- Audio CD (30 Aug 2010)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: CD
- Label: King Hokum
- ASIN: B003VOP78C
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 31,524 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Product details |
Product Description
Review
Much pop music is fake, but what distinguishes a good fake from a bad one? Something you might mistake for the ‘real’ thing? Or maybe something you know perfectly well isn’t real, but is thoroughly entertaining nonetheless? C.W. Stoneking’s ‘hokum’ creations somehow fall intriguingly between the best of both fake worlds on his second album, Jungle Blues.
In the course of this well formed 40 minutes – which, oddly, recalls the not-so-distant era of 33 rpm – C.W. Stoneking, a.k.a… no, that is his real name… evokes the ghost of yodelling cowboy Jimmie Rodgers, a couple of calypsonians and various early 20th century bluesmen. He also gets lost in elaborately contrived Dixieland jazz fantasies, with the help of his highly accomplished Primitive Horn Orchestra.
The fact that he’s a white Australian – albeit the son of an American couple – may raise a few eyebrows, especially when he adopts caricatured Caribbean and African-American accents. Roots music purists might well baulk at his theatrical plunderings, too, but how many actors get accused of not being ‘authentic’? It’s all played and sung with such panache and a real feel for the genres he so obviously adores, that you’re happy to suspend disbelief, and be carried away by his taller-than-thou storytelling.
One of the most compelling examples is Jungle Lullaby. As the woozy brass section lurches and sways, C.W. (Christopher William) croaks out a lurid, tropical tale featuring "birds eatin’ spiders as big my fist", while drummer Jim White (of Dirty Three fame) conjures suggestive scuttling sounds and unsettling boom-boom-boom effects on his kick drum.
Although the production superficially evokes the grainy sound patina of vintage 78 rpm recordings, a closer listen reveals plenty of unlikely and often comical details, like the parrot that squawks sleepily on the title-track. Jailhouse Blues finds C.W. all alone with his guitar, bemoaning his fate ("Lock on de door, I broke de law"), while on Housebound Blues, his wife Kirsty Frazer rages against gender inequality, offering a sly reminder that this is very much a modern recording. And if that isn’t enough to break the artfully woven spell, Stoneking rounds things off with The Greatest Liar, a hilarious spoken-word piece of rambling nonsense. Pure hokum, no less.
--John LuskFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
C.W. Stoneking, is a musician who draws influence from pre-war blues, jazz, 1920s calypso, folklore, and personal experience to produce his original songs. Accompanied with his trusty National Resophonic guitar and tenor banjo, or with his brass band, the 'Primitive Horn Orchestra' Stoneking's songs range in style from lonesome field holler blues, to hokum blues duets, to full blown jungle epics. 2010 sees the release of C.W. Stoneking's album, 'Jungle Blues'. Inspired in part by Stoneking's amazing experience as a survivor of a shipwreck off Africa's West Coast. 'Jungle Blues' is available on King Hokum Records
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
What a strange record! It is a true throwback to the 20's and thirties and I absolutely love it. If you've been to New Orleans you will have seen bands and artists like this perfoming in bars and clubs all over the place. This album will appear to young blues aficionados and those who are in to Mumford and Sons and the like, but I could give this to my mother and she'd love it as well. I just hope the PC police keep their paws off this as I have heard rumblings of dissent about a white Australian in his mid thirties recreating this sound with a deep "negro" voice. This doesn't appear to be a pastiche, he really means it and I'd recommend an interview in Word magazine to prove it. I sense someone who really loves this sort of music and is trying to make it as authentic as possible. Or are we all being gulled?
Anyway, as it stands this album is fascinating and fantastic and a cult hit in the making.
Anyway, as it stands this album is fascinating and fantastic and a cult hit in the making.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
For the uninitiated, the first shock on listening to this is discovering that it was recorded in 2008, and not some eighty years earlier. The second is that the artist is, in fact, a young Australian and not a grizzled Delta bluesman holed up in some southern swamp.
Perfectly capturing various musical styles and moods of the twenties and thirties without the slightest hint of pastiche - field holler, calypso, blues, voodoo and folk are all brilliantly represented - the album is a joy from start to finish and is even better than Stoneking's stirring debut 'King Hokum'.
