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Ok you hard-core American Primitivists, bring it on. I know you want to laugh out loud, point and make fun of me for listening to Will Ackerman.
That's cool, I don't hide it anymore. I've made my argument for Ackerman and his work.
Though I do have a few more thoughts and a story about why New Age music has always taken such a hit, and it's too bad 'cause some (most) of these artists are really very accomplished musicians. I don't feel like going through the list but if you were to look at the early Windham Hill catalog and do a 'where are they now' bit of research you might be surprised at how many are still in the biz and doing things like composing movie soundtracks. Now that ain't 'point and laugh' material.
Ok, so I used to work at a record store (remember those?), and it was the height of the Windham Hill era. I worked with a guy that was a hard-core jazz drummer, he played 5-6 nights a week with a well respected local that is still going strong these days. Jim used to get very annoyed about the whole New Age music craze. And he had good reason. People would come in and browse through the New Age section and ask for advice on what to buy, usually defining their "musical" parameters of taste by telling us that they wanted something to play in the background. Often even saying that they didn't really want to listen to it, it needed to be unobtrusive.
Of course as a musician, Jim thought this was just plain stupid. Why would anyone buy music they didn't want to listen to? To pay attention to? Why would any musician want to be thought of that way? Ouch. Much to my annoyance, Jim would occasionally suggest that the customer buy a fan if they just wanted background noise.
Unfortunately a lot of mellow music ends up in the background and the artistry is lost.
Ok, on to the set at hand. I think this boot has been around a long time but if you haven't heard it I recommend it. It's a fairly short set and Ackerman does a lot of chatting between songs that is interesting. This is just the Ackerman part of a larger concert of Windham Hill folks. It's an old boot with some noise and over-saturation, not perfect.
Windham Hill-The Summer Concert
William Ackerman, Michael Hedges, Shadowfax
Mesa Amphitheater, Mesa, Arizona
June 24, 1986 Master Tape to CD Version
Transfer Date:
March 2009
1. Processional
2. Anne's Song
3. The Rediscovery of Big Bug Creek Arizona
4. Hawk Circle W/ Hedges
5. The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit
6. Visiting w/Greenburg of Shadowfax
d/l Will Ackerman
Thanks for the Ackerman post. I look forward to hearing it. It is interesting that Ackerman gets slammed by the American Primitivists, especially his early recordings. I have a copy of a letter that John Fahey wrote to a friend of mine in the early 1980's where he speaks fondly of Ackerman and his music. No joke! IMHO Ackerman's earliest recordings stand the test of time, although things got repetitive rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate all your posts! Cheers!
Thanks for the kind words!
ReplyDeleteI am also a fan of mostly his early stuff.
BTW, Ackerman mentions Fahey in his intro to Big Bug Creek, rather an amusing story.
Aaaaarghhhh-
ReplyDeleteOk, I'll download it, thanks!
PS I like Pierre Bensusan too.
Hiowdy...slam William Ackerman if you will, but to me, his first album (Turtles Navel) is a melodic triumph! I still get tears in my eyes listening to this work of art!...and for me, that's what it's all about...MELODY!!!...Will Ackerman has the technique to pull it off...and the melodies to prove it! I've said it before...
ReplyDeleteI don't give two shits about all the fancy hi-falutin' gimcrackery tricks and speed that guitarists seem to think they need to impress the pea-brained members of the current listening public. If that's what it has come down to to attract an audience, then pardon me for saying...
don't call me and I won't call you...Cheers! Blind Brand X.
Slammin nobody, and nohow. That ain't Blind Boy X, by the way. I knew him back in '33, and I saw him slowly shrivel up and die due to cumulative consumption and inexorable indifference round about the time Saturday Night Fever came out. You don't know how that Stayin' Alive scene hit him. Hard Bubba, hard. That was my Stelle that topped his pine box. Yea, he wudn't that big.
ReplyDeleteNaw, that's Ol' Will Ackerman doin' a Blind BX imitation. I'm as sure of it as I am of the mole on my...
Well, I ain't gonna sing the Star Spangled Banner, so don't scatter on me. Fire's out, y'all. Chill, Mama. And kids, put down the cordless phones and the pepper spray--false alarm.
Anyway, I do love everthing DeltaSlider posts, including those ol' Blind Boy 78s.
Good stuff y'all. Mr. Fahee's smilin', albeit in his consciously cantankerous manner. We do love that good open tuning access to the vision. That vision just may prevail in the darkness.
i guess his stuff ain't too bad, but the production of his records is to smoothly done. i got to check out his early work yet, maybe it gets a little more raw there.
ReplyDeleteanyways i added you to my blog slider, see you there.
Hiowdy y'all...Blind Brand X here...with hat in hand I most humbly apologize for my abysmally poor choice of words in my last posted comments.
ReplyDeleteI'm just not a fan of the 200 note a second style
of guitar playing, but that does not give me the right to knock folks who are. My love of simple techniques has taken me nearly a lifetime to acquire, and I realize now that I should just keep those kind of thoughts to myself. Everyone out there enjoys this beautiful gift called music in their own way, and I apologize profusely
for my critical, foot in mouth approach. Cheers!
Blind Brand X.
Hey Blind Brand X, we all have a right to our opinions! No worries there, everyone enjoys different kinds of music, I take a lot of crap for the music I like and I just give it right back.
ReplyDeleteSo don't you worry brother, you just keep pickin!