Ten From Little Worlds

Artist: Béla Fleck , and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 827969053928
EAN: 0827969053928
ASIN: B0000AKCLH

Release Date: 2003-08-12

Related Categories:

Bebop General

| Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Modern Postbebop

| Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Bluegrass Jam Bands

| Jam Bands | Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music

Contemporary

| Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music

Listmania:

Newgrass
"Strange Brew"

Tracks:

Bill Mon
The Ballad Of Jed Clampett
Pineapple Heart
Snatchin'
Next
The Leaning Tower
Puffy
Sherpa
Off The Top (The Gravity Wheel)
Off The Top (Line Dance)

Similar Items:

Outbound
UFO Tofu
Left of Cool
Three Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones

Customer Reviews:

uhm .......2005-12-16

okay... bela fleck alone has released jazz albums bluegrass albums and a classical music album. does this say something to you? they are differnet. they are experimental. i don't understand how someoen can hold this against them. anyway, if you haven't got the money for little worlds, then buy this cd. otherwise don't buy it..and buy little worlds. Also the flecktones are on tour right now so buy a ticket to see them too. Anyway, this CD is incredible. it is experimental... jazz, funk, bluegrass fusion ...it's one of the flecktones' better cds.. order it right now; it's amazing.

Skip .......2005-04-17

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones' "Ten from Little Worlds" CD is experimental and takes this jazz fusion in diverse directions. Bela Fleck's synth banjo is a delight on the opener "Bil Mon" but the track tends to bring up emotions of nausea for me, making me want to skip past it. "Ballad of Jed Clampett" takes the Beverly Hillbillies theme and turns it into a rap vocal that is extremely odd and makes me skip past it. Beck's "Pineapple Heart" starts off lovely with Jeff Coffin's alto flute trills sounding great, but then begins to wander off as if in search for the rest of the band making me skip past. Coffin's "Snatchin'" has some pep with the opening tenor sax punctuated by keyboards before the banjo has a meltdown halfway through the track making me skip past. In short, this is odd music that while inventive does not connect with me in any significant way other than perhaps being a soundtrack for an intestinal illness. Skip past this one.

Don't buy this CD........2004-10-16

I know, interesting title for a five-star review. Why do I say this, you ask? Look at the title of the CD, "Ten From Little Worlds." The key words there are "Ten From." This disc is exactly what it says it is: a highlights compilation from an album called "Little Worlds," a three-CD set which is the most ambitious and arguably best album the Flecktones have yet released.

Not that the music found here is inferior. "Bil Mon," the opening track, is one of the finest recordings found in the Flecktones catalogue. The rap version of "The Ballad Of Jed Clampett" is a very interesting take on the old TV theme song, and it works suprisingly well. The two-part "Off The Top," featuring bluegrass trio Nickel Creek, is phenomenal. "Pineapple Heart" is one of the most beautiful tunes heard in recent memory.

This is a great CD. Like any great CD, it will leave you wanting more. But alas, unlike a lot of great CDs, there actually IS more out there, and it can be found on the full three-disc "Little Worlds." The music from there not found here is not inferior, all of it is great and worth your cash. Don't get me wrong, you will like this CD, but my advice is to ditch this and pick up the full three-disc album. Like I said, you will love this CD, and in the end, you will wish that you had picked up the full album, and if you do, there's about 16 bucks of yours that you spent on something which has now become obsolete. Do yourself a favor, if you are thinking about buying this CD, don't do it. Plunk down a little more cash and get the three-disc album. In the end you will be glad you did.

A more focused alternative to the 3-disc set.......2004-05-11

Let me start by saying I am a long-time Flecktones fan since the days of Howard Levy, and I own the 3-disc set as well as this companion release. The 3-disc set is a true masterpiece, and I would recommend it strongly and without hesitation. It is the truest representation of all the Flecktones have to offer. Others seem to share this sentiment--at the writing of this review, it has a 5-star average rating. I am writing this particular review because, much to my dismay, this single-disc release is doing far worse. This ought to be remedied.

