Self Debut Album (sometimes called the quilt album)
This debut album sets the tone for the Ozark's next three or four succeeding albums. The down home style blend of mountain music with a rock emphasis is very pleasing to the ear. The Ozarks brought a fresh perspective to the music scene, not really seemin to care if the songs had mass market appeal. Of course this was the early 1970s before music became just another big business concerned only with bottom lines. This music is fun to listen to. Classic rock radio stations still give "If You Want to get to Heaven" some airplay, but that one song does not really define who the Ozarks are (or were as they are mainly retired from the music business now). Those songs with the fiddle or the slow, steady beat are more the Ozark's standards.
If you like this kind of off-beat music then this will be worth your time. If you are more in tune with modern music then this will sound like it came from a completely bygone era. I for one fall into the former catagory and enjoy this album time and again.
As produced by Dave Anderle and Glyn Johns (Eagles, Austin's Marc Benno and a host of others) it does have a certain studiofied sheen to it but there is no denying the Daredevils' earthy muse. 'Country Girl' manages to be both wistful and joyous at the same time ("we'd set on a cloud and cry out loud 'til tomorrow is yesterday") and 'Road To Glory', with its sustained-vibrato fiddle, subtle piano and high-and-lonesome harmonica, soars right off the road and off the map. 'Chicken Train' is as whimsical as its title and 'If You Wanna Get To Heaven' (by the way, what the hell is a 'weird' radio?) is a statement of intent. 'Colorado Song' is as expansive as its title demands and 'Spaceship Orion' picks up where 'Road To Glory' soars off. This is country music in the best sense. It ain't country-rock. It ain't progressive country, whatever that is or was. And it sure ain't country-western. Country without the western, maybe. Yep, there's still beauty in that river. It's eclectic and it's organic. It's from 1973 and it's beautiful and it's timeless.
If you like this kind of off-beat music then this will be worth your time. If you are more in tune with modern music then this will sound like it came from a completely bygone era. I for one fall into the former catagory and enjoy this album time and again.
As produced by Dave Anderle and Glyn Johns (Eagles, Austin's Marc Benno and a host of others) it does have a certain studiofied sheen to it but there is no denying the Daredevils' earthy muse. 'Country Girl' manages to be both wistful and joyous at the same time ("we'd set on a cloud and cry out loud 'til tomorrow is yesterday") and 'Road To Glory', with its sustained-vibrato fiddle, subtle piano and high-and-lonesome harmonica, soars right off the road and off the map. 'Chicken Train' is as whimsical as its title and 'If You Wanna Get To Heaven' (by the way, what the hell is a 'weird' radio?) is a statement of intent. 'Colorado Song' is as expansive as its title demands and 'Spaceship Orion' picks up where 'Road To Glory' soars off. This is country music in the best sense. It ain't country-rock. It ain't progressive country, whatever that is or was. And it sure ain't country-western. Country without the western, maybe. Yep, there's still beauty in that river. It's eclectic and it's organic. It's from 1973 and it's beautiful and it's timeless.
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