Track listing
Show track credits
- A1 He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
- A2 Sail Away Ladies, Sail Away
- A3 The Gallows Pole
- A4 Lowlands
- A5 The Fox
- A6 Maybe She Go
-
Mary Kathryn Delaplaincomposer
-
- A7 The Lass From the Low Countree
-
composer
-
- A8 Timber
-
composer
-
- B1 Deep River
- B2 Chilly Winds
- B3 Green Sleeves
- B4 Devilish Mary
- B5 All the Pretty Little Horses
- B6 The Midnight Special
-
composer
-
- B7 Take This Hammer
Rate/Catalog
Catalog
Set listening
Review
To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right.
5 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
-
At the Gate of Horn [p] 33 rpm, Mono
-
At the Gate of Horn 33 rpm
-
-
At the Gate of Horn Remastered
-
At the Gate of Horn 33 rpm
2 Reviews
This is a classic Folk release.
Odetta plays her guitar and on most of the songs, she's accompanied by an acoustic bass played by Bill Lee (film director Spike Lee's father). Her voice is something you'll never forget.
Odetta plays her guitar and on most of the songs, she's accompanied by an acoustic bass played by Bill Lee (film director Spike Lee's father). Her voice is something you'll never forget.
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
Despite the title, this is Odetta’s second studio LP as a solo artist. She sings and accompanies herself on guitar, with some added unobtrusive (and uncredited, but supposedly by Bill Lee, Spike Lee’s father) string bass.
Odetta’s compelling vocal style ensured that pretty much anything she put to record would be memorable, but this album feels like it falls just short of full realization of her potential. Like many folk albums of the time, it suffers a bit from the inclusion of several songs that were even then regarded as chestnuts and now seem unfortunately all too overfamiliar, while some of the more obscure material is less than outstanding compositionally… also, the songs lean perhaps a little too much towards music of the British Isles and Appalachia rather than the African American music at which she particularly shone, and what African American songs there are tend to have rather subdued trad-folk treatments that seem to keep her from really doing full justice to them. In addition, it seems like Odetta had yet to perfect the art of really inhabiting a song, of tailoring her prodigious vocal abilities to bring out its essence; there are times when the delivery comes across as overly mannered, or perhaps a bit overdone.
Side A opens with the hoariest of the chestnuts, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” with one nonstandard verse and some unusual chord progressions, but given a pretty straightforward treatment overall. The next track, “Sail Away Ladies,” is an Appalachian reel, perhaps best known for its tagline “Don’t you rock me daddy-o;” then comes the familiar “Gallows Tree,” followed by “Lowlands” (aka “Lowlands Away”), a rather lugubrious ballad probably originating from the British Isles but adapted by African Americans. (At the time of recording, in the waning years of McCarthyism, this song held special significance for its brief but unmistakable reference to civil rights – “Five dollars a day is white man’s pay/Dollar and a half is Black man’s pay.”) “The Fox,” which comes next, is a children’s song delivered with a humorous approach that Odetta apparently liked to adopt for such material… it doesn’t really work for me; her voice, so magnificently suited to convey deep emotion, stumbles over the task of being frolicsome. The following track, “Maybe She Go,” is one of my favorites on tthr album, even though it apparently isn’t “folk” – according to the liner notes, it was written by Mary Kathryn Delaplain, and is in a sort of Caribbean patois. The side ends with two more songs that are attributed in the liner notes to 20th century composers, but probably draw heavily on traditional sources – the morose “Lass of the Low Countree,” which sounds like a Scottish ballad and is attributed to John Jacob Niles, the “dean of American balladeers,” and “Timber,” which sounds like an African American work song and is attributed to Sam Gary… musically, it bears some resemblance to “Sixteen Tons,” but lyrically the mood is exuberant and boastful rather than fatalistic.
Side B starts with the stately spiritual “Deep River,” followed by “Chilly Winds,” which is sort of a mash-up of songs such as “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” and “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor.” Then comes the well-known English ballad “Greensleeves,” after which the mood shifts radically with the broadly humorous Appalachian reel “Devilish Mary.” The LP wraps up with three folk standards – the eerie lullaby “Pretty Horses” (aka “Hush-a-Bye” or “All the Pretty Little Horses”), “Midnight Special,” and “Take This Hammer.”
Odetta’s compelling vocal style ensured that pretty much anything she put to record would be memorable, but this album feels like it falls just short of full realization of her potential. Like many folk albums of the time, it suffers a bit from the inclusion of several songs that were even then regarded as chestnuts and now seem unfortunately all too overfamiliar, while some of the more obscure material is less than outstanding compositionally… also, the songs lean perhaps a little too much towards music of the British Isles and Appalachia rather than the African American music at which she particularly shone, and what African American songs there are tend to have rather subdued trad-folk treatments that seem to keep her from really doing full justice to them. In addition, it seems like Odetta had yet to perfect the art of really inhabiting a song, of tailoring her prodigious vocal abilities to bring out its essence; there are times when the delivery comes across as overly mannered, or perhaps a bit overdone.
Side A opens with the hoariest of the chestnuts, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” with one nonstandard verse and some unusual chord progressions, but given a pretty straightforward treatment overall. The next track, “Sail Away Ladies,” is an Appalachian reel, perhaps best known for its tagline “Don’t you rock me daddy-o;” then comes the familiar “Gallows Tree,” followed by “Lowlands” (aka “Lowlands Away”), a rather lugubrious ballad probably originating from the British Isles but adapted by African Americans. (At the time of recording, in the waning years of McCarthyism, this song held special significance for its brief but unmistakable reference to civil rights – “Five dollars a day is white man’s pay/Dollar and a half is Black man’s pay.”) “The Fox,” which comes next, is a children’s song delivered with a humorous approach that Odetta apparently liked to adopt for such material… it doesn’t really work for me; her voice, so magnificently suited to convey deep emotion, stumbles over the task of being frolicsome. The following track, “Maybe She Go,” is one of my favorites on tthr album, even though it apparently isn’t “folk” – according to the liner notes, it was written by Mary Kathryn Delaplain, and is in a sort of Caribbean patois. The side ends with two more songs that are attributed in the liner notes to 20th century composers, but probably draw heavily on traditional sources – the morose “Lass of the Low Countree,” which sounds like a Scottish ballad and is attributed to John Jacob Niles, the “dean of American balladeers,” and “Timber,” which sounds like an African American work song and is attributed to Sam Gary… musically, it bears some resemblance to “Sixteen Tons,” but lyrically the mood is exuberant and boastful rather than fatalistic.
Side B starts with the stately spiritual “Deep River,” followed by “Chilly Winds,” which is sort of a mash-up of songs such as “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” and “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor.” Then comes the well-known English ballad “Greensleeves,” after which the mood shifts radically with the broadly humorous Appalachian reel “Devilish Mary.” The LP wraps up with three folk standards – the eerie lullaby “Pretty Horses” (aka “Hush-a-Bye” or “All the Pretty Little Horses”), “Midnight Special,” and “Take This Hammer.”
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
Votes are used to help determine the most interesting content on RYM.
Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term.
Vote down content which breaks the rules.
Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term.
Vote down content which breaks the rules.
Catalog
15 May 2024
14 May 2024
10 May 2024
27 Apr 2024
26 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024
16 Apr 2024
8 Apr 2024
8 Apr 2024
4 Apr 2024
3 Apr 2024
1 Apr 2024
26 Mar 2024
20 Mar 2024
16 Mar 2024