Customer Reviews

Amigo

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This may not be totally objective, becuase I'm a huge fan of David Ball. But what a CD--well worth the long wait. David's voice sounds the same on this CD (wonderful) but I think he has a different group behind him, or the arrangements just expand their role a bit. It's a nice little tweak.

I also love the fact that this is instantly recognizable as COUNTRY music. It's pretty bad when you don't know what radio station you're on (i.e., you hear several songs, assume you're on the pop/soft rock station, then look at the dial and, surprise!, it's a so-called "country" station. No thanks!)

Amigo is a neat little song, easy to sing along to.

Riding with Private Malone is bittersweet, considering recent events.

Loser Friendly is about how easy the bar door swings open, the bartender sets up a tab real quick...it's all so loser friendly. Cute!

Texas Echo was on his very first CD released years ago, before Thinkin' Problem. David sounds a little stronger this time.

Trying Not To Love You is a nice change of pace and shows off his voice well.

Linger Awhile is almost reminiscent of Bob Wills, David even does the little "Haaaaaaaa" that fades out. (If you're a Wills fan, you'll know what I mean...hopefully.)

I also love Swing Baby--best listened to at near-maximum volume!

The only one that isn't just really great is New Shiner Polka. But maybe it's just that I don't like polkas? They just make me laugh.

No hesitations recommending this CD. David's one of the few real "country" singers left out there, and I'll keep buying his music as long as he puts it out.

Those familiar with Uncle Walt's Band will remember David Ball's twangy tenor as being the perfect compliment to bandmate Walter Hyatt's cooly understated baritone. After the Band's break up and Walter Hyatt's tragic death, Ball struck out on his own with albums like "Thinkin' Problem" and "Starlit Lounge", albums that played the contemporary country game while staying true to Country's honky tonkin' roots. While both Albums were well received by critics and fans alike, neither album garnered Ball much radio airplay. In a better world, an album like "Amigo" would change all that. The name "David Ball" would be a household name and the album would be at the top of the charts with a Grammy Award for best Country Album.

For those tired of the endless airplay of so called Country Music that has never seen a dance floor or tasted a cold beer, Ball's album will transport you back to a Texas honky tonk to a time when Country Music meant twin fiddles, broken heros, cryin'the blues, cheatin' lovin' and wrapping a long neck around your baby's neck for a swing around the dance floor.

As with Toni Price's new album (Another Texas treasure) Ball draws from a variety of musical eras that explore Swing, Blues, and Tex Mex, mixing traditional Country with contemporary Country to form a style that is as distinctive as it is familiar. "Linger Awhile" a song originally done by the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1920s is given the Country Swing treatment in a way that would make Bob Wills proud. Ball takes Patsy Cline's lilting waltz "Just Out of Reach" out of the 1950s into the present and turns it into a languidly wistful song of lost love. "Amigo", a Ball original, is a love song that celebrates the love a musician has for his guitar. Ball gives a nod to contemporary Country in the form of "Saving Private Malone", which is a song about a soldier's lost dream becoming another person's reality and is a song that in these troubled times would become a number one hit if it was ever given a chance on the airways.

Sounding at times like Dwight Yoakam, Jimmy Buffett, Willie Nelson, and Merle Haggard, Ball brings a fresh originality to the old, and keeps a sense of the old in the new in the original songs he co-writes with others. Ball's original Gospel number "When the Devil Comes to Wrestle" has the kind of foot stompin' guitar playing that sounds like it came directly from a Sunday afternoon revival meeting.

If given a chance artists like David Ball could bring Country Music back to its rightful place. Here to hoping that Country Radio Programmers stand up and take notice.

It is a real pleasure to get a country album that isn't a camoflauged pop album hidden behind a pair of dualing banjos and a little extra twang. David Ball has stood and delivered in "Amigo." The current single "Riding with Private Malone" is just the tip of a Texas sized iceberg. I enjoyed each track safe in the knowledge that someone who loves country music was doing his best to present his vision of how it should be done.

