Customer Reviews

Cowboy in Flames

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you're a fan of bands like the Mekons and the Clash who wants to hear passionate and intelligently played rock music with a tinge of country influence, then this CD is indeed masterful and you'll absolutely love it. If you came to it with any other sorts of expectations, you won't. The fact is that not all of the songs sound the same, but all have a wonderful boozy good-time vibe while simultaneously having something important to say lyrically. That decidedly uncommercial mix of styles certainly isn't for everyone, but within this genre of country-punk the Waco Brothers are as good as it gets.

This is still the Wacos' best album, even if the others are worth having (and they are). Their cover of Cash's classic "Big River" just makes you pine for them to record "Folsom Prison Blues" -- with which they traditionally finish their live shows in an all out jam that tears the tune apart by the end. "See Willy Fly By" is straight-up Waco Brothers -- sarcastic country/punk political satire that kicks your butt; "Fast Train Down" an excellent show tune that also works from the studio; and all finished off with "The Death of Country Music," a not-so-tongue-in-cheek manifesto for reinventing country music: "We'll spill some blood on the ashes/ of the bones of the Joneses and the Cashes . . . We're picking the flesh off the bones." Every song on this album has the quality that makes the best songs on their other albums so good. Wacoworld is a step down from this album, so Waco neophytes start here.

Buy it NOW. Cash in your beer bottles, check behind the cusions in the couch, sell your TV, whatever it takes, you need this album. This is one of the most vital records I have heard in ages, and it gets better everytime I put it on. I t took me 5 plays before I could get to the second song simply because I kept replaying "See Willy Fly By" as soon as the fadeout started. Jon Langford and company have suceeded in waking Country Music from its current Stepford Wives state by coming to both bury it and to praise it. Buy this album and then work you way foreward and bacward through the Mekons/Langford/Wacos/PineValleyCosmonauts/SallyTimms/ family tree.

After 11 years, this CD is still a definitive re-statement of the possibilities in American rock and country music.

It probably ain't for LeeAnne Grimes fans, and they won't be on America's Next Nashville Star - or whatever it's called.

But if you're interested in music that is doing for country and rock what punk - at its best - did for rock music, start listening.

And do NOT miss a chance to see these guys live.

And if you don't, don't know it. But get it. The Waco bros are nopt for everyone, who cares. The best music out there comes from Bloodshot. No colmmercial packaging, no BullSh*t, just grat music. Dig it. If you got any soul this is for you.

The reviewer below does not know what he's talking about. This CD is masterful.

This album is 100 percent hoedown music. Most every song is identical in sound. This is terrible stuff. I purchased this because I understood these guys to be a hip, country or alt-country band. After listening to it, I am not sure what type of music fan would like this--perhaps "Cotton-Eyed Joe" or "Turkey in the Straw" fans. The lyrics in these tunes are moronic, and listening to the songs is absolutely painful. I am selling my copy to a used CD store today. Don't waste your money on this.

...such as members of the band or those involved in production. No objective person would characterize Cowboy in Flames as "waking up country music" or as "masterful." The album has one tolerable song, and that's it. Just listen to the links above to find out what the album is about. God, these guys .... I would rather listen to a cow give birth.