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I Stand Alone
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Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
Starts strong, ends strong... welcome back, RJE..!! at 2006-07-11
This album starts strong, and ends like a beatnik dream, with Jack teasing into a trip he and Woody Guthrie took to California in about 1954 or 5, the last time he saw Woody before heading off to change the face of folk music in England and Europe over the next 5 or 6 years... Ive had a bit of a start on hearing this album as it was released over here in Europe a few days earlier, and its been listened to over and over (along with Kristoffersons newest gem, of course)... back to I Stand Alone, though, I believe Id read somewhere Jacks daughter (documentary daughter) or someone asked him if he could think of any songs he hadnt played in a good while, and this album was born outve just that, despite a couple regulars (rake and ramblin boy, to be sure)... its good to hear Jack singin regulars from his much earlier works like Mr Garfield (which, incidentally, he nails!!) and Call me a Dog/Honey where you been so long, etc, etc... This is no South Coast, its no Kerouacs Last Dream, no Young Brigham, or Friends of Mine... its I Stand Alone and that it does, alongside those classics in its own special way.... Jacks vocals and wisdom through and through give a new, deeper meaning and feeling and almost humor to Arthritis Blues (the mans got a new hip, if Im correct) and when he sings ... blue... im coming too it takes on a new meaning as well.... Jack Elliott really ages like wine, and this album shows just that! I reviewed my alltime favorite of his albums (Kerouacs Last Dream) and didnt think Id throw another on that level but, with where Jack is in life a few months shy of 75, and the various influences and disciple-sorts that show up to pay their respects and, most importantly, dwarfing the prior two reasons, is just the through and through outstanding quality of this album! Spike here gives it 5 stars and if there were six stars Id ask for seven.... Now, if youre new to Ramblin Jack Elliott, you may not understand why 2 or 3 of the songs are so short ...hell, maybe none of us do but Jack fans will know its just Jack... Ive been a Jack groupie whenever I can get an excuse to for the past decade or so (12, 15 shows) and to see Jack live, also, can explain his eccentric habits.... ponys, gettin old, bacon and beans, beat visions, memories, dogs, dogs, more dogs.. trains and the blues from an old man in Hong Kong, just wishin to get back home --- Jack covers em all and more, and, as always, Jack Elliott makes em his own....
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Editorial:
Bob Dylan called him his long lost father. Hes a living link to Woody Guthrie Brownie McGhee and the beat poets. Mick Jagger Lou Reed Van Morrison Paul McCartney Kris Kristoffersen Bruce Springsteen and Beck all cite him as an inspiration. Now more than ever Elliott stands alone a crucial reminder of a proud and dying American tradition - a self-made wayfarer whose fifty-plus years of experience resonate in every note he sings. This is the most intimate recording of his career cradled by a family of guests that include Lucinda Williams David Hidalgo Flea Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline. Elliott offers an introspective look back at his career through meditative takes on favorites and untried material. At 74 he still has plenty of hunt left in him.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Editorial:
They dont call him Ramblin Jack because he travels around a lot and they dont call him the Last Brooklyn Cowboy because he croons like his hero Gene Autry. You cant really acquire a taste for Elliotts briny staggering voice--you just have to surrender to the persona. In his 75th year that persona is in fine witty playful form. He laughs out loud at the lines Now when I die dont bury me at all / Just place me away in alcohol / My .44 put by my feet / Tell everyone Im just asleep and jokes with his physician on Arthritis Blues (Doctor doctor get your X-ray machine / Feels so good just about like morphine). Turns out his guitar chops are tougher than his rheumatism: he bangs away at his acoustic like the last one-man band standing at the all-night hootenanny though when a rare accompanist shares the spotlight--as do David Hidalgo on accordion Nels Cline on Dobro Flea on bass DJ Bonebrake on drums and Lucinda Williams and Corin Tucker on harmony vocals--the effect is like a cool chaser to his rotgut whiskey drawl. These dog songs train songs love songs fleetingly remembered songs and one original (the brief monologue Woodys Last Ride) have been with him forever; theyre funny even when tragic soulful even when they turn tunefulness upside down. Roy Kasten
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Ramblin" Jack Elliott
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Bull Durham Sacks and Railroad Tracks
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Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
