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Holy Modal Rounders / Holy Modal Rounders 2

The Holy Modal Rounders - Holy Modal Rounders / Holy Modal Rounders 2 Audio CD

A fair review of the The Holy Modal Rounders "Holy Modal Rounders / Holy Modal Rounders 2" 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 The Holy Modal Rounders reviews here, or go back to the The Holy Modal Rounders tabs.

Band: The Holy Modal Rounders
Title: Holy Modal Rounders / Holy Modal Rounders 2
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-07-28
Media: Audio CD

Tracks:

Not exactly addicted to it, but it's strangely amusing
Having said that, if you pick this album up, expect to be oddly intrigued by this unlikely duo of bluegrass maestros. This is the weirdest music you've probably never heard of. They basically take bluegrass standards, apply some LSD to them, and ouila! you have acid bluegrass. . . strange stuff, but fun.

Something touched me in this music

Since then this has become one of my favorite records, and I completely forgot I made that review until I saw it today. About a year ago I reviewed this product here, and gave it a 2-star review, saying it was entertaining, but the music was thin, and I didn't like what I thought the intention was. And I have to say I have seen something in their music I have completely missed before.

Their music, while really silly and freakish (a word I use with the best intention), it has a side to it that is incredibly deep and very pure. These two musicians have created a sound that comes from the heart of America, and they have completely put there heart and souls into it. The songs tell stories that are happy, sad, thoughtful, fun, and captivating--and basically cover the whole range of what American life was about--and is about.

This isn't a very well written review, I know, but I felt I had to state how I felt about this album, especially since I didn't see how good it was before.

A blast from the past
I first heard this album in the late 1970's, soon got it on cassette, and proceeded to play it until it would not play any more -- and have missed it ever since. I was delighted to find this album on Amazon, and even more so at such a reasonable price. The Rounders's unique mixture of reverence for and subversion of old-timey folk music is just far too much fun to go long periods without!

The CD sounds almost exactly as I remember the vinyl and cassette versions from all those years ago -- there does not appear to have been any attempt to "update" the sound or quality (thank goodness!) of the original, it is just a wonderful journey back down memory lane.

Others have already mentioned the only changes I had noticed (two new tracks and the deletion of the spoken "It's a long road a-winding. . . "). I hadn't noticed any change in song order -- which is a testament I guess to how right the Rounders were in their original concept for track order. It flows in a perfectly natural -- or would that be un-natural? -- rhythm.

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An enjoyable classic
This is their best stuff, on one CD, a great buy. Anyone who was "there" in the late '60s will remember the quirky blend of jug band, old timey music, and psychedelia that was the Holy Model Rounders---surrealistic fun. The songs still hold up; I recommend this to anyone, young or older,who enjoys the "far side" of American pop-hippy music. .

Like a time capsule
These guys are great--if you're a fan of old folk like the kind found on the landmark collection Anthology Of American Folk Music (Edited By Harry Smith), you're the kind of person who will absolutely love this. This excellently-priced 2-albums-on-1-CD compilation is like a dream come true; it combines the first two albums of folk-reimaginers the Holy Modal Rounders, with the tracks resequenced according to the Rounders' preference and adding two bonus tracks.

In general, the type of music on these two albums is acoustic folk played and sung by two vocalists, a fiddle and a guitar or banjo. True, the vocals are TOTALLY unorthodox--both singers affect old-timey, goofy, and nasally voices (that could be a bit grating to casual listeners) but are really unique and a load of fun, if you're willing to accept a bit of weirdness in the mix. The Rounders play traditional folk songs (usual suspects like "The Cuckoo," "Mole In the Ground," "Same Old Man," and "Sail Away, Ladies" are present, though re-arranged and tweaked by the Rounders in the spirit of folk music), but they also play originals and contemporary folk songs, and great ones at that.

"Blues In the Bottle" introduces them both quite well, with zany harmonies and a classic guitar/fiddle combo, the song could have been 100 years old, but was written by the Rounders. Some other great newer songs include the hilarious "Hesitating Blues," the sly satire of "Mr. Spaceman," and the broke-down spirit of "Junko Partner. " It's impossible to listen to this music without picking up some of the spirit of fun, recklessness, and crazy smart-aleck antics that the Rounders conjure up in spades.

In many ways, I think of these guys as sort of an American Incredible String Band, twisting and reshaping the folk music traditions of their country to produce songs that equally recall folk music that could well be hundreds of years old, but are also urgently current and fresh. Of course, it's not a perfect comparison, since the Incredible String Band had a more mystical bent and were more interested in breaking down the barriers of songwriting structure and expectations, while the Rounders seem more content to keep the ball rolling--but a similar spirit and eccentricity is certainly shared. This is partly why I'm not so sure I agree with the band members' claims in the liner notes, which basically say the Holy Modal Rounders play music in a way that no one else in the world ever has. It's true that nobody else in the 60's folk revival took quite as anarchic or willfully crazy approach to the old songs (most were earnestly reverent), but the Rounders weren't the first or only group or songwriters to revive old folk songs or write similar new songs in the same idiom. Rather, it's more like they were two of the few 60's musicians to truly participate in the folk tradition by not only playing, but also altering, tweaking, and "telephoning" the songs into versions of their own design, which is what the ever-shifting folk tradition is all about. Bob Dylan's wholesale appropriation of classic folk melodies and chord progressions as the basis for his own songs is another example of true folk tradition participation that comes to mind. Anyway, folk music theory and history discussion aside, this is great, eccentric folk that never broke beyond cult status--if you're here reading this, you'll probably enjoy the delightfully heady brew that the Rounders concocted in the 60's for us to continue enjoying today.

You can see a complete list of all The Holy Modal Rounders discography, or go back to the The Holy Modal Rounders tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.