Now Again

Flatlanders | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New West Records
• ASIN: B000065V9X
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,580 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #25 in Music > Indie Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Flatlanders--Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock--first came together in Lubbock, Texas, in 1971. Along with musical saw player Steve Wesson and mandolinist Tony Pearson, they recorded one of the great "lost" albums of all time, a quirky acoustic-music gem that finally saw the light of day in 1990, when Rounder released the aptly named More a Legend Than a Band. Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock have since gone on to forge distinguished musical careers: Ely as a Texas roots rocker, Gilmore as a mystical country crooner, and Hancock as a celebrated songwriter. Now Again, produced by Ely, marks the group's first album-length collaboration in 30 years. And if it lacks the charm of their first effort--there's nothing here that compares with Gilmore's "Dallas" and "Tonight I'm Gonna Go Downtown"--it still has a certain appeal that comes from putting three old friends together in the studio and rolling some tape. With the exception of Utah Phillips's "Going Away," all the songs were written by Ely, Gilmore, and Hancock, and they sing them in various duo and trio combinations. Some work better than others--standouts include the bouncy rocker "My Wildest Dreams Grow Wilder Every Day" and the country ballad "Down on Filbert's Rise"--but all are worth a listen. --David Hill

Product Description

Now Again, by Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock—collectively known as The Flatlanders—marks the first album-length collaboration between the trio of acclaimed Texas songwriters since their debut album three decades ago.

Now Again was ostensibly produced by Ely, but the album's tracks were a true collaborative effort. The songs (with the exception of U. Utah Phillips' "Going Away") were co-written by the trio, and most of them feature the rough-hewn vocal blend of all three men ("It was fun to learn we could still sing harmonies," laughs Ely). Besides the session musicians, two other original Flatlanders joined Ely, Gilmore and Hancock for cameos in the studio: musical saw player Steve Wesson and vocalist Tony Pearson.

"We said, let's not put any limits on this thing," Ely says. "It freed us up a lot. We had to resist the urge to write a 10-verse song. Every line became important. We had to think about the structure of the songs as a whole. It was a very different kind of writing than what we would do as individuals."

But there are touchstones that the music on Now Again shares with the best of Ely's, Gilmore's and Hancock's music: there is an abundance of clever wordplay; there is the freewheeling blend of folk, rock, country, and blues that has always informed their work; and there is the feeling of lazy intimacy, of old friends tossing music and words around like softballs. Songs such as "Waving My Heart Goodbye," "Yesterday Was Judgment Day," "Now It's Now Again," and "Down in the Light of the Melon Moon" can croon, swing, rollick, or cry, depending on the whim of the three tunesmiths. --John T. Davis

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lont awaited album, almost worth the wait, May 29, 2002

By 

Jim Gideon, Killeen, Texas (Killeen, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now Again (Audio CD)

What a strange marriage. The hard rocking and down-to-earth Texan Joe Ely, the mystical and ephemerally ghost-like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, with a voice that just cannot be, and the puzzle that is Butch Hancock - a man with the intellect and skills, it seems, to govern a large corporation or a small state.

We're of an age, the Flatlanders and me. And we share a vision of the West Texas flatlands. Although I've lately become much more enamored of Robert Earl Keen's musical tours of Texas towns and descriptions of Texas people, and can never get enough of Steve Earle, I'll kill to hear anything new by Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Butch adds a key ingredient, making the trio unique.

This long awaited collection, which they've promised in their live shows for years, is worth the wait for people like me. But I had the sense, listening to it for the first time, that others, not so steeped in the legend, not so attuned to the nuances, may find it rather ordinary.

Joe's rendition of "I Thought The Wreck Was Over" is getting all the initial air play locally. Fine. Hear it a time or time and file it away. It would be a "b" side on any Joe Ely album. And when Joe does it live in 2010 - his excellent live albums have been released in 1980, 1990 and 2000 (you gotta have all three) -it may take off.

Particularly appealing are tunes like "Going Away", Down on Filbert's Rise", and "South Wind of Summer". "Down in the Light of the Melon Moon" is different and may take a couple of listens to sort out and evaluate. But I liked hearing it the first time.

Musicality is excellent throughout, highlighted by Jimmie Dale's acoustic guitar, which is so good it elevates some otherwise "just okay" tracks to the level of "gotta keep hearin' it". "Now it's Now Again", the title tune, is also excellent, and may be the cut that endures longest. "Right Where I Belong" may also come out of this album as something we'll listen to ten years hence.

The allure of the work is that it offers so much variety, a little bit of something for all of us who love these guys. The disappointment is that there is no "Dallas" here. No "Tonight I'm Gonna Go Downtown" -- no single song that you just can't stop playing, again and again.

But I'll take it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Americana event of the year, August 16, 2002

By 

Mois Benarroch - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now Again (Audio CD)

I expected this cd to be good, but not that good. This is a classic, I can see magazines in 10 years with people talking about the first time they heard this cd, and how it changed their life. Many songs just sound like classics written by Chuck Berry or The Carters or Woodie Guthrie or Hank Williams, actually I went to the booklet to make sure the songs were written by Hancock, Guilmore and Ely.

This is much much better than "More a legend than a band"which is more a cd for completists of these great guys than a real band cd. This is the real thing, the promise delivered and the river that flows.

I can't wait for the next CD from these three together , so buy them by the thousands, buy this cd until they record a third one!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars three old friends reunite for a Texas cosmic cowboy jam, May 28, 2002

By 

R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Now Again (Audio CD)

I've been a fan of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock for years, and while this record is not quite as good as the best solo records they've produced, it's solidly enjoyable -- music that makes you feel good, like hearing an old Grateful Dead song you haven't heard for years. Don't expect a rocking live Joe Ely album, or you'll be disappointed. And don't expect a Roy Orbisonesque romantic tour de force like a Jimmie Dale album. Also don't expect the Texas Bob Dylan, as you would with Butch Hancock. It's a blend of country, folk, rock and blues.

Joe's contribution is the weakest of the three. They take turns on lead vocals from song to song, and the only one Joe sings that I really like a lot is the nostalgic "Now It's Now Again." There are only four songs out of fourteen, though, that I don't care for much at all (2 sung by Joe, 1 by Jimmie Dale and 1 by Butch), and so the 4 stars. "My Wildest Dreams Grow Wilder Every Day" keeps alive the Texas swing of Bob Wills, and sounds like one of Jimmie Dale's Hightone records of the late 80s/early 90s. "The South Wind of Summer" is a beautiful ballad. For me the extra kick is the less romantic, more down-to-earth yet philosophical lyrics which I recognize as Butch Hancock's, on songs like "Yesterday Was Judgement Day" and "You Make It Look Easy." Great stuff! Definitely music that speaks to my experience. I hope the Flatlanders make it to Utah this summer!