The likes of Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal have been here before, but whereas Cooder in particular had the unerring knack of uncovering and reviving precious gems from a long-gone era, here with the exception of Wilmoth Houdini's 'Brave Son of America' these are all original compositions by Stoneking that you'd bet your mortgage had been around for generations, such is their apparent authenticity and uncanny attention to detail.
'Jungle Blues', 'Jungle Lullaby', 'The Love Me Or Die' and the Houdini cover are simply inspired, the real standouts in a truly striking collection.
It all sounds remarkably like the soundtrack to a retro movie that's just waiting to be shot. The man's a true original.
Perfectly capturing various musical styles and moods of the twenties and thirties without the slightest hint of pastiche - field holler, calypso, blues, voodoo and folk are all brilliantly represented - the album is a joy from start to finish and is even better than Stoneking's stirring debut 'King Hokum'.
The likes of Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal have been here before, but whereas Cooder in particular had the unerring knack of uncovering and reviving precious gems from a long-gone era, here with the exception of Wilmoth Houdini's 'Brave Son of America' these are all original compositions by Stoneking that you'd bet your mortgage had been around for generations, such is their apparent authenticity and uncanny attention to detail.
'Jungle Blues', 'Jungle Lullaby', 'The Love Me Or Die' and the Houdini cover are simply inspired, the real standouts in a truly striking collection.
It all sounds remarkably like the soundtrack to a retro movie that's just waiting to be shot. The man's a true original.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Even better - if that's possible - than his debut, King Hokum.
There's something that should be incredibly uncomfortable about a white Australian in his 20s singing in the style of those granular delta blues recordings from the 1920s and 30s, but this is pure genius - with no element of pastiche: somehow this is the real thing.
Jungle Blues seems a darker, less comic album than King Hokum, but has even greater variety - the high points for me being the cover of Wilmoth Houdini's Brave Son of America, the title track, and the wonderful Jungle Lullaby.
Don't miss this. A real original.
There's something that should be incredibly uncomfortable about a white Australian in his 20s singing in the style of those granular delta blues recordings from the 1920s and 30s, but this is pure genius - with no element of pastiche: somehow this is the real thing.
Jungle Blues seems a darker, less comic album than King Hokum, but has even greater variety - the high points for me being the cover of Wilmoth Houdini's Brave Son of America, the title track, and the wonderful Jungle Lullaby.
Don't miss this. A real original.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant
After hearing Cw Stoneking at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival on Radio 2, I thought I must try his album.Really glad I did. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Glen G.
Jungle Blues Views
Fantastic album, unique and interesting. Hints of trad jazz, lazy blues vocals and foot tapping tunes. You won't regret it..!
Published 7 months ago by SallyFairbairn
Jungle Blues
I saw CW Stoneking at a festival in UK and was immediately taken by his brilliance and the small band that he had. Acquiring the CD became an imperative. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. W. R. Clare
magic
Just 2 weeks ago I saw a magic perfomance by CW at a small Church in ELY CAMBS UK
the backing group were amazing trombine /trumpet/upright bass/tuba/drums. Read more
the backing group were amazing trombine /trumpet/upright bass/tuba/drums. Read more
Published 9 months ago by David Bullman
A jewel
I usually don't review music. Others do it very well. But it would be a shame to miss C.W as he is really unique. I won't describe his music, just listen and make your own opinion. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Stella Blue
New Orleans Funeral Fun
CW Stoneking is quite a phenomenon. His voice is creaky, cracked and old - like a gramophone record of 1930s New-Orleans blues. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Dorkomatic
Leicester Bangs Review (2010):
C.W. Stoneking - Jungle Blues (King Hokum)
C.W. Stoneking is a young, white Australian bloke who shouldn't be bringing out records like this. Read more
C.W. Stoneking is a young, white Australian bloke who shouldn't be bringing out records like this. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Leicester Bangs
Mistah Kurtz, he sing
I've heard some strange albums in my time, and this is among the strangest. The sleeve notes and constructed authenticity have an air of Dr John's Gris-gris while Stoneking's voice... Read more
Published 17 months ago by drbhoneydew
Jungle Blues
I saw this band by accident on the Jules Holland programme and was blown away. The slightly eccentric presentation may have had something to do with the appeal - think Temperance... Read more
Published 18 months ago by robinraegraham
Must have
Feels like new orleans, feels like blues, feels like steamboats, trains and cotton pinking. Stoneking has his unique style, and shows perfection in what he does. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Hillbilly Housewife
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
