Away Out on the Mountain

Amazon.com
Tim O'Brien, the former leader of Hot Rize, grew up singing harmonies with his sister Mollie at Catholic folk masses in Wheeling, West Virginia. The two redheads are still blending voices, and their third album together, Away out on the Mountain, recalls the special sibling chemistry of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's best recordings. The O'Briens sing beautifully--with Tim's twangy tenor putting the twist into Mollie's pure, full-bodied soprano--but just as important is their ability to pick great songs and arrange them imaginatively. Neither O'Brien wrote any of the 14 songs on this album, but their choices betray a commitment to the strain of rural American music that runs through the folk, blues, bluegrass, country, and pop genres, marked by an unassuming stoicism in bad times and a wry humor in good. --Geoffrey Himes

Tracks:

Oklahoma!
Carousel
State Fair
South Pacific
The King And I
Cinderella Waltz
Flower Drum Song
The Sound Of Music

Customer Reviews:

Irresistible.......2005-07-29

From beginning to end this CD is pure delight. A great recording has great music, a great performance, and great sound; this one scores on all three counts.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals dominated Broadway in the 1940s and 1950s, and American musical theater has produced no more consistently eloquent and durable voice than Richard Rodgers. From his fertile genius flowed a surprising number of memorable songs, many of which have passed into and become an accepted and beloved part of modern American culture.

This well-filled CD (77:36) features symphonic arrangements (all but two by Robert Russell Bennett) of the music from Oklahoma (1943), Carousel (1945), State Fair (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), Flower Drum Song (1958), and The Sound of Music (1959). All the great tunes are here in suites from each musical that average 10-12 minutes in length. The arrangements are expert: rich, varied, and colorful. The performances are polished, idiomatic, and irresistible; Kunzel and this orchestra are thorough masters of this kind of material. And Telarc's sound (recorded 1991) is state-of-the-art (engineer Michael Bishop deserves to take a bow).

In short, there's nothing here to cloud your listening pleasure (the only quibble I can imagine is that some of your favorites may not last long enough), so it's hard for me to envision anyone with ears and a taste for music who wouldn't enjoy this CD. Warmly recommended. Finally, if you like this one as much as I do, you might want to know that the same team has produced a companion volume, the Lerner & Lowe Songbook for Orchestra.

"Some Enchanted Evening" with Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops.......2003-12-26

Erich Kunzel's Rodgers and Hammerstein anthology with the Cincinatti Pops Orchestra is one of the best and most ravishing instrumental Rodgers and Hammerstein albums of all time. With sumptuous arrangements and warm, natural Telarc recording, this glorious 77-minute CD presents sweeping, melodic arrangements of over 60 Rodgers and Hammerstein selections, spanning eight scores, and Kunzel allows the Pops to play with a characterful and polished understanding of the Rodgers and Hammerstein idiom. The disc is enough to cheer you up on a dull day and make you smile, and it might even want to make you feel like a convert to Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals.

This CD has all the scores arranged chronologically. The OKLAHOMA! suite that opens this disc promises a feast for the senses, Kunzel ably evokes the territory's "bright, golden haze" in the way he conducts the various excerpts, until you feel the atmosphere of the country charm of the show, and the love-affair between Curly and Laurey. Then, in CAROUSEL, he ably evokes the pathos of this tragic R&H masterwork, especially in the truncated Waltz, but he leads a wonderfully melodic "June is Bustin' Out All Over" and a devotional "You'll Never Walk Alone." Although this suite does not include Billy's pivotal Soliloquy, it includes "If I Loved You" as an expression of his love for Julie, and within minutes you could be soaked in the ups and downs of the show's mood.

After a brief STATE FAIR suite, with sweeping renditions of "It Might As Well Be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing", we are brought into the disc's showstopping highlights. These highlights are the excerpts from SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. But yet Kunzel conducts the rest of the disc until the various suites amount to a series of showstoppers. These three suites present wonderfully-arranged versions of their many familiar classic songs, with well-played solos. The SOUTH PACIFIC suite presents the songs in chronological order, yet preserves the atmosphere of the show at the same time. Kunzel ably brings out the romance in "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Younger than Springtime," and contrasts it with the exotic and dreamlike "Bali Hai'i" and the comic "There is Nothing like a Dame" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair". Although the suite ends quietly with a reprise of "Dites-Moi" rather than the reprise of "Some Enchanted Evening," within minutes we are swept into the KING AND I suite. Kunzel ably brings out the Oriental pathos in this score, and he captures the warmth of Anna's rapport with the King's Siamese children in "Getting to Know You", and with the King himself in "Shall We Dance." There is also romance in the love ballads "I Have Dreamed" and "We Kiss in a Shadow." Similarly, in the selection from THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Kunzel conducts this until the orchestra soaks itself in the atmosphere of this Austrian R&H score. This SOUND OF MUSIC suite has more of a feel of the score compared to the bonus track on Sony's reissued version of the Broadway recording. You can almost feel as if you are following the progress of the Trapp family and how it lifts its spirits with the joy of music. Kunzel gives us a soaring version of the title song, and spirited versions of "Do-Re-Mi" and "My Favourite Things." He balances it with the open-air quality of "Edelweiss" and "The Lonely Goatherd." Although this suite could have included "Something Good," the love ballad written for the film, the three recollections of the songs that were cut from the movie only last for a while. And, the towering version of "Climb Every Mountain" crowns this portion of the disc, and this sumptuously-produced recording. But, I should also mention the infectuous FLOWER DRUM SONG medley, where Kunzel turns this underrated score into a work of art, until it convinces you to buy the cast recording. And, don't forget about the brief CINDERELLA WALTZ, too, when Kunzel conducts it magically, until you feel like you are in the company of Cinderella and the Prince. He is able to show how this R&H score marked a comeback for R&H after the failiures of Me and Juliet, and Pipe Dream.

