Eminem Album: “Open All Night: On the Ro”

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm the co-producer of this album, as well as the liner note writer, so I suppose I am a little biased when it comes to any of the three discs in the Open All Night series. This set of tunes was designed to be a soundtrack to the mystery and joy of being between what you left and the territory ahead, to the freedom of knowing your only task is to cover some distance, and to the heightened sense of experience when you're on the road.

It's intended, as are all the Open All Night series, to be listened to at night... the later the better. Unlike the other two volumes, this one concentrates on the Americana-inflected sound, although there are contributions from Brits Richard Thompson and Graham Parker, as well as from one of my fave Irish singers, Luka Bloom.

You may not have heard of all of the artists (in fact, it's almost certain you haven't!), or be familiar with all the songs, but the overriding theme in the Open All Night series is the vibe. These songs all hang together, and many many hours of careful consideration were put into the selection and sequencing of the disc to take you on a journey of your own.

In my secret heart of hearts, I hope it turns you on to the artists you haven't heard before, because there are some amazing writers and performers on this album. It has been my privilege to have worked with (or for) more than half of them during my time in the music business.

In some ways, this is the sort of a mix tape I might well make for a friend who heard Alejandro or Little Village over at my house one night and wanted to go a little deeper. At some level, all of the Open All Night albums are. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I did putting them together.

Both of the previous reviewers suffer from exageration. This is a good collection of music that is slightly moody without being depressing. It does have a darkness to it that lends itself to calmer, reflective moments. Serious music aficionados of smart lyrics already know Thompson, Bloom, Hait, et al. This fine music works together nicely. That said, full price seems like too much to pay for a collection that you should already own 50 percent of on other discs. For the rambling liner notes that are completely dispensible and add nothing to the package I ding it an extra star. Lyrics would have been infinetly preferable. None of the artists is truely obscure and none of the songs is a hard to find version.

I'm curious to see if this pre-made-mix product catches on as a genre. This seems to be the next step beyond collections of 'summer music' or '60's tunes' that have been out for a while. Many of us have culled favorte collections of songs by various artists that are the soundtrack for our lives at one point or another, and this could have been one of mine. Still,I prefer mine to have personally crafted.

If you like the blues/folk style of artists like Marc Cohn, you will really enjoy this compilation.

What a collection of boredom! I listened to this a couple times and have to admit i just don't get it. Some very fine artists but what's the point of this ? I could have asked any number of friends to make a compilation from their own cd closet and traded from mine and any one of them would have been at least as interesting. i can't believe i paid regular price for something i could have done myself. That's what i get for reading a review/rating done by the cd's producer.