Search - Bob Gibson :: Stops Along the Way

Stop along his way...

Dr. Leslie Korshak | California | 09/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Another recording, another review... "Stops" was Bobby's 60th. birthday present both to his friends, as well as to the "Living Legend" himself. Beginning with "Michael Rowed..." as he did, in Carnagie recital hall back in 1955, Gibson takes us on a musical tour - not just of his career, but of our social history as well. From the Civil War ["Let the Band Play Dixie"]to the War on Aids ["Dyin' for Love"], we all climb aboard his Train "To Morrow" and what a ride it is!From "Abilene" to the Great Lakes, where he took inner city kids on boat trips each year, perhaps to visit "The Mermaid of Onterio"... We're treated to the songs he loved to sing. And if your mother ever asked you: "How could you do This to Me?" You're invited to join in on the fun! There's definately a retrospective quality to "Stops Along the Way" as "Sing us Some of the Old Songs" delivers - with a twist to churn the emotions that are both his - and ours, to share. You can actually feel the warmth of the evening as you listen to the deep, honey-ed baratone the tennor-ed voice of his youth had become, often turning this CD into a most welcome hug, or pat on the back.And it is important to all Gibson fans for another reason. "Stops" is the last time those amazing hands played without benefit of studio and back-up. And his nearly casual mastery, of both his banjo and twelve-string guitar, are every bit as breathtaking as they were once considered 'unbelievable' - except that he was doing them...Bobby held a special fondness for this CD he first self-produced. I think that of all the new re-releases, this one would have touched him the most. "Joy, joy, joy - The Young and Wonderful..." would have left him speechless, but "Stops" would have made him smile... My guess is, that it will make you smile too."

Bob Gibson- A Sixtieth Birthday Retrospective.

Marcus Worthington | Niantic, CT United States | 09/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This simply marvelous concert was given by Bob Gibson, the "inventor" of American commercial folk music, to a group of 80 invited friends and family at the celebration of his sixtieth birthday. It was the last concert that was recorded before the supernuclear palsy which eventually took his life in 1996 made it impossible for him to accompany himself on his banjo and 12-string guitar. Although the illness had already begun to show its symptoms, this may be one of his finest recordings.The technique at the recording was simply to let the tape run, and the between song patter and the music itself present a historical journey through American folk music from the late 1950's until the present. His renditions of " Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and the traditional "No more Cane on the Brazos" blend together with the 1960's anti-war "One More Parade" which Gibson co/wrote with Phil Ochs as a testament to the energy and the universal message that the folk song brings its audience. Coupled with the more traditional are the more personal titles written by Gibson's life long friend/collaborater, Shel Silverstein such as "Living Legend" and "Stops along the Way" which reveal nothing less than Gibson's life journey. This recording belongs in anyone's collection who has ever had an interest in American folk music because of its historical perspectives,obviously, but moreso because it is one of the last recordings by the man who literally brought folk music before the mainstream American public."