Customer Reviews

A&M Years

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...

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.

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")

This is the only release currently available featuring Axton's A&M output which is widely regarded as his best. Recorded between 1973 and 1978 during which time he made a guest appearance on WKRP in Cincinnati. It is a lavishly packaged double CD set featuring all four of his A&M albums in their entirety. It is also an import making it expensive, especially to Australian and European customers. A&M America have really fallen down on their duty regarding Axton on CD. In the late 1970s they released an excellent compilation LP called Road Songs featuring great artwork which was a big seller. Why hasn't it been released on CD? It seems A&M have been slacking off since being taken over by Polygram/Universal in the 1980s. While we wait for Road Songs to be issued on CD The A&M Years will have to do. So dig deep fans, owning this album is like owning a bit of country music history.

Been listening to Hoyt for 30 years. Have seen him in concert three or four times...a bar in south Seattle, Monroe fairgrounds, the arena in Seattle. Use to have all his albums but played them to death. i sure miss him. Too bad his music didn't reach many people...

The first song I ever knew all the words to was Evangelina. I fell in love with the man who sang those words and I wished that someday a man might love me that much. The songs on these cds are sung by one of the greatest storytellers of all time. If you enjoy acoustic guitar music, love songs, fun songs, honkey-tonk, rock-n-roll, rhythm-n-blues, and folk music you will enjoy this album. No matter what kind of mood I'm in listening to this under appreciated man will always lift my spirits. If you love life and everything good then buy this album. Borrow it to your friends and share with them the joy Hoyt's music can bring to their life.

This double CD has all four of Hoyt's A&M complete albums from the 70's, Less Than the Song, Life Machine, Fearless, and Southbound. There's some great music in here! Some of Hoyt's best that was really hard to find on CD. Now, if we could just find Hoyt's old Horizon recordings on CD!!!

Today we remember Axton for bread commercials, but my first exposure to his singing was when he played a supporting role on an episode of "Bonanza" as a condemned man who sang folk music in his cell while he awaited his appointment with the hangman. As Hoss and Little Joe would pass by on the street, they could hear his basso voice singing Leadbelly's "Poor Howard's Dead and Gone" from his cell window on the alley beside the jail. Between these two rather diverse TV roles, he wrote "The Pusher" which became a cult hit for Steppenwolf, plus "Snowblind Friend" which Steppenwolf also did without quite as much fanfare. Both songs were about the dilemma of drug addiction--strange of this apparent denizen of Prime Time to do material as topical as anything Neil Young has ever done. Along the way, Jim Morrison paraphrased "Poor Howard" as an intro to the Doors' "Running Blue"--except Jim sang it "Poor Otis (Redding) dead and gone". Maybe that was the problem--people tended to rate him a lightweight based on his own performances without realizing the influence he had on other artists.

I give five stars for disc 2, songs 14-25 which is the "Fearless" album in its entirety. The songs before this album are good in their way but back in late '80's when a friend of mine popped this in the cassette deck in his old chevy truck, I knew this would be a classic I would have forever. I still have it on vinyl but could never get on CD.

This two disc album wasn't available for a long time (they keep pulling it and putting it back to buy) and I had to find someone who could burn this for me. First thing I did was burn a disc with songs 14-25 from disc two and labled it "Fearless" when I was done.

So for those of you that want all songs on both discs of this album, I am happy that you got what you want. I just wish it had been as easy for me to get what I want.

Fearless is a peach of an album, try it and see..............on this two disc set of course.

My father has introduced me to his many odd musical interests, but the one that has influenced my life the most is Hoyt Axton. As a child, I would listen to my Dad's LP of Fearless over and over again and sing my heart out with him (I sang, "The Whole Bam Band" much to my parent's amusement). I suppose it's an aquired taste in music, but his songwriting capabilities are so amazing that his songs just pull you into the story and his beautiful voice carries you to places that only exist in dream worlds. I am so excited about having Fearless on CD format. I know it's been out for quite a long time, but I've just gotten around to getting and I'm thrilled. BTW, for $40, you can get a DVD of the Reading Rainbow episode where Hoyt Axton read "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch" by Cheryl Walsh Bellville