Customer Reviews

Hard Line

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For their third WB/Slash album, The Blasters continued to mine the highways and byways of Americana, searching for myth and majesty using straight-ahead, no guff rock and roll that seemed at odds with the sound of the times. Along with The Del-Lords and Guadalcanal Diary (to name but 2), The Blasters revitalized rock and roll, making it majestic and brooding, iconic and "common-joe" empathic. It's in all respects a simple release. The band, the songs, a no frills production. 25 years on, it retains its angular nature. There wasn't a bum note to be heard, not a single song unworthy of repeated play. From the opening rumble of "Trouble Bound" to the austere simplicity of "Just Another Sunday", the mythopoetic "Samson & Delilah" to the menacing "Dark Night"...each of the album's 10 songs will click with the listener and will be imprinted on your synapses instantly. There was no reason for the album not to click with the Springsteen crowd. Yet it failed to sell, failed to generate a hit single. Even a cover of John Mellencamp's "Colored Lights" (produced by Mellencamp acolyte Don Gehman while JM himself oversaw executive production of the track under his "Little Bastard" alias) failed to find a home on FM AOR radio. It was also a sign of how little faith Warner Bros. had in the group that not a single one of the three Slash albums were released on CD. Until now. Here's where we all kowtow to Phil and Dave Alvin, Bill Bateman, John Bazz and Gene Taylor. Thankfully, all three sets are finally available for reappraisal. Make it your business to get them and you'll be richly rewarded. Especially if you love Tom Petty, The Boss and Mr. Mellencamp. A million thanks to Wounded Bird.

I had this album on a cassette back in 1985 and I'd been wanting it on a more permanent format for a long time. I'm so glad I looked it up on Amazon because it's just an awesome album by one of the criminally underknown & unappreciated bands of the 1980's. It's not the perfect collection of the Blasters obviously, but every song on this album is solid-to-spectacular. For me, highlights are "Dark Night" (later used for Tarantiino's "Wait Until Dark" film), "Colored Lights," & "Just Another Sunday." If you're a fan of the Blasters (or even generally of rockabilly or Americana), check out this collection. I think you'll love it, too.