Release Date: 16 May, 2000
Audio CD
Tracks
- God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot
- Mary
- Better to Find Out Yourself
- Vampire
- Adam
- Dream Tree
- Suffer the Little Children
- Angel
- With You, Honey
- Guess Who I Saw in Paris
- He's a Keeper of the Fire
- Poppies
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Rating 5.0
a for-real lost classicGenuinely mysterious and absorbing, this is one of the more striking works to come out of the "psychedelic" sixties. On many of the songs, Buffy teamed up with Peter Schickele (yes, P.D.Q. Bach in his other life!) on songs that featured primitive but effective electronic experimentation. "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot," is one example, as BSM sings across/over an eerie musical backdrop that the listener gradually comes to recognize is a heavily treated recording of her singing the same song. In spite of the experimentation, it's spine-chilling and beautiful.
At the same time, Sainte-Marie kept her folk roots and her social consciousness intact. The voice-and-acoustic "Suffer the Little Children," with its commentary on capitalism, would not sound out of place on her earlier albums, and the downright sensuous "Guess Who I Saw In Paris" is one of her best love songs. The real fascination here, though, is how far afield Buffy goes. In "Keeper of the Fire" she provides a Jorma Kaukonen like guitar solo with her voice on the ride-out, and "Poppies" is outrageously trippy and far ahead of its time, reminding the listener of an early version of Enya or Loreena McKennitt. The album was not a commercial success in its day, primarily because it was so "out of character" for what Buffy's fans wanted. But thirty-odd years later it still sounds subversive and strange. The album combines Buffy Sainte-Marie's natural warmth and power with eerie and transcendent moments quite unlike anything else out there at the time (or now). Very much a lost classic, "Illuminations" is not just for folkies. Anyone with an interest in psychedelia or the unusual will find a lot to like here. One of her best and well worth having. A MasterpieceBuffy Sainte-Marie really left the "moldy figs" in the dust with this one.This album made history as the first quadrophonic, electronic vocal and instrumental album. Even now, modern day alt-rockers cite this album as an influence. From the opening Leonard Cohen track "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot" to the closing "Poppies" the listener gets a slice of psychedelic 1969 with technology well ahead of its time. Meanwhile, acoustic cuts such as "Dream Tree", while remininiscent of her earlier "Winter Boy" and "Eyes of Amber" nevertheless fits well into this electronic, Velvet Underground-esque album. For modern day shuffle play CD listeners, this album will fit in as well with Sonic Youth as it does with Odetta.Otherwordly.I recently bought this album on c.d. after having the L.P. for about 25 years. On some tracks Buffy misses the mark but there is enough treasure on this set to keep any Buffy fan enraptured. The best tracks have a surreal quality that sends shivers down the spine. My favourite song is The Angel with it's funeral bells,sublime vocal and unworldly lyrics. The album contains only a few of the artists own songs but this leaves room for her superb interpretations of other peoples works. These include songs by Leonard Cohen and Ritchie Havens. Above all this album is experimental-years ahead of it's time. Turn on this album lay back and be transported by aural magic and THAT VOICE! |
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