Growl

Ray Wylie Hubbard | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 1, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philo / Umgd
• ASIN: B00008CLLC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,844 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As most music gets slicker and slicker, Hubbard grows more and more crude; Growl is even more eternal and lowdown than Eternal and Lowdown, its predecessor, on which he first explicitly relied on blues roots. With Gurf Morlix again producing, melodies meander and stumble through faraway guitars and fat, echoing bass and drums while Hubbard ponders his usual Big ‘Uns such as sin, loneliness, temptation, betrayal, and afterlife. There’s plenty of slow, shimmering bottleneck, nimble fingerpicking, and dark Southern Gothic. "Purgatory Road" could be a rewrite of "Tobacco Road" by the very wasted offspring of Tony Joe White and Bobbie Gentry. Now and again, the band shows it can also rock, as on the (perhaps overly) jaundiced "Rock-N-Roll Is a Vicious Game," or chug, as on "Stolen Horses." The biting Hubbard wit may be pretty much absent here, but that’s okay, too, because this stuff packs enough of a wallop that you don’t miss it. --John Morthland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars down home at midnight, April 10, 2003

By 

Jerome Clark (Canby, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Growl (Audio CD)

I mean no disrespect in observing that Growl, surely Ray Wylie Hubbard's finest album, brings to mind Bob Dylan's recent work: gritty, bluesy electric sound, lyrics exhaled through clenched teeth, the years rolled by, death coming down the highway, not a moment or a thought to waste. As with Dylan's, Hubbard's writing is filtered through an intense affection for traditional folk music, lyrics from which each misses no opportunity to quote or paraphrase. At least two songs, "Rooster" and "Little Mama," could easily pass for the real thing.

Hubbard has the benefit of Gurf Morlix's keen producer's talents. As usual Morlix finds a perfect fusion of roots and modern sensibility. Even if you paid no attention to what Hubbard was singing about, this record would just plain sound good, even thrilling, to the ear. It must be said, however, that strong melodies aren't Hubbard's strong suit. Mostly, these are grooves more than melodies, and there's nothing here you're going to be humming in the shower. Still, Growl -- pretty much what this CD is -- is one superior piece of work.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pass me another Shiner Bock., April 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Growl (Audio CD)

The is the first Ray Wylie Hubbard CD I have ever bought. All I have to say is I will be buying more. I can not belive I missed the boat on the artist. This is the type of Texas county music I love and needs to be played more on the radio. All songs on this CD are first rate. This album sounds great sitting on the porch smoking a cigar and drinking a Shiner while talking about Texas and how great we have it here. This a must for any music fan.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How did I miss this guy?, December 30, 2004

By 

Smallchief - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Growl (Audio CD)

I never heard of Ray Wylie Hubbard until a month ago, but I think he's going to be one of my favorite artists. "Growl" is a great CD -- a mixture of country, rock, and folk with some Texas attitude, a lot of humor, and some musing on heavy-duty topics.

Just to mention four of the songs, "Rock-n-Roll is a Vicious Game" is a semi comic bio of a rock band. You might be able to figure out the tone of "Screw you, We're From Texas" from the title, but it also has a killer rock guitar threading its way through the half-spoken vocal. "The Knives of Spain" has another great display of guitar work by Buddy Miller. And finally "No Lie" is talking blues with a beat than makes your toes wiggle.

These may be the best songs on the CD, but they're all a pretty good combination of Hubbard's gravel voice and top notch instrumentation.

Smallchief