City of the Future – Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi

Yale Stom and musical compatriots unearth and re-create the songs from the Yiddish culture that was thriving in the USSR of the 1930's; reminiscent of “Partisans of Vilna,” album of songs from the Jewish resistance in WWII, although not as emotional and not yet disillusioned with Soviet policies

NO FCC's; favorite tracks: 4, 6, 8, 9, 19

1- 3:36 – nice intro with clarinet, violin, etc. --about the worker behind the work

2-3:21-- “Red Army” – a capella harmony with percussion

3-5:23-- more upbeat klezmerish sound w/growly dialogue between baritone sax and fiddle

*4-3:10-- pretty song about sledding with female vocalist and guitar shows off earthiness and onomatopoeia of Yiddish

5—3:59-- ballad of a socialist hero/martyr in mixed harmony; piccolo weaves in and out

*6-3:36- “Girls at the Machines” - nice rhythm; female vocalists sing of labor and the Comintern

7-3:22- male voices sing in harmony, slow marching rhythm

*8-2:36- nice intro with whistle and balalaika –ode to builders

**9-4:33 – “City of the Future,” paean to a socialist workers utopia; upbeat accordion

10-2:38 – dirge about Lenin's death

11-3:42-- “My Youth” with solo male vocalist and balalaika tremulo

12-5:29—starts with dissonance – song about the Red Guard

13-2:30- “This Will Be Our Final Struggle” – a little dour

14-1:50--”Song of the Collective Farmer” – seriously

15-6:52 – paean to a tractor driver with long instrumental interlude

16-2:39-- “A Well” – sweet choral piece about the beauty of a well

17-6:21 – fond remembrance of the October revolution in the Soviet style with baritone,chorus& flute

18-1:46--”Luminous Detachments” --klezmer sound – fiddler and baritone sax play off each other

*19-4:18 –unison female singers start off “Factory Song” with ay-yay-yay-yay-yay