Mockingbird Time [Deluxe Edition]

Jayhawks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 20, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Deluxe Edition
• Label: Rounder / Pgd
• ASIN: B0056G34WO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,629 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Hide Your Colors

2. Closer To Your Side

3. Tiny Arrows

4. She Walks In So Many Ways

5. High Water Blues

6. Mockingbird Time

7. Stand Out In The Rain

8. Cinnamon Love

9. Guilder Annie

10. Black-eyed Susan

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Mockingbird Time: A Documentary [DVD]

2. She Walks In So Many Ways: The Ocean Way Rehearsal Sessions [DVD]

3. Closer To Your Side: The Ocean Way Rehearsal Sessions [DVD]

4. Tiny Arrows: The Ocean Way Rehearsal Sessions [DVD]

5. King Of Kings: Never-before-seen performance from 1985 [DVD]

Editorial Reviews

Deluxe edition includes bonus DVD. 2011 release from the Alt-Country/Rock outfit, their eighth album overall, and the first with the original lineup since 1995's Tomorrow The Green Grass. During their heyday in the first half of the 1990s, The Jayhawks perfected a captivating sound that seamlessly blended the elegant Folk-Rock of The Byrds, the adventurousness of Buffalo Springfield, the Hippiebilly soulfulness of The Flying Burrito Brothers, and the soaring harmonies of The Beach Boys. So it's richly ironic that their reappearance coincides with a dramatic resurgence of the musical approach they played such a central role in perpetuating--but this time around, The Jayhawks themselves are revered as icons by the young bands carrying on those same traditions, and it's their own legacy that they're advancing. On Mockingbird Time, they're once again pushing the envelope in songs and performances of rarefied dynamism and grace.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars REASONS TO BUY THIS ALBUM September 21, 2011

By Andrew H. Lee

Format:Audio CD

Dear Music Appreciator,

I suggest that you buy this new album by The Jayhawks if...

...you find it noteworthy that this is the first new studio album by The Jayhawks in eight years, making it something of a milestone.

...you already know (or are interested to learn) that this is the first studio album by the classic 1995 Jayhawks lineup of Louris/Olson/O'Reagan/Grotberg/Perlman in sixteen years, making it an absolute milestone and a thrill for Jayhawks fans and quality music fans around the world. This is big, maybe even like The Eagles or Fleetwood Mac big...in a modest selling/never quite ready for prime time/the music comes first kind of way.

...you welcome the fact that this is the second studio album by principal singers/songwriters Mark Olson and Gary Louris in two years - making it a double your pleasure/double your fun sort of moment for Jayhawks fans who thought they'd died and gone to heaven with 2009's collaboration READY FOR THE FLOOD.

...you are a patient, careful, repeat listener that enjoys an album that is "a grower."

For me the album seemed to get off to a slow start with the first few songs, things got interesting with "Tiny Arrows," and then my attention faded in and out through the remaining nine tracks.

But as I listened again and again, the words/music/ideas and overall feel of this song collection began to twirl around my internal music meter and burrow into my brain a bit. New moments began to stand out and stick with me - the guitar solo at the 2:30 mark of "High Water Blues," the clear fragility in Mark Olson's lead vocals on "Mockingbird Time," the contemporary folksiness of "Black-Eyed Susan (and the remarkable detail of the spoon collection)...all pointing toward a carefully crafted musical statement by a highly influential American group that is worth the attention of every true musical expeditionary. Buy this and listen over and over till you get it.

Sincerely,

Constant Listener

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jayhawks fans rejoice! They got the band back together! September 21, 2011

By Mark Blevins

Format:Audio CD

As the reviewer above noted, this is the first Jayhawks album in eight years and the first with founding member Mark Olson in 16 years. It was worth the wait. For me this album wasn't a grower at all; I loved "Hide Your Colors" as soon as I heard it because it opens the album on a strong note, just like "Blue" and "Waiting For the Sun." This album does have more in common with the Olson-led Jayhawks of Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass than the later albums. I enjoy them all, but I am partial to the early material.

The album opener "Hide Your Colors" is classic Jayhawks - Olson and Gary Louris' voice intertwining together to sound as one while singing an upbeat ode to being oneself. The highlights are many on this disc; "She Walks in So Many Ways" bounced out of my speakers as a Byrds-like classic, while they band explored new territory on songs like "Tiny Arrows" and "Black Eyed Susan." Throughout the classic sound of the Jayhawks is present: chiming guitars, vocal harmonies and wonderful back up harmonies from keyboardist Karen Grotberg and drummer Tim O'Reagan.

This one stands strongly with the likes of HTH, TTGG and Rainy Day Music. "Guilder Annie" is another great tune that also has a mournful steel guitar in the background. I can't and won't stop listening to it. I've waited years for this to come out, and I'm so glad the band got together at least one more time to come up with some beautiful music. Fans of the band should enjoy this because it's everything the band is known for and the new songs stand up to their classics. Here's hoping the band receives not only the acclaim but the public support they so richly deserve this time around.

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Love the band, album... not so much September 28, 2011

By David S. Michaels

Format:Audio CD

As a besotted Jayhawks lover who only discovered this great band after their official demise in 2005, I was delighted to come across this CD while shopping for something entirely different during a long road trip. I eagerly slipped it into the car stereo, looking forward to some great road music to make the miles go by faster. On first listen, something sounded wrong-- where were those hook-filled songs with tight, soaring harmonies, crunchy chords, snappy solos? Figuring I'd missed something, I listened again, louder this time, hoping it would get better with repeated listening. Long story short, it didn't really improve. A couple of songs have grown on me a little, mainly "She Walks In So Many Ways," but the bulk of the album just sounds like... bulk. I'm heartened the band regrouped, but I think a rather serious miscalculation came at the beginning of the recording process: For whatever reason, Gary Louris (who shouldered most of the songwriting / singing load on the two previous albums after Mark Olson left) decided to subordinate himself to his returned compatriot, Mark Olson, and to cut his "Rainy Day Music" singing songwriting partner Tim O'Reagan out of the loop entirely. Producer Louris also seems to have decided to go for an "honest" live-in-studio sound rather than to spend a lot of time re-recording and crafting the all-important vocals. The results are nearly disastrous. The vocals sound slapdash, with harmonies only roughly worked out. Olson's singing is flat, tired and pedestrian throughout, as if he couldn't be bothered to do repeated takes to get his pitch right. Despite this, his vocals are mixed right up front, while Louris's high, pure voice and that of Karen Grotberg are buried. If the songs had been great, they might have gotten away with this approach, but alas they're not great-- only a couple rise to even "good." True hooks (as opposed to simply repeating seemingly random phrases like "take it on the chin") are few and far between. I really hate writing this because I truly love this band and hope they'll soldier on and get the recognition (and rewards) due them. But this album is hardly definitive. Better luck next time, I sincerely hope!