Overall, this glorious Rodgers and Hammerstein recording is guarunteed to make you want to pucker your lips out for a whistle or sing along (to paraphrase another revew for Kunzel's Disney Spectacular disc) - even if this recording is music only, and as long as you know the words to the songs (and you might know a large handful of them already.) There is always a certain magic in this fine CD that makes you feel like you're sitting in the theatre watching these musicals, until it makes you feel like it is truly, to borrow two R&H song titles, "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Something Wonderful" to be in Kunzel's company for this R&H offering. It would certainly be one recording that could make you feel willing to buy the complete cast recordings of the shows. And I guaruntee that it will make you feel willing to pull out your existing copies of the cast recordings to listen to them again. I also guaruntee that it will be a cornerstone in any Rodgers and Hammerstein collection, just as it is in mine. Recommended heartily to any Rodgers and Hammerstein enthusiast and to fans of Erich Kunzel's work. And, you can play it while reading the Richard Rodgers biography, Musical Stages, until Rodgers himself would count this as his favourite disc in the afterlife.

By the way, most of the arrangements for the suites on this CD were done by the veteran R&H orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett, and it surely adds to the appeal of this recording. This itself is enough to amount to the icing on the cake, since Kunzel conducts them well on here, and since this recording still allows the suites to have the original theatrical atmosphere. And, although this recording is like the Mauceri collection of the Rodgers & Hammerstein overtures in compiling orchestral suites of Rodgers & Hammerstein, I think that I like the Kunzel recording even more because Kunzel has more magic in his conducting of these suites.

Excellent!.......2003-04-08

This is one of the best Erich Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops collections we own! A must for Rodgers and Hammerstein fans, too.

Great Arrangments.......2001-09-02

This is a first rate album with great arrangments and orchestrations. If you're a Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, you can't afford to miss this specatacular album

Average customer rating:

A Wonderful Collection of Songs
just try it
I just keep comin' back...
FOLK MUSIC AFFICIONADO FROM SEATTLE
FOLK MUSIC AFFICIONADO FROM SEATTLE

Away Out on the Mountain
Tim O'Brien
Manufacturer: Sugarhill [Country]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music

General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music

General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music

Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Bluegrass | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B000000F3J
Release Date: 1994-06-28

Tracks:

Away Out On The Mountain
Wichita
Orphan Girl
He Lifts Me
When I Was A Cowboy
Tragic Romance
Don't Let Me Come Home A Stranger
Home By The Sea
Price To Pay
That's How I Learned To Sing The Blues
Bad Day (Hole In Your Shoe)
When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
Father Adieu

Amazon.com

Tim O'Brien, the former leader of Hot Rize, grew up singing harmonies with his sister Mollie at Catholic folk masses in Wheeling, West Virginia. The two redheads are still blending voices, and their third album together, Away out on the Mountain, recalls the special sibling chemistry of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's best recordings. The O'Briens sing beautifully--with Tim's twangy tenor putting the twist into Mollie's pure, full-bodied soprano--but just as important is their ability to pick great songs and arrange them imaginatively. Neither O'Brien wrote any of the 14 songs on this album, but their choices betray a commitment to the strain of rural American music that runs through the folk, blues, bluegrass, country, and pop genres, marked by an unassuming stoicism in bad times and a wry humor in good. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Collection of Songs.......2005-04-01

Tim O'Brien is a founding member of Hot Rize, a gifted songwriter, and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist. On this 1994 release he combines forces with his oldest sister for a stunning tour de force of old timey country/folk/gospel/bluegrass music that will raise your spirits and soothe your soul. Tim and Mollie's voices blend beautifully, and the sparse instrumentation throughout keeps the emphasis squarely on their vocal harmonies.

The songs are a mix of the old and new. Among the former, they perform a toe-tapping version of Leadbelly's "When I Was a Cowboy" and a lovely version of A.P. Carter's "Home By the Sea" with the accordian adding a mournful tone to the proceedings. Among the newer tunes are two from a then unknown Gillian Welch: the bouncy nastolgic "Wichita" and the melancholic "Orphan Girl," which Welch would later record on her 1996 debut. They also cover Lucinda Williams' sorrowful "Price To Pay."

In the liner notes, they state: "What ties it all together are great musicians, great songwriters, and our own philosophy of life, 'It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.'" And they do it beautifully. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

just try it.......2003-07-16

After hearing the first song I was hooked....I can't remember the last time that music had affected me this way. There is something irresistable and compelling about it. The title tune drifts through my mind at all times of the day; my toddler dances and claps her hands to it. I suspect there are many Tim O'brien fans out there who know what I mean. For those who have never heard him (or his sister)this is a great place to start......and then you can write your own 5 star review!

I just keep comin' back..........2003-03-05

This is a CD I just keep comin' back to, year after year. I listened again after seeing Tim in concert here last weekend as I did after seeing Mollie solo last year; separately, they're very good--together they're superb. The music on this recording is wonderful in all regards, their energy is great, the engineering is excellent. One of my top 25 recordings...

FOLK MUSIC AFFICIONADO FROM SEATTLE.......2001-06-05

I found this album trying to find someone who did Wichita written by Gillian Welch. I found Tim and Mollie O'brien and I am impressed with their harmonies and the beautiful way they deliver their songs about everyday people. I play it over and over because it just makes me feel good.

FOLK MUSIC AFFICIONADO FROM SEATTLE.......2001-06-05

Music Album:

Music Album