A&M Years [Import, Original recording remastered]

Hoyt Axton | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Polygram Int'l
• ASIN: B00000JCZP
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,232 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Sweet Misery

2. Less Than The Song

3. Sweet Fantasy

4. Days Are Short

5. Mary Makes Magic

6. Peacemaker

7. Nothin' To Lose

8. Oklahoma Song

9. Mexico City Hangover

10. Hungry Man

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. I Love To Sing

2. Southbound

3. Lion In The Winter

4. Blind Fiddler

5. Pride Of Man

6. Greensleeves

7. No No Song

8. Nashville

9. Speed Trap (Out Of State Cars)

10. Roll Your Own

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Four complete LPs on two CDs that the country great cut for A&M in the '70s, 1973's 'Less Than The Song', 1974's 'Life Machine', 1975's 'Southbound' and 1976's 'Fearless'. A combined total of 48 tracks, all digitally remastered. Also features a 12 page booklet with color photos & detailed liner notes. The original cover art of each record can be found on the inside of the back inlay card. Double slimline jewelcase. 1998 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Disappointing Reissue, March 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A&M Years (Audio CD)

Believe me, if we were only discussing the music itself here, I'd give this one 5 stars. This is Hoyt Axton at his best -- in terms of songwriting and singing. And the fact that you can get his entire A&M output, representing 5 years of great music, in one fell swoop, should be a real plus.

But, this CD is so badly compiled, that I feel I must alert others who, like me, are tempted to buy this collection....

My gripes:

--Sound: I have never heard a supposed "digital remastering" so poorly done. The audio is badly distorted on more than half the tracks -- as if someone had the volume turned up just past the point where the sound begins to bleed. At first, I thought it might be my CD player, but I've tried it on several different players now, with the same result.

--Liner notes: John Tobler (who??) provides some of the worst liner notes I've ever seen. He starts out by babbling about "Packy" Axton, to whom Hoyt Axton is not related. Run-on sentences and run-on paragraphs make reading near-impossible. His overuse of words like "probably," "maybe" and "as memory serves" betrays the fact that this was written off the top of his head, rather than researched. And, because of that, not surprisingly, he gets lots wrong here.

--Discography. When these sides were first released as LPs, they included a complete list of players and singers on the tracks. None of that documentation makes its way here. So, you can't really throw away your old LPs once you get this, else you'll lose all the session info.

--Packaging. There only 5 photos -- all nearly identical shots of Axton standing in front of a microphone. He was such an interesting guy, it's hard to believe that more compelling pix couldn't have been found.

All this would be forgiveable if this was a $10 reissue on some shoestring label (e.g., Colletibles, Koch). But, ...[it isn't] and is released by A&M. They should really know better. Now, at least, you do...

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boney fingers is still a family anthem 20 years later, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A&M Years (Audio CD)

Weird what you grow up with isn't it? I didn't grow up listening to much pop music but my family (one of those extened hippy families) were big into Hoyt Axton. I've been listening to these four albums since I was in diapers and they're great. I can still remember when my dad brought "lifemachine" home, I was 5 and my sister and brother and I danced naked in the musicroom--my parents were probably stoned at the time. Bless em' but they grew out of that, although my Dad doesn't have any short term memory left. The first concerts I ever went to were to see Hoyt Axton. In San Fransico my dad took me back to meet him on a set brake and he played "pet parade" for me. I once saw him at a Bread and Roses festival in Berkeley too. He's one of those guys that sounded the same on the album as he did live. Damn good song writer too.

There's a lot of his songs out there that sometimes, you don't even know he wrote unless you pay attention. For instance, after I started playing guitar I learned Sweet Misery which I got off a John Denver album and Lighting Bar Blues which I got off an Arlo Guthrie Album. My boyfriend's son discovered an old CD of the Kingston Trio this spring--he said there was this great song on it that he kept playing over and over again (this is a kid who usually listens to Garth Brooks, Cake and Metalica.) I said, "oh really, which one?" and he said, "Green Back Dollar." Go figure. A couple of months ago our old "hippy family" had a reunion. I hadn't seen some of these people for 15 years or more so they didn't even know I played guitar. My uncle and I sat down and played a set of Hoyt Axton songs. And they came up to me and said, "My god, how could you even remember these songs, you were so little." I could remember them because they played the music and I listened and it was worth listening to.

I guess you never know what musical influences are going to stay with you your whole life. For me it has been Hoyt Axton--kind of obscure, granted, but completely original. Hope you enjoy it too!

p.s. Unlike other singer/songwriter/musicians I know my goal is not become a professional musician. I am just about two weeks away from getting my Masters degree in Geography at Univeriy of Texas at Austin and then get a real job so I can afford my CD habit.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rebirth Of Axton's A&M Output A Sweet Listen, April 15, 2000

By 

Lunatic Muse "southwestreview" (El Paso, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A&M Years (Audio CD)

To those millions of uninitiated, Hoyt Axton will always be remembered as the "dad" in Gremlins. Still others may simply think of him as "the son of the woman who wrote Heartbreak Hotel", and yet a few more may associate his memory with what is perhaps his worst song, "Joy to the World" ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine..."). All three of these generalities would be inaccurate, for Axton's forte was in his songwriting ability, which is in ample display on the double CD set, "The A&M Years". Though he wrote countless hits for others (Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, The Kingston Trio, etc), he rarely struck gold himself. The songs included in this collection indicate the injustice of the fickle public in keeping his music from reaching a wider audience. Axton's voice is at once both emotional and mellow, rarely straying from his gruff signature baritone. The accompaniment is sparce and low key (in fact, considering the overproduced music nowadays, these tracks sound almost like demos), and Axton's songwriting is affecting without becoming preachy or meandering. His A&M output is generally considered to be his best work and there is a wonderful consistency between the four complete albums rereleased here. Completists may wish for an inclusive box set, as some of his earliest, more famous songs ("Greenback Dollar", "The Pusher", "Joy To The World") are not included here, nor are the later work on his own label, Jeremiah Records ("Rusty Old Halo", "Della and the Dealer"). For the moment though, this set remains an excellent two-disc introduction to Axton's legendary voice and songwriting talent. Personal Favorites: Axton's attempt at a rooster crow in "Mexico City Hangover"; the subtle political statement found in "Geronimo's Cadillac"; perhaps the most famous song on this collection, "Boney Fingers"; the first person narrative of a crooked sheriff in "Speed Trap" and the beautiful border town love song, "Evangelina". Representative Lyrics: "Work your fingers to the bone, what do you get?/ Boney fingers!" ("Boney Fingers"); "And the fire I feel for the woman I love/ Is driving me insane/ Knowing she's waiting/ And I can't get there" ("Evangelina")