Quintessential Jack Elliot...singin, pickin and talkin... at 2002-10-22
If you have an interest in Ramblin Jack when he was at the top of his game as the mentee of Woody and a mentor of Dylan, get ahold of this 1970 release, originally an LP on the Reprise label. There are Dylan songs, there are rappin segments, there are a couple of selections that made sense only to Jack, and there are about five performances here which are dynamite, including Kristoffersons Me and Bobby McGee. Earlier Elliot albums are available, and so are later ones, all the way up to a couple of years ago, but this is the Ramblin Jack of Dylans Rolling Thunder Review, the guy who was just beginning to earn the elder statesman designation. I bought this when it was brand new, but I enjoy it more now than I did then. Jack always was unique and cantankerous and inconsistent...much like Woody himself. He doesnt appeal to everybody, but if if you do like him, this is one of his most interesting releases.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
Quintessential Jack Elliot...singin, pickin and talkin... at 2002-10-22
If you have an interest in Ramblin Jack when he was at the top of his game as the mentee of Woody and a mentor of Dylan, get ahold of this 1970 release, originally an LP on the Reprise label. There are Dylan songs, there are rappin segments, there are a couple of selections that made sense only to Jack, and there are about five performances here which are dynamite, including Kristoffersons Me and Bobby McGee. Earlier Elliot albums are available, and so are later ones, all the way up to a couple of years ago, but this is the Ramblin Jack of Dylans Rolling Thunder Review, the guy who was just beginning to earn the elder statesman designation. I bought this when it was brand new, but I enjoy it more now than I did then. Jack always was unique and cantankerous and inconsistent...much like Woody himself. He doesnt appeal to everybody, but if if you do like him, this is one of his most interesting releases.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Editorial:
Ramblin Jacks 1970 album did indeed have a lot of rappinand ramblin in between renditions of Me and Bobby McGee Folsom Prison Blues Find a Reason to Believe and Ill Be Your Baby Tonight. The full title is Bull Durham Sacks Railroad Tracks. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.
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Young Brigham
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Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
One of his best at 2001-06-22
It would be another good selection of songs done in the Guthrie style with Jacks fine guitar work if not for two things. His version of the Rolling Stones Connection which is done deadpan and guaranteed to get a smile or two. Then the original version of 912 Greens. A rambling talking blues that sounds like something out of a chorus of Kerouacs Mexico City Blues. Nothing happens and everything happens. The record had a good size cult following and is a wonderful uptempo presentation of Elliots warmth as a performer. Did you ever stand and shiver, just because you were looking at a river?
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Editorial:
Jacks debut 1968 release for Reprise boasted a band that included Mark Spoelstra and Bill Lee (Spike Lees father) plus a whimsical selection of songs that included If I Were A Carpenter Talking Fisherman Tennessee Stud Night Herding Song and Goodnight Little Arlo (Arlo Guthrie) Dont Think Twice Its Alright (Bob Dylan) Connection (Jagger Richard). Notes have been added to the original ones written by Johnny Cash. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.
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Best of the Vanguard Years
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Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
Great and Great Fun at 2006-02-28
If you want the genuine article in folk singers, Elliotts your man, and these are some of his best. Hell also make you laugh - I Got a Woman is worth the price of the album if youve got a sense of humor. As you can tell from that statement, Elliott doesnt necessarily confine himself to the folk genre. When youre the best there is at what you do, you can afford the risks. Dont pass up a chance to see him perform in person if he comes your way. If youre not familiar with him, watch The Ballad of Rambling Jack before you go so you have an appreciation for his place in the history of folk music in this country and an understanding of the man himself.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
Jack at 2003-03-28
Jack Elliott is the last American troubador and this compliation shows why. He only wrote a few songs: his artistry -- live performance by performance -- is what sets him above all others. Mr. Zimmerman is a very good song writer... Jack, on the other hand, not only gave Woody Guthrie all of the credit, but also everyone else whos work he covered. The body of his work is a treasure beyond compare. (If only he could have consistenly showed up on time, perhaps he would have been legendary.)