Amigo is the best country album since Dwight Yoakam's Tomorrows Sounds... This David Ball guy has so much talent: nice vocals, nice songwriting, and great care for keeping the music interesting. This is a lot of southwestern style country, some excellent Texas swing. I love all the creativity in these songs...the lyrics, the instruments used, everything! Private Malone is just one of 13 very good tunes. Speaking of that song, this is probably an album that will separate strong music fans and casual music fans. As you can see by previous reviews, many people ran into Amigo because of Pvt. Malone. Well, this is great music, but it may take some time to get used to if you're one of those people that's only heard the kinda "country" that's played on most radios. I think you'll have to listen with an open mind. One the other hand, if you already know true country, you'll love Amigo right away. This is some more music that only gets better with each time you give it a spin on the record player. I highly recommend it!!!

I got Mr. Ball's new record as a christmas present and it's really starting to grow on me. David Ball wrote three of the songs on here himself and also had a hand in 5 others. The musicianship is fabulous and David gives a thoroughly inspired performance! David Ball writes and sings about the love game with a little wry humor. For the most part, *Amigo* is upbeat and very danceable! The album has a nice variety of quality songs.

Amigo- classic bouncy midtempo Western Swing tune.

Missing Her Blues- this one has classic country lyrics sang to a calypso drum beat.

She Always Talked About Mexico- Fantastic song featuring some spectacular guitar, trumpets, and accordion. The song also has a great lyric and an infectious melody.

Riding With Private Malone- Very nice storytelling song with a timeless melody. Will probably become his signature song.

Whenever You Come Back To Me- This is another nice smooth country ballad with a soulfull chorus.

Loser Friendly- honkytonkin' song with fun, sing-along lyrics!

Linger Awhile- Now this is a great upbeat Western Swinger that would make Bob Wills proud! It has those infectious touches of twin fiddles and pedal steel. Beautifull poetic lyrics and a cool vibe!

Trying Not To Love You- This is a Merle Haggard penned tune. It's kind of a loungy, smooth ballad.

New Shiner Polka- is a bouncy polka beat instrumental.

Texas Echo- is a yodelfest with the instant classic lyrics: 'Under the open skies deep in the heart of Texas, the sun shines down on the cotton fields. As the clouds roll back across the sky, carry my love to the Rio Grand.'

Swing Baby- Now here's the one that will get your fingers snappin' and shoes tappin', especially when the piano solo hits! It's a terrific melody with the perfect lyrics to fit.

Just Out of Reach- is a nice winding down slow song that sets the tone for the end of the record.

When the Devil Wants to Wrestle- is a bluesy/gospel tinged song written by Mr. Ball with the lyrics: 'When the Devil wants to wrestle, put Jesus in the ring.'

Well, this record is sooooo good,...a total smash! Definitely the best Texas Honkytonk and Western Swing that I've heard in a long time. David Ball has a nice, distinctive country voice. Highly, highly recommended!

My first review ever, and this deserves it. David Ball's album amigo is a masterful blend that transcends definitions like "country," etc. with a refreshing, innocent sound as nostalgic as any saturday matinee. This isn't "country music," because Ball mixes hawaiian steel guitar, mariachi horns, and calypso beats in such a way that the listener can't quite place which "country" the country might be-- it might be better to give it a new name like "world western retro." Still, you can't help but grin at the sweetness of the lyrics and the charm of the tunes. Even the sad songs are lighthearted!

The album only gets 4 stars because songs 1-4, 8, 11 and 13 (7/13 songs) are the real winners, but the price of the album is worth these for sure.

Firstly, to the couple folks who gave this CD just one star.....GET OUT OF COUNTRY MUSIC and GO BACK TO POP!!!! This CD should come with a warning that says: 'WARNING: This is true country music for true country music fan'. From the first note of 'Amigo' right through to the end of 'When The Devil Wants to Wrestle', this CD takes you on a tour of a musical style radio is trying to destroy. While the CD sounds modern, it also succeeds in sounding just as retro with the use of many classic country instruments such as the Hawaiian steel guitar. Each and every song sounds as though it has been transported right out of the Texas Honky Tonks of the 50's. Each song on this album is a standout. But my particular favorites include: 'Missing Her Blues', 'Amigo', 'Loser Friendly', 'Private Malone' and 'Whenever You Come Back to Me'. This album will not disappoint the true country music fan. So, if you enjoy what country used to be: Hank Sr, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzel, Alan Jackson, and Randy Travis and not what it's become: Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, and teens (Billy Gilman, Lee Ann Rimes) than this album IS FOR YOU. You won't be disappointed.

