I can’t believe it was ten years ago I first heard it. This album has seeped into more happy memories than any other I’ve ever purchased. It also holds the record of being the most stolen album I have ever owned and is the only album I have ever seen performed in order and in its entirety by a bunch of drunken folk musicians twice… maybe three times… but definitely twice.
From the smack of the first wooden mattock of the Fairfield Four to the last chord and high-wailing harmony of the Stanley Brothers ‘Angel Band’ the original album is pure class. By verse two of Dan Tyminski’s version of ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’ you, and everyone else in the room, will have joined in the chorus. Your spine will tingle as Ralph Stanley begs Death to spare him for another year and then that trio with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss. Remember the sirens scene?
For the 10th Anniversary Deluxe edition, Producer T-Bone Burnett and Universal have allowed us a twelve-track sneak preview of what might have been. No different takes or remixes in evidence here. Some of classic songs like ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain’ are there performed by different singers and bands. There are also a handful of songs that never made it to the film or the equally incredible ‘Down From the Mountain’ concert. Standouts include Ed Lewis and The Prisoners singing ‘Tom Devil’ and Robert Hamlett (Fairfield Four) collaborating with The Peasall sisters on a small but perfectly performed fifty-three second snippet of Angel Band.
I should have been honest from the outset. This wasn’t really a review. It was really a thinly disguised rant on why you need to buy this album. What more can be said about an album that’s already won three Grammy’s, is the number one-selling soundtrack and the 17th highest-selling album of the 21st century?
PS: It’s not standard procedure to add postscripts to reviews but when looking for my current copy of this album I found the box minus the tray card and CDs. Asked one of my mates who had a copy. His copy is missing too!