First time I visit their website.. (Thanks for the link Matt).
I have Dominos & Bon Reve CDs in my collection. I noticed about a hald dozen more in their store (see link above). In your opinion, which one should be the next one I get? What are the caracteristics that differentiate them from one another?
I suggest "Friday At Last" without hesitation. It is more traditional than some of the others from the same time period. I did not care for "Bayou Ruler" all that much, as it was veering too much into a Rock vein for my taste. Hey, I like Rock just fine, but that CD didn't work all that well as Rock, and it didn't work that well as Cajun either. It had some nice moments for sure, but I prefer "Friday At Last" hands down.
I also like their first two CDs too. They hadn't matured as a band yet, but there is some great stuff on them.
Dear Maz
They are all classics (in my humble opinion).
The first one is the most traditional.
The recent ones have great songwriting
wonderful, creative
addition s to the repertoire.
I know that someone said they purchased the dvd at Balfa Camp. Can anyone tell the rest of us what is on the beginner disc? What songs does he cover? What techniques?
I'm definitely interested, but if he covers the same things as Dirk Powell, then I'd probably be better off moving on to Riley's intermediate dvd.
without a doubt - 'trace of time'
what a perfect record
and the 'live at the eunice vfw' one, that
one is from the same period
[i was almost there when it was recorded :) ]
I think they are all good, especially his debut on Rounder -- "'Tit Galop Pour Mamou" -- that's my favorite.
His release, "Happy Town" is kinda ... just weird. I think he was attempting to try his hand at rock/Americana and it just wasn't his bag. But ya can't slam a guy for trying -- I still like that one after a few beers.
If you've got Dominoes, pshaw... you got the best one in my opinion.
To be perfectly honest, the first ever Steve Riley record always struck me as the best modern Cajun album. It was recorded in Zach Richard's garage/studio and bears little polish or digital magic.
There's a raw energy in those songs that I haven't heard in a Steve Riley record since.
Peter Schwartz -- who incidently was featured in an NY Times article yesterday -- told me he always thought Steve's singing sounded like "a mouthful of marbles" on record #1. As for myself, I think his singing is outstanding.
Highlights include "Eunice Waltz" and "Port Arthur Blues". Those are my favorite verions of those tunes.
No collection should be without it.
And yes, "Bayou Ruler" is truly awful. I remember cringing when listening to it at a music store in Montreal. Hey, everyone needs to experiment.
hey
i like that record
i wouldn;t recommend it until a person had
another, say, 100 or so more 'regular'
sounding cajun records, though
when they used to play songs from it live,
you could kind of understand it more
they were really electrifying to hear live
something about that one didn;t come across
on the record
though clearly they didn;t intend for it to
be anything traditional
i really think the music is first rate
the boys are truly some of the best
musicians playing in any kind of music
I understand how a traditional music fan might not like the more experimental sides of the Mamou Playboys recordings. However, every culture needs both traditionalists and trailblazers. Somebody has to invent something if ever it is going to get "revived"!
In my humble opinion, David Greeley's songwriting is a tremendous contribution to the cajun culture and to francophone musical culture everywhere in the world, period, point, c'est tout.
These guys are a great team, taking the cajun sound through the of the turn of the latest millenium.
Nick,
I paid about $26 a piece for Dirk Powell's dvds, and Wilson Savoy's is priced at $25. I think that the $25 dollar price range is fair, both for instructor and buyers.
Keeping in mind Steve Riley's reputation, I guess I can understand why his are priced higher, but I'm also mindful that sometimes the most skilled artists are NOT the most skilled teachers. Sometimes, it's better to learn from someone who had to really work at his/her craft. So, for me it's all about the quality of instruction.
Personally, I think I'm going to have to make a choice between his dvds, because I can't see my way to spending $70 on two dvds.
Didn't you say you were thinking of doing an instructional dvd, Nick?
Big Nick,
At the risk of sounding like a suck-up, I have to say that I've found your Box Lesson site extremely useful.
There was a two-week lag time between when I received my accordion and when I received my first instructional dvd; and during that time, I used your site to learn some of the basics.
And even after working through Dirk Powell's two dvds, I still refer back to your site. In fact, your piece-by-piece breakdown for "La Porte d'en Arriere" probably worked better for me than any other teaching method has. I certainly learned the basic framework of that song faster than any other song yet.
In fact, one of the things I find most frustrating about most instructional dvds is that the teacher assumes that the student's ability to learn music by ear progresses just as fast as the student's ability to play the box. In my case, this isn't true at all. I've learned to play a number of songs, to play in octaves, to incorporate the left side of the box, and to add ornaments.
But that doesn't mean that I've also learned how to easily learn a song by ear.
For me, learning a new song by ear means spending an hour or so picking notes and guessing. Then I have to write down a tablature. And only then do I begin to alter/ornament the song in a way that seems fitting. (And all of this is hard to do with a full-time job during the day and a child in the house at night).
The fact that you supply tablature and music for "Lacassine Special" or provide a piece-by-piece approach for "La Porte d'en Arriere" is helpful because it has enabled me to expand my repertoire without as much time spent in guessing notes. And, in turn, my larger repertoire has probably kept me practicing more often and for longer than I would have if I was restricted to the same 2 or 3 songs.
I started this link awhile ago;so forgive me for repeating myself. This is a must have. It is not a beginner DVD. You hve to have the basics down from Dirk's Vid. But, if yu want to sound like a cajun player, you need to learn the techniques that are finally revealed clearly, logically and in a manner that can be practiced and learned. Using them creatively is what seperates players and that can't be taught. But, you can learn the techniques that are unique to the genre and then take them as far as you can.
Wilson Savoy produced it but I don't see it yet on his website above. The only one there as of today is Steve's Intermediate DVD which is also a must have. Email Wilson and he'll let you know when it is officially released. There was a minor glitch in the advanced copy so perhaps that has delayed it.