Holy Modal Rounders, 1 & 2 - 1h 7m 42s

Tracks & Durations

1. Blues in the Bottle	3:27
2. Give the Fiddler a Dram	2:35
3. The Cockoo	3:08
4. Euphoria	1:34
5. Long John	2:20
6. Sugar in the Gourd	1:54
7. Hesitation Blues	2:22
8. Hey, Hey Baby	1:22
9. Reuben's Train	2:33
10. Mr. Spaceman	1:56
11. Moving Day	2:34
12. Better Things for You	3:14
13. Same Old Man	1:45
14. Hop High Ladies	2:04
15. Bound to Lose	4:18
16. Bully of the Town	3:04
17. Sail Away, Ladies	2:41
18. Statesboro Blues	1:40
19. Clinch Mountain Backstep	2:05
20. Down the Old Plank Road	2:06
21. Black Eyed Suzie	1:40
22. Hot Corn, Cold Corn	2:13
23. Crowley Waltz	1:36
24. Fishing Blues	1:44
25. Junko Partner	1:10
26. Soldier's Joy	3:11
27. Mole in the Ground	2:50
28. Chevrolet Six	2:03
29. Flop Eared Mule	2:18

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

This is a reissue of the first two Holy Modal Rounders records, resequenced according to the artists' original intent and including two unreleased songs from the time of the recording (1963-64). Perhaps the most earsplittingly original duo of the entire folk revival, the Holy Modal Rounders (fiddler-banjoist Peter Stampfel with guitarist Steve Weber) merged the raw energies of rock, traditional American folk, and blues in a weird, whimsical manner (later dunderheadedly termed "acid folk"). The Holy Modal Rounders performed screeching yet subtle versions of old numbers by the likes of Clarence Ashley, Vernon Dalhart, and Uncle Dave Macon, updating tunes like "Hesitation Blues" with a countercultural reference or two (their version of that song contains the first recorded usage of "psychedelic"). This is one of the coolest things about the Rounders--as Stampfel writes in the liner notes, their basic approach to an old tune was to "hear song, forget song, try to remember song while adding your personal wrinkles, bingo!" An irreverent wit pervades the disc, from pop-tune parodies such as "Mr. Spaceman" to their original folk-based songs (which were neither preachy nor ham-fisted--a true rarity in '63) such as "Blues in the Bottle" and "Hey, Hey Baby." The result not only sounds way less corny than anything else from the era, but hews much closer to the raggedly strange, sublime Americana sounds of Charlie Poole, Dock Boggs, and Charley Patton. --Mike McGonigal

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