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PETE SEEGER
Seeds: The Songs Of Pete Seeger Vol 3
Appleseed APR CD 1072
The voice is a little aged and creaky but the commitment shines undiminished from this 84-year-old icon of the protest movement. Driven for more than six decades by a passion to sing out for peace and justice, Pete Seeger has been blacklisted, jailed and celebrated for his life's work, latterly appearing on stage to receive awards as much as to perform his music.
Seeger's songs of social and racial injustice, peace and war, pollution and poverty exemplify the folk process: original lyrics and tunes go into the melting pot along with extant poetry, political anthems from other lands, traditional folk melodies and banjo renditions of Bach and Beethoven to cook up a body of work that's inspired generations and become common currency across the world at political, ecological and humanitarian events.
Disc One of this 2-CD set, Pete And Friends, contains 14 recent performances by Seeger, performed solo or with family and friends including Arlo Guthrie, Anne Hills and Tom Pacheco. Classic cut here is Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam), written in 1966, updated in 2003 to encompass the war in Iraq, and performed alongside Billy Bragg, Steve Earle and Ani DiFranco.
If Seeger's rather didactic delivery isn't your cup of tea, there's lots more to go at on Disc Two, Friends Of Pete, where a host of Atlantic-spanning stars including Tom Paxton, Peggy Seeger, Jessica and Martin Simpson, Natalie Merchant and actress Michele Green make new recordings of Seeger songs. Dick Gaughan turns in a fierce, stark Bells of Rhymney, Janis Ian a beautiful Who Killed Norma Jean?
In the words of producer Jim Musselman, "It took a trilogy encompassing five CDs to even begin to touch the depth and breadth of the effect of his music around the world." As a seed-sower, they don't come any better.
Mel McClellan - 2004
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Folk & Acoustic
