Search - Gabriel Yared :: Return to Cold Mountain

Teri K. from GLEN CARBON, IL
Reviewed on 9/1/2006...

A VERY NICE CD....

Nice acoustic, unassuming, old-timeyish set

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 06/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a review about this album, not about the movie "Cold Mountain," (which I thought was pretty lousy). The good news is that the music on here doesn't actually have much to do with "Cold Mountain," other than its being (mostly) Appalachian mountain music, and that the label seems to be hoping it can cash in on the film's name the same way other labels cashed in on the "O Brother" phenomenon a few years ago.This is actually a fairly sweet old-timey/folkie album, with standards like "Pretty Polly," "Shady Grove," "Lorena," and "Old Joe Clark," some of which date back the Civil War era, and others that, curiously, do not (like the anachronistic gangster ballad, "Back In '29," which makes reference to the most decidedly post-Antebellum automobile...) The opportunistic "O Brother"-ish marketing gambit is a little cheesy, but the album is not. Some heavy hitters like David Holt and Jim Lauderdale appear on here, but most of the musicians are folks I've never heard of, which is always nice... Many, it appears, are North Carolina natives. Not a bad little set."

Seven Excellent Tunes

K. Giorlando | Eastpointe, Michigan United States | 03/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I do not fully understand why, when this collection is supposed to be based on the movie/book of the Civil War era, they would add music of a later era. There are many songs of the mid 19th century that could have been included other than "Back in '29."

I must say, also, that I am not particularly fond of "Cold Mountain Waltz," "Georgie," and the way "Old John Hardy" and "Pretty Polly" are done.

Now for the good:

The rest of the tunes (seven of them) are excellent. I absolutely love Laura Boosinger's "Shady Grove," which truly takes me to another time and place, and the Lewis, Lewis, and Lewis' version of "Whoopie Liza Jane" is simply great. The instrumental "Black Mountain Rag" shows some very fine guitar work, and this version of "Farther Along" is one of the best I have heard yet.

Done in an Appalachian style (the 'Cold Mountain' movie concentrates itself in Appalachia, hence the reason for the Rebel feel), these seven tunes remind me of how music may have sounded in a small mountain town during the mid-19th century.

Because of the great songs I cited, I feel this would make a fine addition to your period music collection."