Summer of love

KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR

A caveat: you're more likely to enjoy the American Jewish Summer: Songs of the Jewish Youth Camping Movement (Jewish Music Group) CD if you were 14 in 1972, not 2005.

The compilation from producer Michael Isaacson is aimed squarely at the baby boom generation and redolent with the sounds of the peace movement. Campers, observes Isaacson in his liner notes, "brought back these melodies to their temples and synagogues, [and] convinced the management that urban hip was in and traditional music was out."

These days, however, the term "hip" is usually followed by "hop," and this music sounds much more traditional now than it did when it was originally released. The first track, Doug Mishkin's "Make Those Waters Part," compares slavery in Egypt to the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s. Moses, Mishkin sings, is a spiritual cousin of Martin Luther King, Jr.: both leaders "could make those waters part." Cue swirly organ and harmonious kaftan-wearers.

It's hard to make out the words in "Tree of Life" by Richard Silverman, but the tune sounds like the theme from The Banana Splits.

Then there's Debbie Friedman's upbeat "Not By Might," in which she sings: "Not by might and not by power, but by spirit alone. Shalom and live in peace." Filled with drum rolls and keyboard flourishes, it is the Judaic equivalent of Jefferson Airplane.

The loveliest songs are the simplest: "Dodi Li" by Steven Sher has a nice, gentle melody. You can imagine sitting under a tree and listening to the summer breeze. Likewise, the relaxing sounds of "Shalom Rav" by Kol B'Seder.

Linda Kates, Cantor Patti Linsky and Craig Taubman are among the other artists featured in this collection. Isaacson also produced a revamp of Wally Schachet-Briskin's campfire classic "Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem" for this album in a 1970s style. "I wanted to add some musical midrash to the words and set them with a better prosody [rhythmic structrue]," he said. Groovy.

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