Customer Reviews

First Album

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

 

 

This album has two of TVZ's greatest, and also saddest, songs -- 'Tecumseh Valley' and 'Waiting Around to Die.' 'Tecumseh Valley' has been covered by both Nanci Griffith (in her album 'Other Voices, Other Rooms') and Steve Earle (in his album 'Train A'Comin'), but as with all TVZ songs, Townes breathes life in this song like no one else can.

Amen to (almost) every word of Lee Charles Kelley's review (I'd take Joni Mitchell's Blue in place of the classical stuff). I knew Mr. Kelley during his disc-jockey period, and can vouch for his impeccable taste and talent. He's not very good, though, at staying in touch with old, fat friends <g>.

The first thing that strikes you about this album is the cover art by the great Milton Glaser. Beyond that, hey, the album has good songs, but they're produced with an ear to the marketplace, and that's just wrong. Luckily, Townes re-recorded some of these songs without the orchestra, etc. Still, the simple fact is, if I were stranded on a desert island and could only have ten records to take along, eight of them would be Townes van Zandt records. (The last two would be Beethoven's Seventh and Stan Getz with Antonio Carlos Jobim.) Yeah, I would miss Pet Sounds, Revolver, and Miss You by the Rolling Stones. But not when the record player was playing HIGH LOW AND IN BETWEEN< OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN< FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG< DELTA MOMMA BLUES< and the rest of the sadly cut-short catalogue of this incredible writer. Oh yeah, and I'd miss Dylan's BLOOD ON THE TRACKS and a few other trinkets, but not much. Not when I had Mr. van Zandt's music playing in my ears.

The first thing that strikes you about this album is the cover art by the great Milton Glaser. Beyond that, hey, the album has good songs, but they're produced with an ear to the marketplace, and that's just wrong. Luckily, Townes re-recorded some of these songs without the orchestra, etc. Still, the simple fact is, if I were stranded on a desert island and could only have ten records to take along, eight of them would be Townes van Zandt records. (The last two would be Beethoven's Seventh and Stan Getz with Antonio Carlos Jobim.) Yeah, I would miss Pet Sounds, Revolver, and Miss You by the Rolling Stones. But not when the record player was playing HIGH LOW AND IN BETWEEN< OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN< FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG< DELTA MOMMA BLUES< and the rest of the sadly cut-short catalogue of this incredible writer. Oh yeah, and I'd miss Dylan's BLOOD ON THE TRACKS and a few other trinkets, but not much. Not when I had Mr. van Zandt's music playing in my ears.

TVZ was expected to be the next Bob Dylan and listening to this album will make you wonder why he never became a superstar. The song writing is fantastic, the delivery precise, the emotion high. I first fell in love with the album shortly after it came out on LP (remember LPs?) and have enjoyed it to this day (2 LPs, cassette, and now a CD.)

The lovely and sad "Waiting Around to Die" and "Tecumseh Valley" are the stars of the album. "Talkin' Karate Blues" (although not politically correct) is a standout comedy piece on how to keep a bully from picking on you.

There is not a bad track on the album. The songs are his, the experiences are shared.