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Tom Waits - Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet Audio CD

A fair review of the Tom Waits "Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" 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 Tom Waits reviews here, or go back to the Tom Waits tabs.

Tom Waits Band: Tom Waits
Title: Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Rating:
Release Date: 1993-08-10
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Tramp With Orchestra I (String Quartet) - Hampton String Quartet, , Michael Reisman, Tramp 2: Tramp With Orchestra II (Low Strings) 3: Tramp With Orchestra III (No Strings) 4: Tramp With Orchestra IV (Full Strings) 5: Tramp and Tom Waits With Full Orchestra - The Orchestra, Michael Reisman, Tramp, Tom Waits 6: Coda: Tom Waits With High Strings - Michael Reisman, Waits Reisman & Orchestra, Tom Waits

A Spiritual Experience
I'd heard of it, and we were both Tom Waits fans, so he put it on the store's system. I remember the day back in 1993 or 1994 when my friend Travis, who owned a record store, got this in with a batch of used CDs. After our initial "?", we both became mesmerized by the sheer delicacy and beauty of this piece.

The story of this piece is well-documented--a found sound recording of a homeless man singing a hymn, with musical accompaniment added and expanded over the years.

What people often don't mention in their (justified) praise of Bryars' ever-deeper layers of strings and horns that he brings in over this song is the effectiveness of the tramp's voice. It's frail yet hopeful, and it serves as the base for the piece. Without this loop, Bryars' music would be good, but nothing special for a person without a classical background. With the loop, it transcends the bounds of minimalist classical music and reaches into our cultural zeitgeist, into ever-increasing melancholy that digs deep down into the soul of the listener, while retaining a sense of enlightenment.

For me, listening to this piece is a spiritual experience.

Tom Waits' musical contribution here is well done but ultimately negligible--some singing along with the tramp, then a solo bit in the coda. But it served to introduce me (and surely other fans) to this incredible piece of music, and that is his true contribution to the piece, in my opinion.

"Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" is an incredibly moving piece of music that still affects me as deeply today as it did all those years ago. Amazing.


Wistful, peaceful, and victorious
I notice several reviewers have dismissed the man as a drunk; actually, according to Bryars, the man wasn't drinking. The testimony of this man's life shines through his simple song and wavering voice. http://www. gavinbryars. com/Pages/jesus_blood_never_failed_m. html.


IF THIS DOES NOT MOVE YOU TO TEARS, NOTHING WILL
The history of this piece is now a matter of musical legend: the poor simple tramp singing a reverent ditty over and over with eventual additions of other instruments leading to full orchestra, with the recent add-on of Tom Waits. How in the world can I describe this utterly extrordinary piece of art? I just don't have the words. You do not need to believe here: the gorgeous chordal invectives do it for you, or is this the voice of the divine? Who can know? All I know is that I've never heard anything quite like this. Boring?--Never! 74 minutes long with the same repeating theme? So what--this is just so beautiful that it demands full acuity--same verse after same verse. Mr. Bryars has accomplished something very rare here-- a simple musical phrase, and nothing more, elevated to holiness (sorry- no other word fits). But it is the simple theme of the tramp that does this remarkable thing, maybe somemething that Jesus would have liked very much. Incredibile music in all its respects. Whether you worship Jesus or not, this is probably the finest, most reverent thing that you will ever hear in your life. .


Jesus's Blood never failed me yet.
D. C. recording. Simply fascinating work, I'm so pleased to have a copy at last. Not everyone's 'cup of tea'. Worth while giving it some time though.


Strange and wonderful
It may drive you nuts or it may creep under your skin into the subconscious. This piece defies normal categorization. The sleevenotes tell the history behind this highly unusual musical loop that gets built out into a minimalist symphony of sorts.

My only criticism would be that the orchestration could have been rather more varied in places, but that tramp's voice will really get to you.


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