So what's to be said about Odetta that hasn't been said before a thousand times? Her adaptations of traditional music of all genres, from spirituals to protest songs to work songs to English folk music and beyond, has long ago earned its place as the classic, unique and personal adaptations that they are, unforgettable because of her resonant, booming contralto, virtuoso yet understated guitar accompaniment, and the feeling imbued in her interpretations. The big deal about Ryko's new release is that it makes available work previously unavailable on CD, much of it Odetta's very finest recordings--of the 31 songs on this double-disc, I've been looking for her wonderful "Maybe She Go" to appear for years, for example--and the songs are presented in all their monaural glory, without the overbearing digital remastering we've all grown so regretfully accustomed to. This work sounds on these discs the way it was intended to when recorded--immediate, warm, and timeless. One gets the sense of Odetta singing in your very *room*--and for those of us old enough to remember the LPs (and I played mine ceaselessly), this disk recaptured the spirit of the original masters in full, because these *are* the original masters.
For those new to Odetta, this release is a perfect place to start--it is, really, the "definitive" collection. Younger listeners who wonder why someone would want to listen to "Greensleeves" or "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" again will probably understand, once they hear Odetta take songs that have become (and which to some degree even were when these songs were recorded in the late 50s and 60s) trite with uninspired repetition, what these masterpieces are (or can be, with Odetta) *really* about.
The songs so important in a historic contect to both the Folk Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement ("'Buked and Scorned", "Take this Hammer", etc.) are just as poignant here as today, when other performers of that era seem hollow and dated in retrospect. And the deep sadness and romance of "All the Pretty Horses" or "If I Had a Ribbon Bow" still rivet the listener--it's what even the great, like Nina Simone, *wished* they could do. And it's all here.
Finally, in 2003, one hears the remarkable, unequivocal and intensely pervasive influence Odetta had (and continues to have) on performers of all genres. Variations of several of these traditional classics are best known in renditions by other artists ("Easy Rider", "Hound Dog", "Gallows Tree", "Midnight Special", "Timber", to name just five) and you haven't even *heard* then if you haven't heard Odetta. The range and scope of her artistic impact is to broad to even begin to examine in a review.
Of all recent folk re-releases, I consider this to be the finest and most important I've heard. It's a must for every collection--of anything.
powerful