First, I should start by saying what this CD is *not*. It is not a representation of the full power and wonder of the Flecktones. Even the full 3-disc set falls short here (though it comes very, very close), as the live Flecktones experience is impossible to replicate in the studio (see "Live Art" for the best live replication on CD). The Flecktones alone offer as eclectic a mix of musical inspirations as you'll find--arm them with the dozens of talented guests that visit Little Worlds, and three discs seems barely enough a representation. So, just by nature of time limits, the single disc cannot be as immersive an experience as a 3-disc set.

However, what is immersive and engrossing to one set of ears can be ponderous to another. I say this both in acknowledgment of some unflattering reviews of the 3-disc set that have cropped up, and also in acknowledgment to my own listening tastes. As I have said, I love the 3-disc set, but there are times when it is simply too much Flecktones (if there can be such a thing!), and the single disc is enough to satisfy my listening needs. As I said in the above paragraph, the 3-disc set's strength is in its expansive representation of the Flecktones' vision--but this enormity can also be at times its greatest weakness.

All this said, then, the single disc fills a nice niche in my collection. It collects some of the higher points of the 3-disc set into a nice, 52-minute-long sampler. Certainly, because the three discs are filled with high points, we listeners could quibble interminably about the selections. I personally could have done without the Jed Clampett selection, but some reviewers find this to be yet another high point. Perhaps a more legitimate gripe is why this set is a mere 52 minutes, when a CD can hold several more selections. But in the grand scheme, I think these gripes ought to be subsumed by the wonder and majesty of the music. Complain about the selections or length all you like, the 52 minutes we *do* get is as good a 52 minutes of music as you'll find, and that alone merits a 5-star review.

Lastly, to the reviewer who complained that this extra release is a mere marketing ploy. Perhaps so--I really don't know. My feeling is, however, it does offer a nice compromise for all kinds of fans--the casual fan who can't handle the full 3-disc set for any number of reasons, and the more dedicated fan who appreciates the option to have a more focused listening experience of Little Worlds from time to time. Marketing ploy or no, it fills a nice spot in the collection, and I suppose that's enough for me.

over the edge.......2003-11-01

i have been a bela fleck fan since 1980, & a flecktones fan since they formed in 1990. but with this effort, i will no longer be buying every disk they produce. the 'tones continue two trends, both of which long time fans of the band may find troublesome: the dominance of jeff coffin, and the trend to bring in guest artists by the dozen, obscuring the sound of the band members themselves. the former trend began with "left of cool". coffin's sax, which too often becomes kenny g - like, is at the front of the melody on virtually every track -- that is, unless a guest artist is in the lead. that trend reached annoying proportions on outbound, & is over the top here. i love the flecktones for the flecktones: bela's fretboard excursions, victor's wild bass lines, futch's drumitar. i will continue to see them in concert, whether alone or if they may have one or two guests - but this tendency to add multiple theremins (isn't that a cough suppresant?), dijerdos, etc etc etc is just too much. and the vocals: while i am glad futch has gone back to being just futch, & put his alter ego roy-el on the shelf (at least on this one-disk version of the longer little worlds compilation), divinity & bobby mcpherin meet the flecktones? give me a break. was the world crying out for that musical union? i think not. the ballad of jed clampett is, i know, supposed to be a fun piece - but it is simply not listenable. bil mon is similarly unlistenable. there are a couple of good tracks & two great ones. in particular, tracks 9 & 10, collaborations with the amazing nickel creek, are outstanding. and puffy, a long time concert staple, is good.
unlike another reviewer, i am GLAD they released this as a 1 disk alternative to the 3 disk package. this way, i limited my losses (and got the nickel creek tracks as at least some consolation). i realize musicians must evolve to survive, & clearly bela & the guys are not being stagnant. i respect that. but LET THE FLECKTONES BE THE FLECKTONES.

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