Reservation Road - Live - Bill Miller

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Spiritual ,deep, catchy, musically great
Disadvantages:	Some may be deterred by the more traditional elements of the album

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Background
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Before anybody reads and rates this review, I want to stress that this review is for The Red Road album by Bill Miller, and not the live recording. Unfortunately The Red Road was not available to review so this had to suffice. With that being said on with the review. Bill Miller is a native American singer/song writer of some excellence. Born in 1955 his native name is Fush-Ya Heay Aka, meaning bird song. He is from the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican tribe. On February 13th 2005 Bill won a Grammy for best native American music, a fitting accolade showing his tenacity and skill for producing quality music recordings. Bill currently has 15 albums under is belt and The Red Road is his sixth album and follows the Reservation Road- live album.

Album Specifications
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Label: Warner Western
Producer: Richard Bennett
Total Running Time: 55.53
Tracks: 11
Genre: Native American
Released: 1993

The Band
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Bill Miller: Lead Vocals, Flutes, Harmonica, Percussion
David Hoffner: Keyboard, String Arrangement
Sam Bacco: Percussion
Richard Bennett: Guitar
David Pomeroy, Joe Chemay: Bass
Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose: Spoken Voices
Dan Dugmore: Pedal Steel Guitar
John Catchings: Cello
Bob Corbin: Harmony Vocal {Trail of Freedom}
David Davidson, David Angell: Violin
Jim Grosjean: Viola
Robert Mirabel: Flute & Voice {Kokopelli's Journey}

The Red Road
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Track 1: Dreams of Wounded Knee
Opening up the album is an instrumental track. It comprises soft guitar, bass flute to really tantalise the senses. Very traditional with a slightly modern feel. There a couple of very short pieces of the track with native chanting, softly and subtly done. The flute is eerie and haunting, but I surmise that is the purpose since the piece relates to Wounded Knee, the site of an atrocity in the nineteenth century with a Native American massacre, in the genocide programme of the united states government.

Track 2: Praises
A very intriguing track that blends fully the traditional with modern. The track starts with native drumming and chanting, similar to a Pow-Wow. Then it breaks of to nice soft acoustic guitar and Bill's beautiful native voice singing. The song is very spiritual. It is a tribute relating to giving praise to wondrous creations such as the eagle, mountains, streams and so forth. The song keeps building momentum leading to some amazing chanting for brief moments, and it is so full of soul. The song finishes with the traditional method of the song in Pow-Wow style. This is a very cleverly done track

Track 3: Two Hawks
Not my most favourite track but is pleasant enough. This is again an instrumental done solely on the flute. It is a nice piece but lasts to long. The track is symbolic to two hawks dancing on the wind and playing together. It is ok but the beat is yet to come.

Track 4: Reservation Road
One of my most favourite tracks on the album and is so thought provoking. The song is done modern with acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards etc. The song is powerful with great potent drums to reinforce it. The song is blessed by Bills enchanting voice. The song is profoundly about life on the reservation, {modern day prisoner of war camps}. "I was holding on to my grand daddy's hand, we were walking to the promised land that lay beyond reservation road" "He said don't make a promise you won't keep, don't betray the earth that's beneath your feet" and the tears fell on reservation road, and just for that one moment we were racing with the wind, and the sound of horses thundering they echoed once again, back to a place where our hearts and souls belong, a thousand dreams away, from that reservation road. It is also speaking about the hopes and aspirations of going back to that traditional way prior to the reservations. This is very poignant since many native Americans now shun their old traditional ways for modernity, and this is a good encouragement to say that old traditions have as much import as well as new ones. The final point the song makes is about the unpleasantness of being kept on reservations and the poor conditions of some. This is reinforced by the line "I would like to take some senators down reservation road".

Track 5: Tumbleweed
A song with an interesting play on words with the title. This is a song that many people could relate to because although it is in a native American context it is a song tackling the issue of racism. The song tells the story of a man who is an half breed, half native American and half Caucasian. His nickname is tumbleweed because he just drifts from town to town, with no place to go or stay because of the racism. He is so affected that he cannot even read or write which also impacts on his ability to better himself.

Track 6: Faith Of A Child
An interesting compelling song. This track utilises Bills soft lush voice perfectly. A slightly more up tempo track. It is about a woman who has grown up with deformity and the harrowing treatment because of this. The message in the song is when her father tells her "someday your gonna soar like an eagle, you will run and never grow tired, you'll become a new creation, if you just keep the faith of a child" This is from inspiration Bill Miller got about the hardships and struggles in a world full of so many standards of perfection.

Track 7: Many Trails
This is not actually a song, but a traditional story not too dissimilar to Aesops Fables. It is very good and has mass appeal to children since it utilises animals to get the message across. It is a story about the hardships of trying to attain your goals in life.

Track 8: Trail Of Freedom
This song has fantastic harmonica on it. The song is so deep, telling the story of Native Americans in general, and their attempt for autonomy and freedom back in the late eighteen hundreds to present day. It tells about how many had succumbed to alcoholism, and mass genocide. It also talks of their deep intrinsic pride "I have seen it in the beauty of a Navaho girl like a flower in the desert heat, and I've seen it in the eyes of a Cheyenne dancer as he move to an ancient beat" The song is extremely melodic and the harmonica is a real nice addition.

Track 9:Inter-Tribal Pow-Wow
Speaks for itself. A hearty traditional drumming and chanting Pow-Wow

Track 10: Kokopelli's Journey
Great flute and amazing energy. This instrumental starts of mild and builds in spirit, energy and tempo. Some interesting vocals used to symbolise the bird Kokopelli.

Track 11: My People
By far my most favourite track on this album. This is a sad song that makes you think long and hard. Lines such as "My people spread like eagles wings across the valleys and the plains, now the feathers have been broken but the eagle still remains" My people heard the thundering as the iron horse {train} crossed the land, its echoes drowning out the cries of those that could not understand, My people watched the buffalo dying in the sun, whilst those tracks of steel lead to the sea, their will be done" Then in the chorus "and their blood flows through these rivers just like an endless rain, and their hearts are beating louder, than all their years of shame {the white's that murdered them} The song is very catchy with powerful dreams, and great guitar, it is a very haunting track and an amazing way to end the album.

Summary
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The album beautifully combines old traditional music with modern music too. It is deep, spiritual, melodic and thought provoking to say the least. Bill Miller is a great singer and very musically gifted. A well put together album. It is a sensitive, informative, and classy insight into Native American music and modern alternatives. Lastly I want to leave you with a quote from a Bill Miller interview. Bill said,

"I appreciate people who have something to stand up for. I stand up for the truth. If you stand up for what you believe in you have no idea how many people you'll affect."

Available from Amazon as U.S import:
Buy new: £10.49
30 Used & new from £1.89

© Leon………thanks for reading folks