Bryars: Jesus's Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Product Details

Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0028943882323
Label : Philips
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 1993-06-08
Running Time : 75minutes
UPC : 028943882323

ASIN : B0000040UT

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. 1. Tramp with Orchestra (string quartet) - Hampton String Quartet, Orchestra, Michael Riesman
2. 2. Tramp with Orchestra (low strings) - Orchestra, Michael Riesman
3. 3. Tramp with Orchestra (no strings) - Orchestra, Michael Riesman
4. 4. Tramp with Orchestra (full strings) - Orchestra, Michael Riesman
5. 5. Tramp and Tom Waits with full Orchestra - Tom Waits, Orchestra, Michael Riesman
6. 6. Coda: Tom Waits with High Strings - Tom Waits, Orchestra, Michael Riesman

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

This late minimalist, 74-minute piece for orchestra and tape has had, and continues to have, a near-legendary effect on its audience. It's the rare work created specifically to tug gently at one's heartstrings that actually does, and not subtly, either. It starts with a found recording of a homeless man singing a halting, simple melody looped over and over. Then Bryars builds and buttresses this with a full orchestra brought in incrementally, from the first carefully placed short pendulum string sweep to, 10 minutes from the end, the gravelly-voiced singer Tom Waits joins in. It's an obvious but effective work--appealing to all the basics of our emotional nervous system, but still tragically beautiful. --Robin Edgerton

Customer Reviews

Don't mistake Tom waits for anything (2007-08-14)

What has he to do on this wonderful record?He's just pretending to be down and out.He's kitsch.Manie'!Does anyone Know where I can get this honest statement(The CD)without him profaneering this hymn?RATZO

Minimalism for listeners who loathe minimalism (2007-07-24)

As a classical music listener who hates the music of Glass, Adams etc, as being puerile, this cd is an exception. I already have Sinking the Titanic by Bryars, but this piece is even more gripping and extremely moving. The poor man sings of his simple faith in a world which has let him down. Over and over again is his lament heard, with growing additions by Bryars. This is complelling stuff and would move the heart of a stone donkey, it had me in floods of tears - and I am not one to cry usually.The piece is a masterpiece!

A piece that will repay the time invested in listening to it (2005-02-27)

Gavin Bryars' premise is simple and yet extremely effective. He made a loop of a homeless man, a tramp, singing an innocent childlike religious ditty, and created a minimalist symphony around it. The old man keeps singing the same verse throughout the 74 odd minutes, over and over, while the backing orchestra accompanies as a quartet, with strings, with horns, with no strings, and other variations. At the climax, the old man is joined by Tom Waits, who has made a career out of being a counterfeit wino. Waits initially seems like the perfect choice of accompaniment to the old man, his voice gravely and sad at times, but then booming and strong; never do I believe that Waits has anything to worry about, and certainly does not need the help of Jesus. The old man however is sad, melancholy, nostalgic, and finally, hopeless; by the end of the recording he sounds like a defeated man, someone in desperate need of help, a child (and yet the listener knows that no help is coming, ever). While Waits accompaniment initially sounds like a good idea, and I think this was what drew me to this recording in the first instance, I was left wondering whether the recording would have been better, maybe less theatrical and more real, without him.

This is a beautiful recording, if somewhat overlong. Bryars has taken 20 seconds of recorded material, almost ambient in the way it was captured, and spun a deeply moving piece of music around it. This is not easy listening; do not put this on in the background as you cook. This requires you to sit down and listen. As such its unlikely to be played very often, but on those odd occasions, when its raining outside, you are alone, and you wish to drift into a world of melancholy for an hour or so, this is a fine portal.

mesmerising (2005-01-14)

this is a simply spellbinding piece of work.i just happened to tune into radio 3 during late junction and caught the last ten minuits or so, and it so moved me it cant be put into words.the old man,s voice on its own takes you to such a melancoly state that i defy anyone not to be touched.the saddest music i,ve ever heard.

Incredible (2004-11-11)

This piece really is a life-changing experience. A minimalist work of epic proportions, it uses as its main subject a loop of a old tramp's simple song of faith, combining it with a shifting, kaleidoscopic set of accompaniments to produce a curiously moving yet uplifting piece. Be warned - this is not for everyone; it will be too long for some, while others will dismiss it as too repetitive. But if you're like me, after a few minutes you won't be able to stop listening (I stayed glued to the spot for the full hour and a quarter), and you won't want it to end. This is one of very few pieces which has moved me almost to tears. Astonishing.

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