Search - Various Artists :: Freedom: Songs from the Heart of America

Long annoyed with the dry, dusty nature of American history textbooks, author Joy Hakim set out to create a multivolume narrative that revolved around the deceptively simple idea of freedom. But as her books, the PBS series they spawned, and this, the show's soundtrack, have proven, it's a word whose meanings have been filtered through myriad historical, cultural, and political prisms. The three discs here span some 67 performances across 90 years of recording history, from WWI-era recordings of "Yankee Doodle" (who knew it had so many verses?) and Cohan's "Over There" through a dizzying array of folk, country, pop, R&B, and classical selections. And if it virtually ignores two decades of hip-hop and shortchanges nonvocal jazz (what's "freer" than Monk and Miles?), it's nonetheless an intriguing collection that delivers surprises and musical revelations on every disc. Hoary American patriotic standards are cast in fresh light, while other worthy performances (a vibrant take on "Erie Canal" by Dan Zanes and Suzanne Vega; Booker T. & the MG's and Terence Trent D'Arby's soulful "A Change Is Gonna Come") are rescued from obscurity in a collection that seems to delight in trashing the narrow-minded marketing philosophy that has largely ghettoized American culture in recent years. Sousa, Seeger, Sly, and Simone are hardly the least of its charms. --Jerry McCulley