Archives for 2003 » November
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Band Of Blacky Ranchette – Still Lookin’ Good To Me
Useta see Blacky in town a lot, making his rounds on his rusty old one-speed. Always had a big smile for the gals when he pedaled by. And I must’ve played his records to death, The Band Of Blacky Ranchette and Heartland (which he done in the mid ’80s with the Giant Sand guy Howe [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Kaz Murphy – Devil In The Barn
Kaz Murphy is a storyteller. The stories-as-songs of his second solo disc are lyrical tales set to muted blues, dusky western swing, choogling country and folky roots rock. This Philly native, who honed his Americana skills in Seattle but now lives in Los Angeles, delivers an even-toned set, his dry emphatic voice, with its slight [...]
Farther Along - Obituary from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Johnny Cash: 1932 to 2003
Forget country, alternative, hot, young or old. Set aside generation, class or education. For that matter, forget music. Johnny Cash was a seminal figure of 20th-century American culture. Like Hemingway or Sandburg, Bogart or Warhol, he was one of those artists who create something bigger than themselves without ever trying. No one plans to wind [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley – The Ultimate Moe & Joe / Mickey Gilley – Room Full Of Roses / Gilley’s Smokin’
Today’s country artists aren’t rednecks, they just play them on TV. Twenty years ago was another matter. Moe & Joe, those were rednecks. Mickey Gilley was urbane in comparison, but he ran the world’s biggest honky-tonk, too. For better, for worse, they were the real thing.
The Ultimate Moe & Joe collects all the singles (plus [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Charlie Walker – Greatest Honky Tonk Hits
This is the sound of hard-core country in the 1960s — not necessarily that of the greatest artists, but the everyday, keep-it-country sound that filled the middle of the charts.
Charlie Walker hailed from farming country east of Dallas and was a popular San Antonio DJ for years before hitting the top 10 for the first [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Various Artists – Country Got Soul, Volume One
Although much less broad in scope and goal and coming from a different perspective, the Country Got Soul compilation has an against-the-grain mission statement similar to that of 1998’s three-disc From Where I Stand: The Black Experience In Country Music box set. Whereas From Where I Stand spotlighted the role of blacks in a genre [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Neil Young – On The Beach / American Stars ‘N Bars / Hawks & Doves / Re·ac·tor
As with most major artists, the lion’s share of Neil Young’s Reprise catalog was converted to CD in the late 1980s, digital’s frontier days, with little consideration given to sound quality, presentation or artistic intent. At the time, not much was made of the six unreleased titles: the four above-mentioned, as well as the essential [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Stanley Brothers – The King Years 1961-1965 / Ralph Stanley – Poor Rambler (His Complete King and Gusto Recordings)
It’s been ten long years since the release of The Stanley Brothers: The Early Starday King Years 1958-1961, and though the delay has been aggravating (to say the least), it’s a blessing to finally have its 4-CD companion set available. For one thing, virtually all of the commercial recordings of the Brothers are now in [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Glen Campbell – The Legacy (1961-2002)
The mention of Glen Campbell is likely to evoke either a shrug or a snicker. For those under 20, he doesn’t exist, and to 40-year-olds, he endures largely as a caricature: clad in a white leisure suit, waving his good-guy white hat from atop a horse on the Rhinestone Cowboy album cover. Like most views [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #48 Nov-Dec 2003
Waylon Jennings – Waylon Live: The Expanded Edition
When released in 1976, Waylon Live instantly joined the short list of great country concert recordings, alongside Hank Thompson’s At the Golden Nugget, Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison, Charley Pride’s In Person (Live At Panther Hall), and not very many others. But what we have here — a new two-disc, 42-track version of the album [...]
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