CAN you dance to the blues? This new collection manages to refresh some scratchy old records, but also to bring home the inherent power of the blues to entertain.
Moby aside, this fact has been forgotten. Respect due then to Scott Billington and Steve Reynolds, aka Tangle Eye, the New Orleans-based production and remix duo who contacted the Alan Lomax Archive for permission to update a selection of the old blues field-recordings that Lomax made between 1947 and 1960.The result is a treat that will appeal far beyond the barren steppes haunted by old-time music fans. The original songs shine through intact, but modern musicians add an accessible eclecticism that enhances the originals. The remixes are tastefully done, if occasionally over-cheerful, so should not themselves date. Most of the original artists are dead but must be enjoying a posthumous belly laugh at the prospect of being the dinner party hit of the year.
Updated: 12:20 Thursday, May 13, 2004
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