1000 Years of Popular Music
So, a while back Richard Thompson (Guitar Hero and Folkie Songwriter Extraordinaire) was asked for his favorite pop songs of the millenius. He took the "millenium" bit seriously, and produced 1000 Years of Popular Music in response to the request.
The album is arranged in chronological order (I'm not quite sure it's perfect chronological order, but it's close), beginning with the oldest known non-religious song in English--Middle English, to be exact, dating from the 13th century or thereabouts: "Sumer is icumen in/Laude sing cucu!" It's a round; it's really cool.
Then we get a few more medieval-ish numbers, including one about Henry V and one in Italian; my favorite of these is "Remember O Thou Man", which I think is actually a hymn, but presumably it was a popular hymn. Then a section of 1800s era songs, ranging from "Blackleg Miner" to "Shenandoah" to "There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast", to cheer all of us fans of Gilbert and Sullivan. "Shenandoah" in particular is one of the high points of the album.
Then some jazzy numbers, including a couple with a female lead vocal (RT does the guitar throughout and most of the singing, but he has two very good female voices contributing throughout...not sure who they are, but a moment with Google will inform the curious), of which my favorite is "Java Jive".
And last, the Modern Pop, highlighted by Richard Thompson, baritone and all, covering "Oops! I Did It Again". (As he said in an interview, "Taken out of context it's really quite a good song.")
Now that...that's eclectic. Not only is it a hoot, but some of the songs are really beautiful.
9.5 out of 10 stars.
The album is arranged in chronological order (I'm not quite sure it's perfect chronological order, but it's close), beginning with the oldest known non-religious song in English--Middle English, to be exact, dating from the 13th century or thereabouts: "Sumer is icumen in/Laude sing cucu!" It's a round; it's really cool.
Then we get a few more medieval-ish numbers, including one about Henry V and one in Italian; my favorite of these is "Remember O Thou Man", which I think is actually a hymn, but presumably it was a popular hymn. Then a section of 1800s era songs, ranging from "Blackleg Miner" to "Shenandoah" to "There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast", to cheer all of us fans of Gilbert and Sullivan. "Shenandoah" in particular is one of the high points of the album.
Then some jazzy numbers, including a couple with a female lead vocal (RT does the guitar throughout and most of the singing, but he has two very good female voices contributing throughout...not sure who they are, but a moment with Google will inform the curious), of which my favorite is "Java Jive".
And last, the Modern Pop, highlighted by Richard Thompson, baritone and all, covering "Oops! I Did It Again". (As he said in an interview, "Taken out of context it's really quite a good song.")
Now that...that's eclectic. Not only is it a hoot, but some of the songs are really beautiful.
9.5 out of 10 stars.
Posted by sealionii on
Thursday October 25, 2007 at 5:17pm