''Super Raoul'' is the debut LP from

Fishtank Ensemble Fishtank Ensemble is a world music group from Los Angeles, California, known for their unique, high-energy and virtuosic stage show that blends a wide range of styles including Balkan, Romanian, gypsy, French hot jazz, flamenco, Turkish, Greek, an ...

. The album was recorded live at Fishtank in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in early 2004 and completed over the course of two weekends. At this time, the band had only been playing together for three weeks.Super Raoul
A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker

Track listing

All tracks feature traditional music and/or lyrics except where noted. #"Bordeas" – 6:55 #"Itty Bitty Snitty Little Frenchman" (A. Seeman, 2004) – 3:44 #" Papirosen" (lyrics by H. Yablokoff, 1932) – 3:02 #"Troll Wedding" – 6:37 #"Pegasus Vaulters" (A. Seeman, 2004) – 3:33 #"Ringo Bushi" (Narita Unchiku, 1954) – 2:51 #"Arabu Andaluz" – 4:36 #"Hora di Bucharest / Hora de Fabrice" – 6:48 #"Le Kidnappeur"" (D. Smolens, K. Kmetz, 2004) – 6:22 #"Hopa di Bida" – 4:10 #"The Last Shamisen Master" (K. Kmetz, 2003) – 4:39 #"Suite Romaine" – 4:42 #"Doina Sonnambule" – 4:49

First and second editions

''Super Raoul'' has been released in two editions. The first edition was released through a limited Mimicry pressing and has a cover with a photograph montage that refers to the band as "Fishtank". There is no

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

on the disc. The second edition was independently released. The album cover features a cartoon by Garth Kauffman on the cover and refers to the band as "Fishtank Ensemble". Besides purely aesthetic differences, there are significant differences between the sound quality of the releases. Though both of the CDs have the same tracks in the same order, the Mimicry pressing of ''Super Raoul'' is inferior to the quality of the independent pressing; notably so on the songs "Hora di Bucharest/Hora de Fabrice" and "Suite Romaine". On the Mimicry pressing, these songs "

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", then abruptly silence repeatedly. This is most likely due to an error in transferring the data of the tracks. On the second edition, these tracks do not have such problems. Though the first edition is technically inferior in quality, it is perhaps likely to become a

collector's item A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

. Many consumers who have purchased the first edition CD from

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...

have been sent a replacement CD along with a short note of apology.

Personnel

*Fabrice Martinez - violin, violumba *Ursula Knudsen - vocals, saw, violin *

Kevin Kmetz Estradasphere was an American experimental band that originated in Santa Cruz, California, during the late 1990s. The band, which in its last incarnation was based in Seattle, consisted of six multi-instrumentalists from a variety of musical back ...

- shamisen *Aaron Seeman - accordion *El Douje (Doug Smolens) - guitar *

Tim Smolens Estradasphere was an American experimental band that originated in Santa Cruz, California, during the late 1990s. The band, which in its last incarnation was based in Seattle, consisted of six multi-instrumentalists from a variety of musical back ...

- acoustic bass *

Adam Stacey Estradasphere was an American Experimental music, experimental band that originated in Santa Cruz, California, during the late 1990s. The band, which in its last incarnation was based in Seattle, consisted of six multi-instrumentalists from a var ...

- percussion, accordion on "Le Kidnapeur"

Notes

External links

Official Website

''Super Raoul'' at CD Baby
{{Authority control 2004 albums