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
A Bit Less Than the Best at 2003-02-25
One disagrees only reluctantly with another reviewer, but it simply is not true, that this CD offers a great rare look at unreleased songs that Jack wrote while rambling around with Woody Guthrie! There are, in fact, no songs at all that Ramblin Jack wrote on this CD. RJE claims the authorship of precisely three numbers in the more than 50 years of his career: 912 Greens, Cup of Coffee and Bleeker Street Blues. None of them are songs; all three are talking pieces. What is on this CD is a collection of traditional folk songs and works by such disparate folk, country and even rock musicians as Woody Guthrie, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Derroll Adams, Merle Travis, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, A.P. Carter and Ernest Tubb, all Vanguard studio recordings from 1964. The first 12 were released in the same year on vinyl on the LP Vanguard simply called Jack Elliott. These same 12 songs also are available on Vanguards The Essential Ramblin Jack Elliott, which is a better buy at a lower price. Please see my review of that album for my comments on these songs. The remaining 13 are outtakes from the same studio session, songs that Vanguard had not released until now. Of the 13, the highlights are Guthries Hard, Aint It Hard, Dylans Dont Think Twice, the Traditional Railroad Bill, and Ray Charles rock n roll hit I Got a Woman, also made famous to a certain extent by Elvis Presley. The first three of these four songs are the kind of solid music one expects from RJE, but all three are available in better performances on other RJE CDs. I Got a Woman is fun and interesting, but Ramblin Jacks version is unlikely to add anything to the songs legacy or RJEs. In essence, one understands why these 13 first time releases were outtakes in 1964. Theyre all fine but as a whole, just a bit duller than most of his other vinyl work from these years. Of course, I wouldnt personally want to do without this CD, but then again, there are but a few RJE recordings Im willing to have outside of my collection. If your interest is more casual, skip this CD and order The Essential Ramblin Jack Elliott instead. It includes the best of this CD, and it goes one better by giving you the best of RJEs superlative April 30,1965 concert at New York Citys Town Hall as well - at a better price.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Review:
The Lost Songs Of The Ramblin Man at 2002-07-03
Take a trip with me in 1913! For those new to RJE or looking for rare Ramblin tunes, well look no further! This is a great rare look at unreleased songs that Jack wrote while rambling around with Woody Guthrie! This is such a great find and proud to own it! This completes my Ramblin collection. Stay away from The Essential Ramblin Jack Elliott CD! It only has 1/4 of what this CD offers! As Jack says, Ive gots to ramble!
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Album Editorial:
First it was Woody Guthrie who cast a shadow over Ramblin Jack Elliotts art. He sounds more like me than I do Woody once quipped. Now Elliotts own legend threatens to obscure his fine music. This 25-song set shows how forceful even peerless (at least among the folkies) his singing and guitar playing could be. Because Elliott released only one album on Vanguard this best-of includes the whole of that 1964 debut plus 13 previously unreleased tracks making for less of a useful introduction and more of a fans dream come true. Unreleased tracks include old folk songs such as Danville Girl Diamond Joe and Blue Eyed Elaine. Elliotts ultratwangy unapologetically aggressive style lends the stories a cinematic intensity--and a delightful cutting humor. This set also reveals just how much Elliott shaped the repertoire flatpicking and vocal style of the young Bob Dylan (who in the guise of Tedham Porterhouse lends harmonica to Elliotts frenzied version of Will the Circle Be Unbroken). As a portrait of the artist these Vanguard recordings make clear just why Elliott remains so influential and revered. Roy Kasten
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