The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures (2010)
Reviews

The interview was prompted by the re-issue in two CD packages of both her best-known songs and a large number of rarely heard numbers...

"This CD is basically a collection of all the songs that people ask for at concerts. There is obviously 'Up VVhere We Belong' and songs like 'Universal Soldier, 'Until It's Time For You To Go' which is my songwriter's simpler version, 'Cripple Creek', 'Now That The Buffalo's Gone', and 'Soldier Blue'."

The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures CD gathers together songs from three albums in the 70s.

"There are 33 songs on the CD that cover all kinds of stuff - from rock 'n' roll to love songs, some country music, some blues, and things that sound like folk songs. I think it's a great mix of songs and I'm sure people will find a few surprises in there too."

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Yellowknifer: How do you feel about your long-celebrated repertoire from the 1960s and 1970s - have you tired of performing your oldest songs live or does it still excite you to perform the classics?

Buffy Sainte-Marie: If I get tired of a song, I don't do it until I'm hot for it again. The nicest thing that can happen to a classic song is when a new band falls in love with it - it's like a musical aphrodisiac every time - and good songs remain good songs.

The best thing about the re-release of The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures mid-70s collections is the songs! Of course some of the arrangements sound kinda dated now, and recording techniques are different; but underneath all that, the songs are really strong. Some of them were too early (environmental greed, women's perspectives) but now people get it. There are all kinds of surprises for people who lost track of me in 1967 - pounding rockers and environmental protests and some totally intimate love songs that most people wouldn't guess are mine.

One of the most successful and versatile songwriters of the last half-century.

This two disc set captures the period when Sainte-Marie both cemented her reputation as an arresting performer of utterly unique style as well as a protest singer of exceptional power. Opening with the furious "Generation," Buried Treasures also includes some glammy blues boogie that could rival Bowie's Ziggy Stardust era ("Look At the Facts," "Sweet, Fast Hooker Blues") and always, that quavering falsetto soaring over all. And, of course, there are the real pow wow rock classics such as the live show staple "Starwalker - For the American Indian Movement." The second disc of rarities is an intriguing mix of everything from near-girl group romance songs such as "That's the Way You Fall In Love" to plain old blues. It's awesome. Grade: A
By Stuart Derdeyn

Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures' offers with the benefit of hindsight a glimpse into this prolific artist at a time when she was defining the protest music genre that underscores the 1960's. Buffy struggled to get airplay at the time, not knowing until 2006 when she discovered that both the CIA and FBI had kept her under surveillance during the Johnson and Nixon administrations, who actively sought to gag many artists in the media who were critical of the government as well as the Vietnam war. This collection of 32 songs (unknown to most) is a vibrant travelogue through the mind of an icon. It offers a distinct and refined listening experience that is a must have for any folk, country or blues aficionado fascinated with the music that denotes the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends of "The Sixties" which continued to develop throughout the 20th century and beyond.