No Depression [Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Uncle Tupelo, Uncle Tupelo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 15, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00008J2RA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,279 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The album that named a movement (and a magazine), No Depression rocks and twangs in just about equal measure, though the rock side wins out most of the time. Even when a song downshifts from full-on punk to banjo- and mandolin-graced interludes, it usually shifts back again, seemingly louder and angrier than before. Beyond the influential sound, though, are some great songs, whether they're raging originals like "Graveyard Shift," an earnest, acoustic cover of the Carter Family's title track, or a decidedly desperate portrait of Leadbelly's "John Hardy." Six bonus cuts flesh out the 2003 expanded and remastered edition, including a cover of Gram Parsons's "Sin City." --David Cantwell

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Meanwhile, just outside St. Louis December 14, 2002

By James F. Colobus

Format:Audio CD

Back in 1990, I thought I was pretty `with it'. In addition to indulging my omnipresent metal fetish, I was listening to Mother Love Bone, Green River, Soundgarden and whatever else I could get my hands on coming out of Seattle. Yeah, I was big man on campus at William and Mary - at least in my own mind. When the Seattle scene exploded I got the kudos owed to someone who was hip to the scene before it went nationwide. Pretty cool, huh?

Perhaps not as cool as I thought. By the mid-90s, Kurdt Cobain's suicide had pretty much signaled the end of the grunge movement and made it possible for rap metal lunkheads like Limp Bizkit and a second generation of grunge imitators like Creed to take over. Suddenly, a genre that had seemed so vital and revolutionary became dated. Old Soundgarden records no longer sounded as good and new ones like Down on the Upside just sounded horribly anachronistic.

The Seattle grunge scene was great while it lasted and we may never see another revolution in popular music quite like it. However, maybe if I'd been paying a little closer attention to a musical scene developing in America's heartland at the same time grunge was developing in Seattle, I'd have caught on to a second musical revolution during that era occurring in a genre that would prove to have more staying power than grunge. I'm talking about alt-country, aka "the movement".

The band credited with jumpstarting "the movement" was Uncle Tupelo which featured two brilliant songwriters, Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, who were heavily influenced by both traditional country and punk rock. What Lennon and McCartney were to classic rock, Farrar and Tweedy were to alt-country.

If you can actually get your hands on Uncle Tupelo's hard-to-find debut, No Depression, it won't be long before you put an end to your habit of telling new acquaintances, "I listen to all kinds of music, except country". The opening track, "Graveyard Shift", grabs your attention immediately with its breakneck riffs and aggressive vocals - it's heavy enough to practically qualify as country-metal. The title track reveals a totally different side of UT as they cover the country traditional "No Depression" with such honesty and skill that it would later be adopted as the name of alt-country's biggest magazine. "Whiskey Bottle" is a favorite of many a UT fan and it is easy to see why. On the song, Farrar's voice exudes such raw desperation you start to genuinely worry for the guy. Fortunately, the spirits of the whole band seem to pick up during the country raveup, "Screen Door", an ode to sitting out on the porch playing music with friends.

The seminal nature of No Depression makes it hard to rate it as anything but 5 stars, though the production quality is some of the worst I've heard since on Metallica's ...And Justice for All. Fortunately, Farrar and Tweedy are said to be remastering the album and a more widely available reissue will probably be available some time in the next year or so. It's your call whether you want to pay the exorbitant sums dealers are charging for No Depression these days or wait for the better sounding and cheaper reissue to appear. If you make the latter choice, I strongly recommend you pick up the excellent UT Anthology 89/93 to tide you over until you can procure a copy of No Depression.

Trust me, if you overlooked "the movement" when it was developing like I did, there's still plenty of time to catch up. A little remedial work on Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Son Volt, Whiskeytown, the Old 97s, the Bottle Rockets, and the Drive-By Truckers and you'll have at least an elementary education in the ways of "the movement".

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of its time, out of this world. Completely fantastic. July 22, 2000

By Mr. Hi-Fi Banjo Strings

Format:Audio CD

Being a 17-year-old in a neverending search of good music, and recently aquiring a well-paying summer job, I have purchased such aformentioned CDs quickly and easily. I had bought the entire Wilco discography and fell in love with Jeff Tweedy's songwriting capabilities, and the built-to-last structure of every one of their songs. I had learned about Uncle Tupelo, his first band, and expected the same greatness. For some reason or another, I awaited a lot of Wilco-esque songs with Tweedy leading the way. Was I ever wrong.

At first, the slow realization that Jay Farrar was also a member of Uncle Tupelo came to me, and I hated it. The songs had more of a punkountry bend, and I wasn't prepared for it at all. But, with about the third listen, I completely understood the ins and outs of the album, and fell right into the groove. To me, it sounds like old-school, Lookout!-era Green Day with dueling banjos here and there, and it's bitchin'.

Sure, Tweedy's heartfelt and terrific songs "Train" and "That Year" are as good as he could possibly write them, I'd expect nothing less. But Farrar is the one that shines, especially on the heart-wrenching "Factory Belt", the woeful "Life Worth Livin'", and the Carter Family cover "No Depression", the remake that named the album, surrounding musical movement, and, in my opinion, cheap magazine.

This album will change your life, kind of. It won't make you like punk rock any more, it won't make you like country any more, it won't make you empathize with midwesterners' pleas for normal lives, it will just elevate you to an exciting place few albums ever could, and leave you wishing you had actually heard it in 1990, when it would have mattered, instead of ten years later.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Alt-Country begins here .... April 17, 2003

By B. Dreiling

Format:Audio CD

Uncle Tupelo might be one of the most impressive and important bands you have never heard of. In the few short years -- and four amazing albums -- of their existence they developed a sound that would turn into the alt-country movement.

"No Depression" is the first record they released. You can hear the twang of the country music background that was around them in Bellville, IL, the punk rock sounds of The Clash and The Romones in the heavy, quick guitar riffs, and the folk influences of Bob Dylan in the lyrics of this album. It really transcended any music of the time.

The songs individually are all excellent. The songs "No Depression", "Screen Door" and "Live Worth Livin'" stand out in my mind as the best of the disk. Farrar and Tweedy's voices compliment each other track to track while also giving a depth to the sound of the album. Quickly you will pick up on differences of Farrar's raspy voice, and deep outward looking lyrics while Tweedy's voice is smoother and lyrics are more inward looking.

I would recommend any current fans of the new resurgence of Alt-Country (the likes of Ryan Adam and Jesse Malin) to pick up this CD and all of Uncle Tupelo's albums to see where the genre began. Fans of Wilco (Tweedy's current band) and Son Volt (Farrar's band) will already know about the greatness of them music, and should also pick of these disks as before the re-release they were almost impossible to find.