The Lost Topic Tapes: Isle of Wight 1957 is an album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...

, released in 2004. Elliott recorded a number of albums on the Topic

Topic Records

Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.-History:...

 label in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in the 1950s. The songs on this compilation are taken from rediscovered tapes found in the British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 in London. They were recorded on a yacht at Cowes Harbour

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

 in 1957. Several songs were issued in Britain on Jack Takes the Floor

Jack Takes the Floor

Jack Takes the Floor is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in Great Britain in 1958. The original release was a 10-inch LP.-Reissues:...

.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Steve Leggett wrote the album "Brooklyn's most famous folk cowboy, Ramblin' Jack Elliott was part genuine preservationist and part a walking, talking pastiche of Woody Guthrie crossed with a back-porch Appalachian moonshiner. The public act sometimes gets in the way of the fact that Elliott was an excellent interpreter of American traditional folk material, carefully representing its styles and rhythms on guitar and banjo, and he duplicated rural vocal nuances with purposeful precision..."

Track listing

1. "Intro" – 0:49
2. "T for Texas" (Jimmie Rodgers
   Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
   James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
   
   ) – 4:08
3. "Howdido" (Woody Guthrie
   Woody Guthrie
   Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
   
   ) – 1:49
4. "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say" (Jelly Roll Morton
   Jelly Roll Morton
   Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
   
   ) – 2:16
5. "Crash on the Highway" (Dorsey M. Dixon) – 2:16
6. "Candy Man" (Reverend Gary Davis
   Reverend Gary Davis
   Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica...
   
   ) – 1:28
7. "Ballad of John Henry" (Traditional) – 2:21
8. "Car Song" (Guthrie) – 2:13
9. "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" (Traditional) – 3:35
10. "Old Blue" (Traditional) – 2:49
11. "Don't You Leave Me Here" (Guthrie) – 1:35
12. "Why Oh Why" (Guthrie) – 1:54
13. "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" (Traditional) – 3:24
14. "Oklahoma Hills" (Guthrie) – 2:11
15. "Rock Island Line" (Traditional) – 5:16
16. "Closing/Railroad Bill" (Traditional) – 0:41

Personnel

• Ramblin' Jack Elliott
  Ramblin' Jack Elliott
  Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
  
  – vocals, guitar

Production notes:

• Bruce Bromberg – project supervisor
• Larry Sloven – project supervisor
• Richard Swettenham – engineer
• Bill Leader – assistant engineer
• Bob Stone – editing, remastering
• Dick Reeves – graphic design

External links

• Ramblin' Jack Elliott Illustrated discography