I don't buy a lot of music anymore - Johnny Cash and the Oakridge Boys were my kind of country. I heard "Riding.." on my way to Tennessee so with an old vette in my past and my second son with a LAR Marine unit in Iraq it touched me deeply. Strangely enough I like almost all the other songs too. Amazon is great, as always. I'm one of those 10% that don't live within 15 miles of a WalMart so it was the only place to shop.

Somewhere along the way I started listening to the so-called "alt-county" and to a number of Texas-based artists. David Ball, while not really in the alternative category, is another one of those distinctive voices from Texas who deserves a close listen because he not only has a parcel of talent as a singer and musician but also understands and studies tradition and form.

Mr. Ball, a vocalist who does not aspire to be another Nashville hair-hat clone, belts our some great stuff on "Amigo." He is smooth without being trendy and tells some great stories without resorting to gimmicks. The band performs flawlessly, whether adding a pedal steel flourish, a touch of Mariachi horns, or some honky-tonk piano.

"Amigo" is indeed a friendly sort of albums, full of tales of drinking, lost love, soul searching, soldiers, and other themes that resonant from the heartland. There is nothing harsh here but rather a collection of tunes that require a bit of volume and possibly some toe-tapping. And what a collection of songs---a dash of everything from ballads to swing, to the type of real country that floated across the AM radio back in the '60s.

This music is fun to play for your friends who don't like---or claim not to like---any country music in any form. If you can hijack the car stereo on a road trip and calm them down enough so they actually listen, they might just like it, too.

(I guess because it's such a big place that Texas can conjure up folks as different as the 13th Floor Elevator, Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Gourds, Lyle Lovett, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, MojoLingo, Breedlove, and Asleep at the Wheel, and still have room for David Ball.)

An earlier reviewer mentioned David's "twangy tenor," which is displayed on such great Uncle Walt Band cuts as "Bluebird" (reissued by Sugar Hill Records on 'An American in Texas Revisited').
I would say that on the Uncle Walt albums, David had not only twang, but an instantly recognizable timbre (high, and in the same ballpark as that of Neil Young, though by no means an imitation of Young). He was on those records a truly gifted vocal stylist. His South Carolina drawl was different enough from most country and folk vocalists to seem new, and his phrasing swung as hard as the guitar licks of band mate Champ Hood.

On his own, he seems to be burying his uniqueness under a layer of George Jones-inflection, but I can understand why. In the music biz, you have to fit either in this box or that box, and David's earlier vocal style, unfortunately, could never make it on country radio. And maybe he just likes singing this way (emphasizing the bottom range of his voice, using Nashville diction and phrasing).
Many of the reviewers here seem to want him to leave the twang even farther behind, and for David to sound even less distinctive and less country. This is just so sad; but I would never turn on a hot-country station (heck, any country station) in a million years.

Perhaps his voice has lowered a little with time, but I still hear that high and clear tone peak out from time to time--it's still there. I really hope he revists the vocal style of his 20s, leaving the electric bass behind and getting some musicians behind him to swing hard and tastefully.
I could see him making a pretty dynamite record with someone like Mark Linett producing (Linett did such a fabulous job with the 'Feeling Kinda Lucky,' a western-swing masterpiece by Big Sandy and his Fly-rite Boys). Also, he could try a country-politan disc like Walter Hyatt's "King Tears" (a fabulous Lyle Lovett production with Ball singing backgrounds in places). There are more good records--timeless records, even--inside David Ball waiting to come out. I just hope he has the chance and inclination to make them.

I could do with less of the sentimental tracks like 'Private Malone' (I'm sure it's put a lot of food on his table, and I wouldn't begrudge him any success)--I was so relieved when I didn't see David's name in the songwriting credits for 'Malone'.
What I'd really like to hear more of is David's sly wit, swing, sophistication, and more of his glorious natural singing voice. Can't he start a second career on the side for his older fans and other listeners with half a brain?