Many a Mile

This is the last of the Buffy Sainte-Marie Vanguard catalog to be released on CD – IT’S ABOUT TIME! I saw that this was available a few years back and tried more than once to order it. Each time I waited and waited, and was eventually informed that the release of this record had been cancelled. I don’t know what the real cause of the many delays getting this great album released on CD, but I have a feeling that at least part of the problem was due to degraded master tapes (some of the early CD releases of Joan Baez’s Vanguard catalog have clearly audible evidence of this kind of defect, too: occasional sound drop-offs, stereo phasing and static hiss). The sound on Many A Mile, while not terrible, does leave me wondering if this mastering was done from a vinyl LP in good condition. In my stereo headphones there is a noticeable, but muted, static sound that resembles surface noise on a record, but this is not obvious on every track – so was this release assembled from various sources? That’s what it sounds like to me. Perhaps Sainte-Marie’s most famous song, “Until It’s Time for You to Go,” sounds pristine, with no background noise, as does “Piney Wood Hills,” both songs released on compilations during the time when the master tapes were less likely to be deteriorated. “Broke-Down Girl,” not collected on anthologies of the period, does have static noise.Now that I’ve gotten the technical criticism out of the way, I can concentrate on the stunning music offered on this, Sainte-Marie’s second LP. At a time when most folk singers were performing traditional material and covering other songwriters, Buffy Sainte-Marie was one of the few composing many of her own songs. Sometimes political, other times romantic or funny, she had a way of making everything she sang sound original, even when drawing from traditional sources. Her unique, machine gun-like vibrato could be an acquired taste, but she knew how to use it. On some of the darker, more sinister story songs, her vibrato was utilized to chilling effect – heard here on “Fixin’ To Die,” “On The Banks Of Red Roses,” and “Lazarus.” Then Sainte-Marie could sound tender and soft, as in the album’s opener, “Must I Go Bound,” with its sweet melody and sad lyrics of unrequited longing, or the title song, a mixture of vinegar and honey as the singer observes her own life of wandering with bittersweet resignation. The song’s writer, Patrick Sky, released his own version the same year, but Buffy’s recording is more powerful for it’s honest, warts-and-all vocal expressiveness.An artist as great as Buffy Sainte-Marie is bound to be too experimental and eclectic to ever achieve superstardom. These days, that requires that one sound like everyone else, have all the personality smoothed out of the voice, and the melody, should one be there to begin with, distorted with a lot of “hey, listen to what a great singer I am” scale-climbing, shrieking and whining, as if such histrionics are what is needed to convey emotion. When I hear recordings from the ‘60’s (in almost all genres), and compare them to the current pop music, I have to wonder where the music went wrong. Back then, no two artists sounded alike. Most artists worked hard at sounding different – and if you did sound like you were imitating someone else, you were roundly criticized. Maybe I’m just an old fart now, but to me most singers coming up in this century, men and women alike, sound the same. It’s all about the production values and the image. Somewhere along the way, lyrics, understated delivery and anything else subtle and nuanced has been replaced by repetitious mind-numbing blathering and melodramatic screaming. To be fair, there are quite a few fine singer/songwriters working today, and many do have unique voices – but you aren’t likely to hear them on radios or other broadcast media. Pop is dominated now, more than ever before, by marketing over real artistry or the music itself.Hearing music such as this, written an performed with a truly unique voice, on a recording that is fifty years old now, Many A Mile seems a gentle, beguiling artifact of an almost lost period, between 50’s pop-rock and jazz and the almost complete takeover in the mid-to-late ‘60’s of hard rock and R&B. Peppered with moments of darkness and despair as with the bluesy “Broke-Down Girl, expressions of unbridled exhuberance, such as “Los Pescadores” and “Welcome Welcome Emigrante”, and occasionally humorous story-telling, like the creepy “Groundhog,” sung with only Buffy’s twanging mouth bow for accompaniment, and the cute “Johnny Be Fair,” which closes its bawdy tale with a great one-two punchline -- this 1965 offering explored a wide range of emotions, subject matter and musical styles. This is no second-album-cursed release. In some ways it is at least the equal of Sainte-Marie’s revelatory debut on Vanguard Records, IT’S MY WAY in 1964, and also makes a nice transition toward the more explosive third release, 1966’s LITTLE WHEEL, SPIN AND SPIN, one of my all-time favorite albums, period. So the closing of the final gap in my Buffy Sainte-Marie CD library, which is reason enough to celebrate, was done so belatedly with one of her earliest and finest!

This album of Buffy Sainte Marie performances which are no longer available have certainly made my heart grow fonder. It is true that she has two very fine compilations but some of the most compelling songs from this album are not on them. The songs "Must I Go Bound", "The Banks Of Red Roses","Piney Wood Hills","Fixin' To Die","Johnny Be Fair","Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies" are now extinct. One of the compilations listed as The Best Of Buffy Sainte Marie contains the most dreadful country & western rendition of "Piney Wood Hills" ever, not the sweet and captivating version found here. Hey Vangard, how about a Vangard Visionary version of this album. [9/27/15] The August, 2015 re-issue of this album on the Ace label is just plain awful. The cd is re mastered from a phonograph record that is in poor condition thus plagued by the usual clicks, pops and distortions of a needle tracking through the groove of a phonograph record. I have many cd's in my collection on the Ace label but this is the worst one ever.

Had this album since the 60's , had it autographed and then lost it! Rats! The new CD will be worn out soon I'm playing it so much.I LOVE Buffy Saint Marie!

for a long time this was not available in the states and I'm so glad it is now, one of Buffy's best cd's, brings back great memories of listening to her and singing along.

Good cd if you like Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Great dealer, much to recommend. This album is a must have for fellow folk followers. Unique, exquisite and outstanding!!! A++++

Finally this is back in print as an import and at a very reasonable price. This is Buffy's sophomore effort and is a worthy addition to anyone's collection that has her other cd's.

Truly a wonderful selection from one of the all time favorite artists!!