JAD FAIR & KRAMER - Roll Out the Barrel

LP / CD Shimmy Disc 1988
CD Shimmy Disc Europe 1989 with bonus tracks



"To call Jad's non-solo/non-band efforts 'collaborations' would be misleading. He simply proceeds, blinders on, to do his thing while his partner du jour scurries to keep up. For his part, Kramer contributes plenty of atmosphere but little needed direction to Roll Out the Barrel. Its 24 tracks take in steep peaks and deep valleys, with many of the former coming in the form of condensed covers like a rendition of Subterranean Homesick Blues as B-movie jungle hunt score".
(Steven Grant / Ira Robbins / David Sprague, Trouser Press)

"This is a satisfying pairing of Half Japanese mainstay Jad Fair and New York City scenester Mark Kramer. Kramer's musical settings take Jad into new terrain, but like a polite and eager tourist, Jad takes it all in with enthusiasm and wide-eyed wonder. If It's Okay is a stately, near-chamber music piece wherein the music dresses up Jad's usual romanticism in matching sonorities. Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) shows up to sing on two songs, most notably Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. The version is at once unexpected and perfectly natural - very subterranean, very homesick, and very blue. The set as a whole is the furthest Jad has ever been from punkish abandon (not Kramer's forte), but this very musical meeting ground makes Roll Out the Barrel one of Jad's best - albeit atypical - releases".
(promotional review)

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