A Chrestomathy | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 1992 | |||
Recorded | 1960-1991 | |||
Genre | Folk | |||
Label | Gazell | |||
Producer | Dave Van Ronk | |||
Dave Van Ronk chronology | ||||
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A Chrestomathy is a retrospective two-CD compilation of songs by Dave Van Ronk released in 1992. Its liner notes explain the title: "CHRES-TO-MA-THY: a selection of choice passages. WHICH MEANS THIS IS A SELECTION OF CHOICE WORKS FROM MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS OF DAVE'S MUSIC ON RECORDS."[1]
Van Ronk recorded for many record labels. This compilation was released by Gazell Records.
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Writing for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of the album "his affection for the pop music of his childhood ("Two Sleepy People," sung with Christine Lavin, "Swinging on a Star"), makes for a more varied chrestomathy than those who think of Dave Van Ronk simply as a folksinger might expect. It's hard to summarize more than three decades in the career of a steadily working musician in less than two hours, even one who recorded in as piecemeal a fashion as this one, but this compilation does a good job."[2]
Track listing
Disc 1
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Tell Old Bill" | Traditional | 4:24 |
2. | "Cocaine Blues" | Luke Jordan | 4:19 |
3. | "Motherless Children" | Traditional | 3:51 |
4. | "Poor Lazarus" | Traditional | 5:11 |
5. | "Mr Noah" | Traditional | 1:32 |
6. | "Come Back Baby" | Traditional | 3:52 |
7. | "If I Had to Do It All Over Again" | Bob Dylan | 3:34 |
8. | "Kentucky Moonshiner" | Traditional | 2:40 |
9. | "Fair and Tender Ladies" | Traditional | 5:42 |
10. | "Alley Oop" | Frazier, Kaverin | 3:39 |
11. | "Chelsea Morning" | Joni Mitchell | 2:37 |
12. | "Clouds" | Mitchell | 4:38 |
13. | "Swinging on a Star" | Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen | 2:37 |
14. | "Dink's Song" | Traditional | 3:34 |
15. | "Romping Through the Swamp" | Stampfel | 1:59 |
- Tracks 10-15 originally on The Hudson Dusters
Disc 2
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "My Little Grass Shack" | Cogswell, Harrison, Nobel | 3:39 |
2. | "You's a Viper" | 2:35 | |
3. | "Temptation Rag" | Lodge | 3:10 |
4. | "Stealin'" | Shade | 3:15 |
5. | "John Hurt" | Paxton | 3:14 |
6. | "Sunday Street" | Van Ronk | 3:29 |
7. | "The Entertainer" | Scott Joplin | 4:57 |
8. | "Candy Man" | Davis | 3:05 |
9. | "Teddy Bear's Picnic" | Bratton, Kennedy | 3:07 |
10. | "Mack the Knife" | Brecht, Weill | 2:36 |
11. | "Tango Ballad" | Bratton, Kennedy | 4:44 |
12. | "Losers" | Van Ronk | 3:14 |
13. | "Garden State Stomp" | Van Ronk | 3:33 |
14. | "Two Sleepy People" | Carmichael, Frank Loesser | 3:38 |
15. | "The Fresno Shuffle" | Frandsen | 2:47 |
- Track 1 originally on Songs for Ageing Children
- Tracks 2-4 originally on The Ragtime Jug Stompers
- Track 9 originally on Peter and the Wolf
- Tracks 10-11 originally on Let No One Deceive You
References
- ↑ "Dave Van Ronk - A Chrestomathy". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
- 1 2 Ruhlman, William. "A Chrestomathy Review". Allmusic. Retrieved June 15, 2011.