Customer Reviews

Lonesome Picker Rides Again

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not a particular fan of "folk" music, but I sure LOVE this album. Wolves in the Kitchen rocks harder than any AC/DC song ever has. The "70's John" at his best. A much better album than its Warner Bros. sister, "Sunstorm". Johnny, we let you down. Worth the money just to hear Wolves, Freeway Pleasure and Touch of the Sun.

When Dave Guard left the Kingston Trio some 40+ years ago,an unknown singer-songwriter named John Stewart took his place.It didn't take long for diehard KT fans to realize John's gifts.Then in the late 60's John began performing at clubs in the Los Angeles area,like The Ice House,The Troubador and others.He penned such hits as California Bloodlines,Daydream Believer,and much later his biggest radio hit,Gold with Stevie Nicks. Lonesome Picker Rides Again had the great rockin' song,Wolves in the Kitchen.Great lyrics & beat.Many other songs on the album became cult favorites too,but Wolves remains one of my faves some 45 years later! If you know JS and his music,you know of what I speak,if you don't,buy this CD and Cannons In The Rain or the Phoenix Concert CD to get started on a great journey!

the music and it's meaning is as fresh and original today as 20 years ago. anyone that loves folk music will find this cd a must for their collection. I've worn out three copies of the album and was afraid these songs were lost forever.

Nothing that John Stewart touches is "average." The guy doesn't have an average bone in his body. The Lonesome Picker Rides Again is another celebrated release to add to your collection of Americana. Time has been unable to tarnish the Lonesome Picker. The musicianship is masterful and effortless, and the lyrics are as relevant today as they were in 1973. And they will be just as valid 27-years from today.

`Just An Old Love Song' applauds uncontrollable teenagers. You may discover the end of life's road in `The Road Shines Bright.' If you're stuck in a dead-end job (or a dead-end life) try `Touch Of The Sun.' `Bolinas' is an idealized town which existed "when the world was spinning a song." John wrestles with commitment and freedom in `Freeway Pleasure.' `Little Road And A Stone To Roll' is a sunny relief from bumper-to-bumper traffic during the morning commute. And there's lovely girl that puts her heart before her head in `Crazy'. The Lonesome Picker holds its most moving and rewarding work until last. `Wild Horse Road' and `All The Brave Horses' are about the small and unrecognized heroic acts which each of us perform every day.

Linea Records (Line) of Germany does a superb job pressing the Lonesome Picker CD from first-rate master tapes. Quality is never cheap. John Stewart is quality.

Nothing that John Stewart touches is "average." The guy doesn't have an average bone in his body. The Lonesome Picker Rides Again is another celebrated release to add to your collection of Americana. Time has been unable to tarnish the Lonesome Picker. The musicianship is masterful and effortless, and the lyrics are as relevant today as they were in 1971. And they will be just as valid 30-years from today.

`Just An Old Love Song' applauds uncontrollable teenagers. You may discover the end of life's road in `The Road Shines Bright.' If you're stuck in a dead-end job (or a dead-end life) try `Touch Of The Sun.' `Bolinas' is an idealized town which existed "when the world was spinning a song." John wrestles with commitment and freedom in `Freeway Pleasure.' `Little Road And A Stone To Roll' is a sunny relief from bumper-to-bumper traffic during the morning commute? And there's lovely girl that puts her heart before her head in `Crazy'. The Lonesome Picker holds its most moving and rewarding work until last. `Wild Horse Road' and `All The Brave Horses' are about the small and unrecognized heroic acts which each of us perform every day.

"The Lonesome Picker Rides Again" showcases John Stewart at his best. Taken as a whole, it is his most thematic album and comes close to rivaling "California Bloodlines" as his best. "Lonesome Picker" powerfully and superbly conveys the freedom, openness, melancholy, wistfulness and faded glory of the west; even "Daydream Beliver," so strongly associated with the Monkees, evokes the western spirit.

The production values of "Lonesome Picker" are outstanding. Other albums have stronger individual songs, but "Lonesome Picker" deserves to be heard for the first time in full, uninterrupted, and from beginning to end. It is a masterpiece from an American original who is missed deeply and dearly.

While many of us old people still smile when we hear the Kingston Trio, which John Stewart sang with after the departure of Dave Guard, I think most of us would admit his best work came after he left the Trio. The recent re-issuing of some of his early work will, hopefully, acquaint a new generation with one of our most unappreciated but best singer-songwriters. With roots in rock and folk, Stewart's music is poetry in the best sense of the word. His range includes melancholy (Wild Horse Road) to hard thumping (Wolves in the Kitchen). At this writing, sample tracks were not available (come on, Amazon! ;} ) but listeners who take a leap of blind faith and buy this CD or who otherwise manage to hear some of Stewart's music will discover there is a treasure trove of his work out there - I strongly recommend the Phoenix Concerts CD but there is no such thing as a weak John Stewart album.

I bought this album back it 1971 and loved every song. Wild Horse Road and Wild Horses are my all time favorite John Stewart songs. If you haven't heard these two songs, buy this cd, you won't be sorry. I'm so glad the the Lonesome Picker Rides Again has been released on cd. Now I can listen to it again without all the LP popping sounds. Some wonderful music you don't here everyday on the radio everyday.

The first Stewart album I owned and for me, along with Cannons In The Rain, the best. Beautiful arrangements of great songs, lovingly sung and played. Maybe there is a touch of sentimentality here and there, but it is far out-weighed by the emotiveness in each song. Maybe "You've gone, Crazy" is an obvious and fabricated play on words, but "Crazy, to be lonely is just dying too damn slow" more than compensates for it. There is a melancholy yearning that runs through this album, most easily heard in the slower songs, Just An Old Love Son, Bolinas, Freeway Pleasure, Little Road & A Stone To Roll, Crazy and All The Brave Horses. But it's also in the catchy Touch Of The Sun and the slightly frivolous version of Daydream Believer. Add to this a great, drum driven Wolves In The Kitchen and the unusual and ominous Wild Horse Road and you have a classic Stewart album, which doesn't sound dated to these ears, nearly forty years later.

Bought the LP years ago....still as great as ever -- even today. The songs (most) had relivance to my life then and still takes me back to that particular time in my life....great CD.