Customer Reviews

Museum Of Heart

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Let me cut to the chase - this is a great album, one that tends to stay in whatever CD player I put it in. I recently got turned on to Dave and his band, and all I can say is "Thank God for impulse buys." I've since had a chance to see the Guilty Men live, and they almost burned the house down. Killer blues riffs, tons of energy, gut-wrenchingly fresh lyrics. Dave rocks! Every song on Museum of Heart is quality stuff, from the soul-dripping slow numbers to the barrelhouse rockers. My personal favorites are A Woman's Got a Right and the title track. Buy this disc, and go see the Guilty Men ASAP!

Within his genre, Dave Alvin is one of the many great musicians who have plodded along for years with a loyal and largely regional fan base but who is seemingly unable to receive the national and even international recognition he deserves. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to his music about six years ago by an old San Diego friend and since that day my liking for and appreciation of both his songwriting and his musicianship has grown apace.

For no good reason, I missed Museum of Heart while filling in my collection from Alvin's back catalogue. But after hearing some of what's here on Alvin's recent retrospective of his Hightone Record years, I decided to give it a shot. What I heard was another strong effort from this underappreciated artist. And although I was not floored by every song, there is much to like here and really nothing to dislike.

My favorites are the Los Lobos flavored title cut, the searing A Woman's Got A Right, the powerful Thirty Dollar Room, the country flavored Six Nights A Week, the desolate Stranger In Town, and the bluesy As she Slowly Turns To Leave.

Several of his songs have been covered by the regionally popular Robert Earl Keen and by Tom Russell but he probably has been unable to break through in a big way largely because his music is so hard to categorize. If you like the music of the aforementioned Keen and Russell and also enjoy artists like Lyle Lovett and Tish Hinojosa but haven't heard Dave Alvin you are really missing out. If you are already a Dave Alvin fan but do not yet own Museum of Heart, you are missing out as well.

The CD, though not yet remastered, has excellent sound. It comes packaged in a standard jewel case and the insert provides the lyrics and all pertinent album information. Buy it soon, I'm glad I did!