"Focus on a modified audio section in the introduction of “Red River Cargo”
Today let’s take a look at one of the most cinematic pieces from the album Unsound Methods (1997)… I call “Red River Cargo”!
“Red River Cargo” is based on the gospel song “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” written by Thomas A. Dorsey in 1932.
Interviewed in November 1997 by Andy Jones for Future Music Magazine, Alan Wilder talks about his artistic process, as well as the historical and social context in which this piece is anchored: “There's a track called 'Red River Cargo' which is about the 60s' civil rights movement in the American southern states. As soon as I had that idea, it immediately conjured up all sorts of sounds that evoke that time and place - swamp sounds, oppressive weather, gospel singers, dogs barking - and that's when the track started to develop” (1).
This recreated bayou atmosphere, these speeches made under the pouring rain and the thunder, visually depict the history of the social struggle of black people of Mississippi in the 60s’ (Mississippi Civil Rights Movement), threatened, moreover, by the representatives of a dangerous racist extremism. The theme is intertwined with that of the film Mississippi Burning, the first part of the soundtrack by Trevor Jones of which being used as a sample in the introduction to “Red River Cargo”.
Among the other sound additions included in the sampling, a manipulated audio section, derived from “Zaar”, by Peter Gabriel, is also utilized prominently into the introduction.(2)
“Zaar” appears in the soundtrack of The Last Temptation of Christ (also called Passion), directed in 1989 by Martin Scorsese. Musician with a vast universe, Peter Gabriel produces throbbing rhythms and captivating sounds, coming from a mixture of traditional instruments and synthesizers.
Few music notes particularly catch attention, a modification of ambient elements from "Zaar", notably at 0:46, which, reshaped by Wilder's sound genius, turn into a brief but striking dark blues, at the thirtieth second of “Red River Cargo”.
This short sequence modified by Alan Wilder will be strangely deleted in the beginning of the remaster song, produced for Selected in 2010. The evocation of brass will then be replaced by gospel voices. As a listener, it’s very interesting to ask why.*
The reissue of Unsound Methods on vinyl in 2022, however, restores the instrumental sequence of the original “Red River Cargo” version.
Audrey Pennel
(1) Future Music Magazine, November 1997. Interview by Andy Jones.
(2) DM/Live: https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/Red_River_Cargo"
Forrás: Shunt (FB)
