Customer Reviews

Musta Notta Gotta Lotta/Hi-Res

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Hi-Res was sadly overlooked when it was released, I'm still not sure why, so many great/classic songs on it. I thought this would be the "Big Hit" album that Joe so surely deserves. There are some drum machines and synths used, but very tastefully. It's great to finally have a copy on CD. If your a Joe Ely fan who never got a chance to hear this back in the day, you are in for a treat! If you've never heard "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta", Your gonna get your mind blown! Both excellent remasters, Enjoy!

1981s Musta Notta Gotta Lotta was Joe Ely's fourth solo studio release and the first to move from a predominantly country feel into Fifties-inspired rock 'n' roll. There are several classic tunes on this disc. On the rollicking title track, Ely sounds very much like Jerry Lee Lewis. Jimmie Dale Gilmore's "Dallas", Butch Hancock's "Wishin' for You," and David Halley's "Hard Livin'" are also highlights. Although the covers of "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "Rock Me My Baby" do not cut the originals, Ely imbues each with passion and fire. A good album, but one I found slightly disappointing after hearing Ely's first three MCA releases, Joe Ely, Honky Tonk Masquerade, and Down on the Drag. It loses a fair amount of momentum towards the end. "Hold On" and "Road Hawg" feel like filler, and "Dam of My Heart" and "Bet Me" are not terribly strong. Ely would release definitive versions of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta" and "Dallas" on the 1990 Live at Liberty Lunch cd, one of Ely's best albums, and one of the greatest live albums of all time.

Then, there is 1984's Hi-Res, a much-maligned and oft-forgotten album in the Ely discography. When MCA released its Ely catalog on cd in the early 1990s, Hi-Res was left out, apparently destined to be remembered as a failed experiment that went straight to the cut-out bins. To this day, there has been no domestic release of Hi-Res on cd; thank goodness for BGO in Great Britain!

Ely incorporated synthesizers and drum machines on Hi-Res. It is, at times, an odd sound for a Joe Ely album. It has several great songs, though. The opener, "What's Shakin' Tonight" and "Lipstick in the Night" are full-bore rockers with some fierce guitar work. "Cool Rockin' Loretta" and "She Gotta Get the Gettin'," while good in their Hi-Res incarnations, became powerful concert staples, as exemplified on Live at Liberty Lunch. (Do yourselves a favor, folks: buy that live album along with this set.) "Letter to Laredo" was later rerecorded and became the title track of an amazing 1995 Ely album, but I actually prefer the version on Hi-Res. "Locked in a Boxcar with the Queen of Spain" is not only a good song, but it boasts one of my all-time favorite song titles. Not all of the tracks are strong: "Imagine Houston," "Madame Wo," and "Dream Camera" are good, but do not hold up as well.

Hi-Res can be viewed as the first album to really establish the lean, road-tested, power drive rock that Ely would perfect in the late 80s and early 90s with his amazing band including Jimmy Pettit, David Grissom, and Davis McLarty. After being unjustly ignored, it is available on cd. Buy this two-fer. Highly recommended.