Comments on: STEVE EARLE – TOWNES

By: marshall

marshall — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:01:32 +0000

fuck yeah! Kate at New West gave our band this album, and now we’ve got em coming in VINYL!!!!!!!!!

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:47:08 +0000

If anyone would rather just buy a digital copy of the album, it's on sale at Amazon right now for $2.99.

By: Autopsy IV

Autopsy IV — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:06:35 +0000

damn.
now I wish I had the demo’s.

By: Meaty Ramone

Meaty Ramone — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:30:34 +0000

I just listened to the bonus demo disc, and it’s great, makes the album proper totally useless. And there even is some point to it, since many of Townes’ greatest songs were a bit overproduced in the studio, so the best versions come from live albums. I had wished this would have been a bit more of a celebration of Townes, maybe with some guest appearances by old time friends like Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell or Richard Dobson, but hey, that’s only me dreaming.

As far as I’m concerned the bonus disc is the real deal and the only reason to spend money on it. And I doubt it’s included in the expensive vinyl release, which is a shame. Once more a case of the demos being way better than the final release.

By: Hurricane Natalie

Hurricane Natalie — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:50:07 +0000

So, I’m not the only one who has incestuous relationships with the bands/artists she listens to? Good to know. John Elliot and American Aquarium have been hooking up for some time now.

Oh, and you need to check out John Elliot&the Hereafter, I think that if Cory can go all girly over him then so can you. Just remember, he doesn’t have that country twang you like so much.(Seriously, he has the voice of an angel who sings a song called ‘My Mom is a Dog’)

By: oz

oz — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:06:22 +0000

I Feel Alright is a very solid album. He lost me once he started injecting so much political rhetoric in his music and I broke up with him. Now that he’s covering Townes and duetting with his son Justin, we got back together and are having a foursome in my headphones.

By: Meaty Ramone

Meaty Ramone — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:08:42 +0000

I’m a fan of Steve Earle, but I by no means like everything he’s done. His pre-jail albums contain a lot of great songs, but not all of the recordings have aged that well.

After he got out of prison it seemed for a while he couldn’t do no wrong: Train A-Comin (!), I Feel Alright, El Corazon, The Mountain (!!!), all of them killer albums.
Transcendental Blues – though a good album – had the first real stinkers and from then onwards it went downhill.
A real disaster and one of the biggest disappointments ever for me music-wise was Washington Square Serenade. Announced as a folkie album and hailed as a kind of comeback it was an embarrassing collection of rewrites and miserably failed experiments. The duet with Allison can cause sudden vomitting.

That being said, I wasn’t really looking forward to TOWNES. And the fact that Townes in one of my biggest heroes didn’t make it easier and, honestly, I rarely come across a Townes cover I like (here I just must honorably mention Ben Weaver’s terrific take on Two Girls before he went artsy)(and Lyle).

I only listened half-heartedly to TOWNES once yet and some songs I liked (the bluegrass stuff) and some I didn’t. I was looking forward to the duet with Justin, but that let me down, too. I love Justin’s Townes covers live, the duet with his father feels surprisingly awkward.

I will give it another chance (and then another and another), but I ain’t too excited about it right now. I heard there’s a limited edition with the album in demo versions, now that one could be interesting.