Search - Ed Sanders :: Poems For New Orleans

Real poetry (with imaginative musical accompaniment)

Charles A. Miller | Baltimore, Maryland U.S.A. | 09/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Do not think or expect The Fugs, or even Ed Sanders solo material for that matter. While featuring music on virtually every track, Mr. Sanders utilizes the spoken word for the poetry he wrote for this release. In tandem with the music, which he did not write and is quite varied, it works and it works very well.



The poetic material ranges from historical New Orleans to Katrina and music is as varied as well... from traditional to point-blank experimental (especially on Then Came The Storm, by far the high-point of the already excellent album). Without the music, as is the case with most spoken word albums, this would be played once or twice. The music without the poetry would be confusing and pointless. Together, they compliment each other and make this an album one that can be easily revisited time and again.



For those who are familiar with The Fugs and Ed Sanders' albums, Johnny Pissoff makes an pleasant surprise appearance on one track. Without a doubt, this album is a must for anyone who appreciates:

[1] The Fugs;

[2] Ed Sanders (the musician); or

[3] Ed Sanders (the poet)."

POETIC RENDERINGS & FILM SCORE MANUSCRIPT = EXCELLENCE!!!!

John W. Shearer | Richmond, Ky. USA | 01/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ed's group of poems here dedicated to the victims and the city of New Orleans and for that matter the world are heartfelt to the very core. His imaginative and creative ablility with poetry and prose prove him once again as one of the world's finest living artist's in this genre. The addition of the musical score by Mark Bingham is equally rivoting and fit's the bill for Sander's poems like a glove. Each piece welds the two mediums together like songs of beauty. The importance of a well written film score for the screen has worked the same service for this setting of brilliant poetry. What more can you say? Beautiful, historic and soulful original recitations combined with a difinative, well orchestrated musical score meshed together to perfection and the results is a brilliant and wonderful piece of artistic expression, recorded and documented for the world to enjoy and appreciate. Do yourself and favor and check this collection out now. You will be staggered to the foundation by it's beauty and American historical importance. Fantastic work Ed Sanders and Mark Bingham. Outstanding accomplishment of artistic brilliance."

Where soul meets history

Matt Kalinowski | 11/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ed Sanders' "Poems for New Orleans" is partly what you'd expect from a spoken word title like that - Katrina cataclysm and lamentation - but it goes beyond expectations. The album presents an epic 150-year sweep of New Orleans' history and personalities - its saints and sinners and voodoo queens - and weaves together history and culture with the million individual tragedies caused by the failure of the Federal levees.



The first couple tracks describe the city's place in the young American nation with a tone reminiscent of a Ken Burns documentary - descriptions of the Battle of New Orleans and Andrew Jackson and New Orleans' growth into an international shipping center at the mouth of the Mississippi and its riverboat prosperity. It offers some richly entertaining fantasies, as in the piece "Did Mark Twain Meet Marie Laveau" along with hilarious romps like "Some FEMA Trailers in Hope" and it whittles the world down to the teary, poignant essence of loss in "My Ironing Board."



Mark Bingham, responsible for the soundtrack, has pulled together dozens of the most talented NOLA musicians working in the city today - artists like Moose Jackson, Walt McClements, Peter Orr and the amazing Aurora Nealand whose Bechet-inspired soprano sax will make your soul fizz like tonic water. And the fact that you can go tonight and see them all playing down on Frenchmen Street, that you can drop a fin in the bucket and maybe buy them a drink makes "Poems for New Orleans" that much more immediate and real and hopeful - evidence of what *will* happen as much as what *has* happened in the Crescent City."