Ramblin' Jack Elliott recorded this 70-minute session in Germany in 1980; 17 years later, it found an American release. Among the 17 selections are many -- "Pretty Boy Floyd," "1913 Massacre," "Buffalo Skinners" -- that are a standard part of
Elliott's
Woody Guthrie-influenced repertoire. "I have been asked, sometimes, why I don't learn new songs,"
Elliott writes in the liner notes. "These are old ones and I have sung them for a long time. They are good and I think they shall always be good." Fair enough, but that doesn't mean it's necessary to record them over and over, or, more to the point, necessary for
Elliott's fans to buy them over and over. But then,
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is not primarily a recording artist, he's a folksinger, and these are the songs he sings. ~ William Ruhlmann