Customer Reviews

Emmy Lou Harris: Evangeline [ LP Vinyl ]

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

 

 

This should be issued as a CD. Highlights include "Mister Sandman" with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and "Spanish Johnny" with Waylon Jennings.

I Don't Have To Crawl and Ashes By Now, the two outstanding cuts here, are among best sides Emmylou Harris recorded.

Length:: 1:23 Mins

Nineteen eighty-one was a great year for country music, with three smash hits by country singers crossing over into pop music's top 40. The songs were "Seven Year Ache" by Roseanne Cash, "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton, and "Mr. Sandman" by Emmylou Harris (with an assist from friends Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt). Okay, "Mister Sandman" is not exactly country, being a remake of a pop song from the fifties, but it was by a country singer. Okay, Emmylou Harris is not exactly a country singer .... Indeed, that is the secret of her success. Harris is a little bit of everything, and sings with the country attitude she learned from her mentor Gram Parsons.

Pop, country, folk, she does it with integrity and class and seemingly very little ego. She worked with the most promising up-and-comer song writers and musicians, sang carefully crafted songs that played to her strength, and everyone loved her--critics, the kids who loved Dylan, the Beatles, and Neil Young, and country music embraced her as one of their own.

"Evangeline", released in 1981, was not one of her more critically acclaimed albums, coming as it did on the heels of "Roses in the Snow", "Luxury Liner" and "Blue Kentucky Girl." It is, however, very, very good, with song performances as good as any she had done previously. Two of the standouts are by Rodney Crowell: "Ashes by Now" and "I Don't Have to Crawl." I defy anyone to compare her versions with the better-known versions by Roseanne Cash and Rodney Crowell respectively and say they aren't at least as emotionally convincing, if not more so. Same thing with Little Feat's "Oh Atlanta." Little Feat can rock it, you bet, but Harris rocks it even harder. I also prefer her version of James Taylor's bitter, sorrowful "Millworker." It was written from a woman's perspective, and Harris delivers in a way Taylor can't. Add to these songs "How High the Moon", a remake of Les Paul/Mary Ford's classic version that spotlights Harris's Hot Band, "Spanish Johnny", a duet sung with Waylon Jennings, "Mister Sandman" and "Hot Burrito #2" (homage to Parsons, from the first Flying Burrito Brothers album), and like me you'll scratch your head wondering why this isn't placed among Harris's best albums.

P.S. This album is now available on CD

geoff skinner

christchurch

nz

I have to reiterate the thoughts of others, when is this stunning record going to be released on cd!

My retailer says it is one of the most frequently requested items from his many loyal customers and as

for the company that said it wasn't any good, what planet are they on?

Tony Rice's guitar solo on ' How High The Moon ' is breathtaking as is her take on James Taylor's 'Millworker'.

Come on Amzon, put some pressure on them, you would sell HEAPS. We should'nt have to crawl.

geoff

One of the albums that is getting overlooked in the digital age (Neil Youngs "Time Fades Away" is another).

Please release this on CD. Cimmarron eventually made it !!

This is one of the best records by Harris, surely one of the best after the strings of great records in the 70's which are still her best. I have worn this LP and would like to buy it on CD. It's a mystery why this one has not been reissued on cd.

Many good songs on this album, but the jewel in the crown is definitely Emmy, Dolly and Linda performing the title track, Evangeline. This must be issued on CD.