Neil Young- American Stars and Bars

American Stars and Bars

I seem to love this CD for the very reasons that others disparage it. Yes, I know it's disparate, hodge-podge of songs. But, it's also raw and alive and seems to have a goofy, not-to-serious charm of it's own. On this album, Neil is no longer in the "middle of the road" ("Harvest"), but he isn't in the now infamously quoted "ditch" either ("Tonight's the Night", "On the Beach"). Young is sort of doing a balancing act in the middle, creating an album thats' sort of a warped, Frankenstein-like version of his classic, "Harvest". But it's a Frankenstein, that can tap it's toes and sort of dance. I love songs like the rustic "The Old Country Waltz" or the pulp Western tale, "Saddle Up the Palimono". I in particular, like the contributions of singers Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris & Nicolette larson. They really work well with Young giving, that perfect '70s era country-rock feeling (especially Harris, who shines on "Star of Bethlehem"). According to one tale I've heard, the ladies thought they were just doing some 'practice, run throughs' of the songs. Much to their chagrin, they later learned that Neil was using these sessions as the final takes, hence the raw feeling of the songs.The electric portions of the CD are wonderful as well. "Like a Hurricane" is of course a classic and Young has played this long & Winding song for many years in his concert repertoire. I love the song's lyrical imagery and to be blunt, the guitar soloing just kicks some rock n' roll (...)! One of my favorites on this CD is the final track, "Homegrown", a funny little ode to small farms or the joys of harvesting 'weed' (you can take your choice). It's a bouncy tune that totally gives me a case of the giggles. No, "American Stars 'N Bars" is never going to be in the cannon of the "Great, Neil

 



Marshall Tucker Band- Carolina Dreams

Carolina Dreams

The MTB run of truly outstanding records peaked with Carolina Deams, an lp that was deservedly their best selling. Although it's a relatively country oriented release, somehow, it also managed to break out in a big way on album rock radio, and then, of course, more mainstream radio with Heard it in a Love Song. It's an unbelievable shame that Capricorn didn't release the live follow up "Stompin' Room Only" as was planned (A review is posted on this blog); because as we now know (it's just been released more than 25 years later) it would have been a good career move at that time. MTB had some other good releases prior to the demise of the original band, but this was the last of the 5 star albums.

Album Review- Byrdmaniax

The Byrds- Byrdmaniax

"Byrdmaniax" is a marvelous late-period Byrds album, with some stellar songs and affecting performances. In fact, there are several all- time Byrds classics to be found: 'Pale Blue', 'I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician' and 'Glory, Glory'. The very best tracks, though, are better than anything The Byrds had ever come up with to that time. McGuinn's amazing 'I Trust' and Skip Battin's strange ode to old Hollywood, 'Citizen Kane' (the guitars on that track, along with the raw attack of Gene Parson's drumming, seems to predict grunge...I'm just babbling now). Then there's Skip's pastoral 'Absolute Happiness' which is not at all bad. Actually, all of the material in "Byrdmaniax" is downright great; the only flaw--and this is a big one-- is the overproduction. The Byrds were at their height at this point, with the McGuinn-Battin-Parsons-White lineup; and yet they're buried underneith tons of ridiculous strings. That pretty much destroyed the wonderful 'Kathleen's Song' (without the kitchen sink it is included on the 1990 Byrds box set) and vastly diminishes the power of 'Pale Blue' and 'My Destiny'. It should be noted that The Byrds were not responsible for this and were incensed tremendously that their producer would screw them so badly; as a direct result the band itself produced the next lp, "Farther Along". That album has the edge over "Byrdmaniax" due to it's amazingly quiet and clean simplicity of both material and production. But don't pass up "Byrdmaniax". There are several great cuts that didn't make the box set (why in the world was 'Citizen Kane' not included in the box? ) and that are necessary for anyone wishing to gain a complete understanding of one of America's greatest and most influential country-rock bands. 

Album Review - Firefall- Greatest Hits

To kick off the country rock album reviews, I chose one of the first country rock CD's I bought,

Firefalls Greatest Hits

Firefall's GREATEST HITS is a great collection of a 70s country-rock band that really was so much more than its two biggest hits, "You Are The Woman" and "Just Remember I Love You." These two songs are heard as Muzak nowadays, which is really out of context, as much of the band's material showed that they could rock as hard as, say, the Outlaws at their best. The only minor flaw is that an edited version of "Strange Way" is here rather than the full-length album version, but that's not much of a problem, as you get the exemplary "Headed For A Fall" in its uncut version.

 



Album Reviews

I will now begin country rock album reviews of my favorite, most listened to country rock albums. I am  targeting 160 total CD reviews.