Search - Recorded Live By Alan Lomax :: Traditional Music & Songs Of Italy

Budget version of Alan Lomax field recordings from Italy, pl

PH-50-NC | Southeast USA | 03/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought a copy of this disc around 1989, and it's definitely from the early era of CDs when there wasn't much international music available on disc and anything put out was 'good enough' (there still crummy budget CDs being made of course). This CD has most of the music later issued by Rounder in a much nicer package under the title "Italian Treasury: Folk Music & Song of Italy".



I won't comment on the Lomax tracks, as they are what they are - field recordings of a wide variety of Italian folk musics. But tucked away at the end of this disc is a mini album of music you wouldn't be surprised to hear in a strip-mall spaghetti palace. I don't mean that as a complete put-down--tracks 22-31 are charming in their way. They are studio recordings of a trio featuring accordion, electric guitar (this musician also picks up a mandolin for parts of some songs) and bass. My guess is that they have absolutely nothing to do with Alan Lomax's field recordings, and were put on the end of this disc to extend the running time (which was such a big marketing point in the early CD era). The tunes are warhorses from Italian opera and early Italian popular song. 'O Sole Mio' (better known to Americans as Elvis Presley's 'It's Now or Never') shows up, of course, as well as a bunch of other melodies you'll instantly recognize if you lived more than 30 years and payed any attention to background music in movies, restaurants, theme parks, etc. The recording [tracks 22-31] has kind of a sixties vibe to it, and it's fun cheese.



I don't know if this disc is worth four stars or not--the field recordings are kind of unique items that either you are interested in or you're not. But the price of the disc is so cheap, it's hard to be too critical of it."