While the marketing insanity for Pirates of the Caribbean II continues to echo in the popular mindset, this whopping yet seemingly near-underground document -- born from the minds of the film's director, Gore Verbinski, his pal Johnny Depp, and Anti-Epitaph label boss (and Verbinski buddy) Brett Gurewitz -- may end up as a lasting contribution to the populace at large without them even knowing it. Surely it lends its own weighty blend of blood, sweat, and tears to the folkloric literature of sea shanties and pirate songs, ...
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While the marketing insanity for Pirates of the Caribbean II continues to echo in the popular mindset, this whopping yet seemingly near-underground document -- born from the minds of the film's director, Gore Verbinski, his pal Johnny Depp, and Anti-Epitaph label boss (and Verbinski buddy) Brett Gurewitz -- may end up as a lasting contribution to the populace at large without them even knowing it. Surely it lends its own weighty blend of blood, sweat, and tears to the folkloric literature of sea shanties and pirate songs, though cranks like Alan Lomax and John Jacob Niles are certainly turning over in their graves if they have any extraterrestrial knowledge of its existence. Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys, produced by Hal Willner, has gathered up the usual outrageous, inspired, ambitious, sometimes ridiculously grouped musicians to record folksongs of the sea, from the call-and-response grunting and occasionally obscene work songs sung by men from the old seas who worked the riggings in rhythm, to pirates who needed (much as modern-day rappers) to boast of their exploits. Willner gathered together some 75 songs and went to Seattle to hang with Bill Frisell to discuss the project. Frisell gathered the Akron Family, Wayne Horvitz, and Eyvind Kang to be a kind of house band there, and netted a slew of songs from the likes of Robin Holcomb (whose reading of "Dead Horse" is one of the most beautiful and haunting things here); the notorious Baby Gramps (whose version of "Cape Cod Girls" starts everything off with a harrumph), and a slew of others. He later went to Los Angeles, New York, London, Dublin, and god knows where else, finding roots musicians to be an ad hoc house band. In London, Warren Ellis of Dirty Three and Bad Seeds fame and Kate St. John formed a unit with some other folks, and in L.A. it was Jack Shit and friends. But this is the back of the story, actually. The singers include everybody from pop blowhards like Sting and Bono, who do respectable jobs (well, not Bono: he blows it big-time on "A Dying Sailor to His Shipmates" because he can't help himself), to wildmen like David Thomas (of Pere Ubu) and Nick Cave; from modern-day darlings like Lucinda Williams and Rufus Wainwright (who sings with his mom, Kate McGarrigle while his cranky old dad Loudon Wainwright III makes an appearance for two cuts); to strange adventurers like Mark Anthony Thompson, Jarvis Cocker, and Bob Neuwirth; from bona fide rock eccentrics like Antony, Jolie Holland, Bryan Ferry, Van Dyke Parks, Stan Ridgway, and Gavin Friday (in Ireland anyway) to rock legends (Ferry fits here, too) like Lou Reed); to indie rock songwriting iconoclasts Joseph Arthur and Ed Harcourt; bona fide recluses like Mary Margaret O'Hara; true traditionalists like John C. Reilly, Martin Carthy and family (Eliza Carthy on her own, too), and Richard and Teddy Thompson. Oh yeah, and one true counterculture icon: Ralph Steadman! There's a whale load of 43 cuts spread out over two discs in a handsome package. It's bound to lose money unless some uptight Amerikanskis get adventurous real quick and buy it to put on their iPods to play on their sailboats and yachts, or if NPR does a feature on it for the yups (that would make both Ishmael and Captain Ahab proud). There are many standouts here, but those that really shake up the decks are Eliza Carthy's "Rolling Sea," Bryan Ferry's two contributions -- the entirely creepy "The Cruel Ship's Captain," and his duet with Antony "Lowlands Low" -- Nick Cave's "Pinery Boy" and his hilariously evil "Fire Down Below," Gavin Friday's "Baltimore Whores," Richard Thompson's reverential and lonesome "Mingualy Boat Song," Martin Carthy and family's "Hog-Eye Man," O'Hara's stirring "The Cry of Man," Cocker's wondrously cannibalistic "A Drop of Nelson's Blood," and Mark Anthony Thompson's hunted "Haul Away Joe." This doesn't mean there are other things here that will appeal to the masses, or even to the few....
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Add this copy of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and to cart. $9.99, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Anti.
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Add this copy of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads Sea Songs to cart. $15.89, good condition, Sold by GoodwillVSB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Oxnard, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Anti-.
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This is a USED ITEM. The CD is in nice condition but may have minor SCUFFS and or SCRATCHES on the DISC and PACKAGING. MAY NOT INCLUDE the CD insert booklet. Thank you for supporting Goodwill Industries of Ventura and Santa Barbara County in our mission to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families through education, skills training, and the power of employment. OUR MEDIA HAS NOT BEEN TESTED. WE CLEAN OUR DISK FOR MINOR SCRACTHES.
Add this copy of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads Sea Songs to cart. $17.02, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brooklyn Park, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Anti-.
Add this copy of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and to cart. $19.31, like new condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Anti-.
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