, i put that c. d in my car and it didn't leave it for months and months. i tried to force all of my fellow workers and friends to listen intently as i did and they would look at me with bored eyes and say "yea it's cool" (humoring me of course). they did not understand. it was thier tragic loss. i have yet to find someone that can feel the way i felt upon hearing this wonderful story-teller spin his stories of gold and this genius musician lay these musical jewels. which saddens me, but i guess not everyone is as wonderful as all of us tramps.

Turn down the music so I can hear Utah
His humor, reflections, and ability to convey complex truths with his simple phrasealogy is phenomenal. At the risk of being reviled, Utah carries this CD. QuarryWorX.

You can see a complete list of all Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco discography, or go back to the Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.