Customer Reviews

Old No. 1 / Texas Cookin

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Guy Clark is, with out a doubt, one of the greatest songwriters out there still doin' his thing. These two records, rereleased on one cd, consist of his earliest recordings, and they're great - I'd say his best. The 20 highly crafted songs found here are just as humorous as anything written by John Prine, just as down-to-earth as Hank Sr, and just as potent as Dylan. Anyone interested in folks like Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, even y'allternative types like Wilco and Son Volt, will want to check this out.

It's not like this record needs more recommendation than it has already gotten here, but I'll chime in. Once you start playing this CD, you'll have a hard time stopping. It's dangerous. I just got it a week ago. I miss it when I'm away from it. My wife and I look at each other when we're off doing other things and we chuckle because we're both still grooving on it. Our kids, too. At 2 and 5 they're both into this record as well. Pity me, I never knew of it until just recently. I've just started exploring what I guess you might call the heart of Texas music. I've heard it said that it's a world of its own. They seem to have a special relation with the 'writers.' It's what singer/songwriter is all about. This is my first stop. If you already love Willy and Jerry Jeff, you owe it to yourself to take the next step up and in and check out this particular CD. It's the real thing. It's hard to imagine that Guy Clark isn't as well known as anyone. But if we gradually get a million raves up here... Maybe he's like the finest wines--give em a lot of long, slow years and they eventually end up on top. --JP

Better known as a songwriter, Guy's always-brilliant albums never sold in big quantities. Maybe Guy's voice didn't appeal to mainstream country radio, or maybe his lake of stage presence when performing live counted against him. Although he never became a major star, Guy built up a significant fan base in Britain and America. More significantly, other singers appreciated the quality of his songs and have recorded many of them as well as lending their support on Guy's own recordings. Thus, even if you've never heard any of Guy's own music, you may well have heard some of his songs. This twofer contains Guy's two albums for RCA - the first two albums of his career.

Guy's debut album (Old No 1) occupies the first ten tracks here and is generally regarded as the best album of his career. Among the stars providing harmony vocals are Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Sammi Smith. It is extraordinary to think that Steve Earle (whose own music was influenced by Guy's to some extent) didn't make his own breakthrough until more than a decade after this album was recorded. The set opens with Rita Ballou, later covered by Vince Gill (you can find it on his breakthrough album, When I call your name). The most famous songs here are LA freeway (a minor American hit for Jerry Jeff Walker), Texas 1947 (covered by Johnny Cash) and Desperadoes waiting for a train (covered by many different artists).

Following the critical acclaim of his debut, Guy followed it up with the almost equally brilliant Texas cooking, which occupies the last ten tracks here. Rodney and Emmylou again provide harmony, this time joined by Jerry Jeff Walker, Nicolette Larson, Waylon Jennings, Hoyt Axton and Tracy Nelson among others. Further classic songs are to be found here including The last gunfighter ballad (later covered by Johnny Cash).

Subsequent albums provided further songs for others to record including Heartbroke (Ricky Skaggs), She's crazy for leaving (Rodney Crowell) and Old friends (Lacy J Dalton). Guy's versions of those songs can be found elsewhere.

Whatever the reasons for Guy's lack of commercial success, he has proved his worth as a songwriter while there are enough people (including me) who appreciate his music to warrant record companies re-issuing his old material.

Guy Clark's first two and very best albums finally available on CD! I spent 25 years wearing out the original LPs, what an incredible experience to now here the clear and crisp fidelity of all these classics - Texas Cookin', Virginia's Real, L.A. Freeway, Rita Ballou - every last song is pure magic. It doesn't get any better than this.

Guy Clark is still going strong as a song-writer and performer, but neither he nor anybody else has ever been any better than he is here, with searing, heart-rending songs of loneliness and hurt and exuberantly happy songs about the good times.

There are some great songs here. I think that every small-town boy living in a big city has felt the homesickness that "L.A. