Published Wednesday 22nd August 2018

Odetta - The Albums Collection 1954-62

STYLE: Roots/Acoustic
RATING

OUR PRODUCT CODE: 172033-27243
LABEL: Acrobat Music ACFCD7512
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 5

Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

This sumptuous five disc 123-track box set from Discovery Records hones in on the album output of American singer/songwriter and civil rights activist Odetta Holmes starting with the 1954 'Odetta & Larry Mohr - The Tin Angel' release right up to 1962's 'Odetta At Town Hall' live album. For the most part, this compilation is dominated by Odetta's default sound of her unmistakably emotive voice backed only by her rudimentary but effective guitar playing and, whilst this reflected the folk scene format of her day, there is a sense that her sound needed something of a reinvention by the time you get to the third disc. That game-changing moment comes in the form of the superb 'Odetta And The Blues' album - one of no less than three LPs released in 1962 - and sees the great lady give the vocal performance of her career to date with the mood-lifting backing of a top notch Dixieland band led by pianist Dick Wellstood. Despite the relative lack of instrumental variety found elsewhere, what really comes across is the wide range of songs that Odetta was able to turn her hand to with nursery rhymes ("Three Pigs", "The Fox") and novelty songs (the Harry Belafonte duet "A Hole In The Bucket" - once a UK chart hit) sitting next to slave songs, spirituals, civil war hymns, folk ballads and much more. Reflecting the fact that her natural habitat was always in the live arena, the thunderous applause that immediately follows Odetta's breath-taking performance on the medley of "Oh Freedom", "Come And Go With Me" and "I'm On My Way" right at the very end of this collection says it all in terms of the ability and power of one of folk music's true legends.

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Sample Track Listing:
1.	John Henry	[Listen]
2.	Old Cotton Fields At Home	[Listen]
3.	The Frozen Logger	[Listen]
4.	Run, Come See Jerusalem	[Listen]
5.	Old Blue	[Listen]
6.	Water Boy	[Listen]
7.	Santy Anno	[Listen]
8.	I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago	[Listen]
9.	Riding My Car (Car Song)	[Listen]
10.	No More Cane On The Brazos	[Listen]
11.	Payday At Coal Creek	[Listen]
12.	Buked And Scorned	[Listen]
13.	Rock Island Line	[Listen]
14.	Santy Anno	[Listen]
15.	If I Had A Ribbon Bow	[Listen]
16.	Muleskinner Blues	[Listen]
17.	Another Man Done Gone	[Listen]
18.	Shame And Scandal	[Listen]
19.	Jack O'Diamond	[Listen]
20.	Buked And Scorned	[Listen]
21.	Easy Rider	[Listen]
22.	Joshua	[Listen]
23.	Hound Dog	[Listen]
24.	Golry, Glory	[Listen]
25.	Alabama Bound	[Listen]
26.	Been In The Pen	[Listen]
27.	Deep Blue Sea	[Listen]
28.	Gods Gonna Cut You Down	[Listen]
29.	Spiritual Trilogy- Oh Freedom - Come And Go With Me - I'm On My Way	[Listen]
30.	He's Got The Whole World In His Hands	[Listen]
31.	Sail Away Ladies Sail Away	[Listen]
32.	The Gallow's Pole	[Listen]
33.	Lowlands	[Listen]
34.	The Fox	[Listen]
35.	Maybe She Go	[Listen]
36.	The Lass From The Low Countree	[Listen]
37.	Timbe	[Listen]
38.	Deep River	[Listen]
39.	Chilly Winds	[Listen]
40.	Greensleeves	[Listen]
41.	Devilish Mary	[Listen]
42.	All The Pretty Little Horses	[Listen]
43.	The Midnight Special	[Listen]
44.	Take This Hammer	[Listen]
45.	Poor Little Jesus	[Listen]
46.	Bald Headed Woman	[Listen]
47.	Motherless Children	[Listen]
48.	I Know Where I'm Going	[Listen]
49.	The Foggy Dew	[Listen]
50.	I've Been Driving On Bald Mountain	[Listen]
51.	Ox-Driver Song	[Listen]
52.	Down On Me	[Listen]
53.	Saro Jane	[Listen]
54.	Three Pigs	[Listen]
55.	No More Cane On The Brazos	[Listen]
56.	Jumpin' Judy	[Listen]
57.	Battle Hymn Of The Republic	[Listen]
58.	Ballad For Americans	[Listen]
59.	This Land	[Listen]
60.	On The Top Of Old Smokey	[Listen]
61.	Hush Little Baby	[Listen]
62.	Dark As A Dungeon	[Listen]
63.	Great Historical Bum	[Listen]
64.	Payday At Coal Creek	[Listen]
65.	Going Home	[Listen]
66.	Pastures Of Plenty	[Listen]
67.	Hard, Oh Lord	[Listen]
68.	Believe I'll Go	[Listen]
69.	Oh, Papa	[Listen]
70.	How Long Blues	[Listen]
71.	Hogan's Alley	[Listen]
72.	Leavin' This Mornin	[Listen]
73.	Oh, My Baby	[Listen]
74.	Yonder Comes The Blues	[Listen]
75.	Make Me A Pallet On The Floor	[Listen]
76.	Weeping Willow Blues	[Listen]
77.	Go Down, Sunshine	[Listen]
78.	Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out	[Listen]
79.	If I Had A Hammer	[Listen]
80.	Red Clay Country	[Listen]
81.	When I Was A Young Girl	[Listen]
82.	The Gallow's Pole	[Listen]
83.	God's A-Gonna Cut You Down	[Listen]
84.	John Riley	[Listen]
85.	John Henry	[Listen]
86.	Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho	[Listen]
87.	All The Pretty Little Horses	[Listen]
88.	Prettiest Train	[Listen]
89.	Meeting At The Building	[Listen]
90.	No More Auction Block	[Listen]
91.	Hold On	[Listen]
92.	Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child	[Listen]
93.	Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body	[Listen]
94.	A Hole In The Bucket	[Listen]
95.	House Of The Rising Sun	[Listen]
96.	Gonna Take My Time	[Listen]
97.	Stranger Here	[Listen]
98.	Misery Blues	[Listen]
99.	I've Been Living With The Blues	[Listen]
100.	Empty Pocket Blues	[Listen]
101.	Be My Woman	[Listen]
102.	Poor Man	[Listen]
103.	I Just Can't Keep From Cryin'	[Listen]
104.	If I Had Wings	[Listen]
105.	Special Delivery	[Listen]
106.	Darlin' Baby	[Listen]
107.	Let Me Ride	[Listen]
108.	The Fox	[Listen]
109.	Santa Anno	[Listen]
110.	Devilish Mary	[Listen]
111.	Another Man Done Gone	[Listen]
112.	Children's Trilogy	[Listen]
113.	He Had A Long Chain On	[Listen]
114.	He's Got The Whole World In His Hands	[Listen]
115.	Take This Hammer	[Listen]
116.	Ox Driver	[Listen]
117.	Hound Dog	[Listen]
118.	Carrie It Back To Rosie	[Listen]
119.	What Month Was Jesus Born In-	[Listen]
120.	The Frozen Logger	[Listen]
121.	Timber	[Listen]
122.	Freedom Trilogy	[Listen]

This track data is supplied by the Cross Rhythms CD/DVD review library. Please note that CD tracks may vary according to release region or product version.

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Odetta - The Albums Collection 1954-62

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