ROCK ON

| American Epic: The Soundtrack

Beatles tragic Jez Ford paid good money for his Sgt Peppers anniversary edition. Is he well pleased or not?

This PBS/BBC Arena project spans four films, three audio releases and a book surrounding the restoration of 100 recordings from the 1920s and 1930s, partly ‘reverse-engineered’ through a reconstructed 1920s recording system, which Jack White and T Bone Burnett then used to record various modern artists ‘live to disc’. This ‘Soundtrack’ has 14 of the restored originals from a time when the rise of radio sent record companies scuttling to record regional America’s brightest and best, from Jimmie Rodgers’ railroad blues to Big Chief Henry’s Indian String Band, a Choctaw chant and fiddle combo. Surface noise and recording limitations are still evident, but things are impressively restored to allow high level playback that brings these amazing performances back to life. Dig that pumping jug bass on Hattie Hart & The Memphis Jugband’s Cocaine Habit Blues!