Holy Modal Rounders - 1 & 2
List Price:
Our Price: $6.43
You Save: $5.55 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Holy Modal RoundersBrand: HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-08-24
Music Label: Fantasy
Soundtracks:
- Blues In The Bottle
- Give The Fiddler A Dram
- The Cuckoo
- Euphoria
- Long John
- Sugar In The Gourd
- Hesitation Blues
- Hey, Hey Baby
- Reuben's Train
- Mr. Spaceman
- Moving Day
- Better Things For You
- Same Old Man
- Hop High Ladies
- Bound To Lose
- Bully Of The Town
- Sail Away, Ladies
- Statesboro Blues
- Clinch Mountain Backstep
- Down The Old Plank Road
- Black Eyed Suzie
- Hot Corn, Cold Corn
- Crowley Waltz
- Fishing Blues
- Junko Partner
- Soldier's Joy
- Mole In The Ground
- Chevrolet Six
- Flop Eared Mule
Music reviews of 1 & 2
Music Review: Like a time capsule
Rating: 5 Stars
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. 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.
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.
Description of 1 & 2
(2 albums on 1 CD) This CD combines their first & second albums for Prestige, including 2 never before released tracks - the music is a mixture of old-timey Appalachian whoops & craziness in a unique style with fiddle, banjo, guitar, vocals, etc.This is a reissue of the first two Holy Modal Rounders records, resequenced according to the artists' original intent and including two unreleased songs from the time of the recording (1963-64). Perhaps the most earsplittingly original duo of the entire folk revival, the Holy Modal Rounders (fiddler-banjoist Peter Stampfel with guitarist Steve Weber) merged the raw energies of rock, traditional American folk, and blues in a weird, whimsical manner (later dunderheadedly termed "acid folk"). The Holy Modal Rounders performed screeching yet subtle versions of old numbers by the likes of Clarence Ashley, Vernon Dalhart, and Uncle Dave Macon, updating tunes like "Hesitation Blues" with a countercultural reference or two (their version of that song contains the first recorded usage of "psychedelic"). This is one of the coolest things about the Rounders--as Stampfel writes in the liner notes, their basic approach to an old tune was to "hear song, forget song, try to remember song while adding your personal wrinkles, bingo!" An irreverent wit pervades the disc, from pop-tune parodies such as "Mr. Spaceman" to their original folk-based songs (which were neither preachy nor ham-fisted--a true rarity in '63) such as "Blues in the Bottle" and "Hey, Hey Baby." The result not only sounds way less corny than anything else from the era, but hews much closer to the raggedly strange, sublime Americana sounds of Charlie Poole, Dock Boggs, and Charley Patton. --Mike McGonigal
Folk CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Folk CDs
Margie Adam - Another PlaceRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $16.99
Ann Reed - Road of the HeartRelease date: 1994-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $29.99
Ann Reed - Back & ForthRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Kay Gardner - Rainbow PathRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $15.05
Price in other shops:
Joanne Rand - Grant Me EyesRelease date: 2001-08-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops:
Betty - Hello Betty!Release date: 1994-03-21; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Kay Gardner - AmazonRelease date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Stage 2: Human HeartRelease date: 1997-04-11; Music CD
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
Cyntia Smith, Ruth Barrett - Heart Is the Only NationRelease date: 1996-07-17; Music CD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Giants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and TunesGreathall Productions, Inc.; Release date: 2000-04-05; Published: 1996; Music CD
Best price: $8.68
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Holy Modal Rounders - Last RoundRelease date: 2000-02-22; Music CD
Best price: $11.17
Price in other shops:
Holy Modal Rounders - I Make a Wish for a PotatoHOLY MODAL ROUNDERS; Release date: 2001-05-22; Music CD
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops:
Holy Modal Rounders - Indian War Whoop (Dig)Release date: 2008-06-10; Music CD
Best price: $4.58
Price in other shops:
Dave Van Ronk - Inside Dave Van RonkVAN RONK,DAVE; Release date: 1991-10-17; Music CD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Good Taste Is Timeless [Vinyl] Image](/images/Good-Taste-Is-Timeless-Vinyl-B002BEXE9C-X.jpg)
Holy Modal Rounders - Good Taste Is Timeless [Vinyl]Release date: 2009-07-28; Music CD
Best price: $15.40
Price in other shops:
![Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders [Vinyl] Image](/images/Moray-Eels-Eat-the-Holy-Modal-Rounders-Vinyl-B000067A5Z-X.jpg)
Holy Modal Rounders - Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders [Vinyl]Release date: 2002-05-21; Music CD
Best price: $15.95
Price in other shops:
The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to LoseMusic Video Dist; Release date: 2008-10-28; DVD
Best price: $19.93
Price in other shops:
![Have Moicy! [CD on Demand] Image](/images/Have-Moicy-CD-on-Demand-B00000031O-X.jpg)
Have Moicy! [CD on Demand]HURLEY,MICHAEL; Release date: 1992-02-14; Music CD
Best price: $14.80
Price in other shops:
Ed Sanders, Fugs - Second AlbumFUGS; Release date: 1994-05-30; Music CD
Best price: $7.46
Price in other shops:
Ed Sanders, Fugs - First AlbumFUGS; Release date: 1994-05-30; Music CD
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops: