Top 100 Zither albums of all time!

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― Lemonade Salesman (Eleventy-Twelve), Monday, 25 April 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link

1. The soundtrack to The Third Man

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 April 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah i was gonna say i only know "anton karas & the world of harry lime" which totally rulez it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 April 2005 16:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Ruth Welcome - Zither Magic

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 25 April 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.bizarrerecords.com/pagesB/Witchwelc.html

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 25 April 2005 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Since I am not the first respondent, I have nothing to add.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 25 April 2005 17:02 (nineteen years ago) link

WASHINGTON PHILLIPS The Key to the Kingdom (Yazoo)

― xhuxk, Monday, 25 April 2005 17:11 (nineteen years ago) link

But wait... do Autoharps count? Or are they different?

(not that I know many great Autoharp albums. But somebody might.)

― xhuxk, Monday, 25 April 2005 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link

autoharps are different, yeah.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 April 2005 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link

ps. roky erickson, chuck!

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 April 2005 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll ask my friend Jake. He's an Autoharp fiend.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 April 2005 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link

hstencil is right, autoharps very different. strings are played with buttons instead of your fingers = no options for vibrato or portamento

that washington philips record looks great

I love all Ruth Welcome albums I've heard but Zither Magic is the mindbender

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 25 April 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Uh, hello, the greatest Ruth Welcome album is "Hi Fi Zither", everyone knows that.

At least we can agree that her Latin album is not the greatest.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 25 April 2005 18:43 (nineteen years ago) link

4. brian dewan, tells the story

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:17 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah the latin album was a mild disappointment. but only because of the soul-cleaving beauty contained on other... well I hesitate to even call them 'albums'. sensible bickering over which one gets top position is understandable but moot, any top 100 list will feature most of her discography.

RUTH WELCOME!!!

5. Ruth Welcome - Hi-Fi Zither

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 25 April 2005 19:51 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm pretty sure Anton Karas won an Oscar for the theme to 3rd Man, which pretty much puts him in the highest outer zithersphere.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link

the santur is a TYPE of zither, so I'll recommend any recordings you can find of Persian/Iranian classical santur music.

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:15 (nineteen years ago) link

We use the term "zither" to refer to the Western instrument you guys are talking about, but it's also a generic term. The koto is a zither; hammer dulcimers are zithers, etc.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:25 (nineteen years ago) link

"the unquiet grave" on folkways is a really boring hammered dulcimer record.

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Thought I'd add this (click for description):

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000C2IB.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Lemonade Salesman (Eleventy-Twelve), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 17:54 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

In Search of Ruth Welcome

― Milton Parker, Monday, 26 January 2009 20:14 (fifteen years ago) link

Oh hell yeah. Thanks for posting that. "Hi Fi Zither" is one of my favorite albums of all time, by any one, ever. In fact I think my boyfriend might be making a little samizdat edition of it for a certain hipster Baltimore record store. It's just too great to go unnoticed and unloved, and it's NOT just kitsch or wallpaper, it's truly soulful and beautiful.

unrelated question: are cembaloms like zithers?

― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Monday, 26 January 2009 20:19 (fifteen years ago) link

zither was an NY Times crossword answer today ("instrument with 30+ strings" or something)

― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Monday, 26 January 2009 20:20 (fifteen years ago) link

dorothy carter made a couple of amazing zither records in the seventies.

― ian, Monday, 26 January 2009 20:23 (fifteen years ago) link

xpost they are basically super zithers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimbalom

after years of seeing that guy play around Berkeley and San Francisco, someone made a film about michael masley! remember him outside the whole earth expo when we went on the Unarius pilgrimage?

but anyway yeah there are EIGHTEEN Ruth Welcome albums out there and there's a new generation that's got to know. I agree this is not about kitsch or retro, it's just timeless

― Milton Parker, Monday, 26 January 2009 20:26 (fifteen years ago) link

No matter what I try to write, nothing comes closer than this description on the web from Sorian’s Occasional Review of the album Zither Magic! on October 16, 2002: “a sound that meshes psychedelia, Hawaiian slack key guitar, and Middle Eastern oud music.” And that’s exactly what it sounds like.

― Milton Parker, Monday, 26 January 2009 20:35 (fifteen years ago) link

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/goldrecords/HZITHERMAGIC1.jpg

― Milton Parker, Monday, 26 January 2009 21:01 (fifteen years ago) link

I have a great CD of Bach's Goldberg Variations being played by two cimbaloms, great stuff too.

― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Monday, 26 January 2009 21:09 (fifteen years ago) link

!!! would love to hear that. I also haven't heard any Ruth Welcome LPs aside from Zither Magic--recommendations?

― ian, Monday, 26 January 2009 21:12 (fifteen years ago) link

I'm first in line for that bootleg of 'Hi-Fi Zither'

She takes a different approach for her Spanish-themed albums, so I wouldn't call those representative. I'm on the search for all the others, though.

― Milton Parker, Monday, 26 January 2009 21:48 (fifteen years ago) link

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Qo9ZaUAZL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Are we counting African and Asian species of zither here? If so, ^^^ this guy Rakotozafy is pretty great. He's quite a mysterious and revered figure who's been described by some as sort of the Robert Johnson of Madagascar. He was obviously hugely gifted, but only cut about 20 tracks in the 60s before totally disappearing and drinking himself to an early death. The vahila is basically a big bamboo pipe strung with bike cables and has this really lovely bright warm tone to it. There was actually a really good TV documentary about him that came out ten years or so ago called Like A God When He Plays. It's basically Paddy Bush (Kate's brother) searching for trace of him and his kin in remote parts of the island. Sadly there's only a frustratingly small bit of it up on YouTube:

― Frank Sumatra (NickB), Monday, 26 January 2009 21:53 (fifteen years ago) link