Blue Blvd

Dave Alvin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 1991)
• Original Release Date: August 19, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shout Factory
• ASIN: B0000005PE
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,790 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An All Out Winner, December 28, 2000

By 

Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blue Blvd (Audio CD)

As a connoisseur of music, I am amazed that the talent of Dave Alvin has escaped my notice for all these years. Admittedly, I don't listen to much radio but I am always exploring new musical terrain. When my friend Felice Kay recommended a couple Dave Alvin CDs I might like, Blue Blvd. was one of those. What an album it is! I get a kick out of Alvin's cynical and jaded view of love on such tunes as Gospel Night, Plastic Rose, Brand New Heart and Wanda and Duane. He really rocks on Guilty Man and Rich Man's Town and his country sensibilities shine through on Plastic Rose. He is at once funny AND he is biting. The whole CD is excellent but the piece de resistance is the blood-chilling Andersonville, a Civil War tale that evokes the best work of Ray Wylie Hubbard. I could listen to that time and again. I recommend this CD to anyone who enjoys intelligent lyrics backed by musical genius. You won't be disappointed in this all out winner. It will remain high in my CD rotation for years to come.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Music, American Stories, July 13, 2002

By 

James Carragher (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blue Blvd (Audio CD)

There are few surprises in Dave Alvin's music, either solo or as Blaster master. It's hard-working, tuneful roots rock, with instruments seldom more complicated than guitars -- electric, acoustic, and steel--, bass, and drums, a little keyboard here and there, the occasional bluesy riff. But more consistently than almost anyone else I know Alvin delivers diamond-sharp story slices of American life, people and places. If there is nothing here that ties those themes together as perfectly as Fourth of July, Blue Blvd has its full share of wonderful tales, including the sad end of Bill Haley (Haley's Comet), a tribute to Del Shannon and his terminal loneliness (title cut), a couple reconnecting to the Five Blind Boys of Alabama (Gospel Night), a couple disconnecting in an apartment hard by a California freeway (Wanda and Duane), a couple with misgivings over the abortion they are about to schedule (Plastic Rose), and the tenacity of optimism, illusion and memory against bleak Southern California reality (Dry River). On the CD, only Andersonville, about a Union soldier starving in the notorious Confederate POW camp, but still -- apparently -- strong enough to sing, misses the mark. Even so, 10 cuts out of 11 is a solid A by any standard. Get this.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Alvin masters songwriting and emotion, September 9, 2000

By 

Janet F. Pomeroy "Co-Founder of The goodMix" (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blue Blvd (Audio CD)

As a huge Dave Alvin fan, I can say that I like hearing the range of all his work, but this album is more of a foundation for the best he's built on - "King of California", "Blackjack Dave" and "Public Domain". I recommend his other stuff, as I think his voice is richer, deeper, provocative - but those who know this guy will go down as a curator and creator of Americana music may like the ride.