Search - Jerome Kern, George H. Clutsam, Avery Robinson :: A Lonesome Road - Paul Robeson sings spirituals and songs

Robeson at his best

T. Bekken | Austmarka Norway | 03/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album consists of recordings Paul Robeson made in Britain durong the 1920s. He is accompanied by the great pianist Lawrence Brown or by a small orchestra led by Ray Noble. The songs on this disc are spirituals or pop songs of the era, and Robeson shines on every one of them. Robeson has an uncanny ability to make any song his own property, and this is especially true on his version of "Little Pal" - originally a saccharine semi-racist ballad written for Al Jolson. Robeson turns the song into a searing lament of an estranged father, and makes the song valid even today with his urgent, committed delivery. The majority of the songs on the cd are spirituals, and Robeson's versions are definitive in every sense of the word. All in all, there isn't a bad track here, and as an introduction to Robeson's work the record is priceless. The only aspect worth criticizing is the fact that the liner notes seem to shy away from the fact that Robeson was the first important black artist to actively fight for civil rights. The music here, however, is extremely beautiful."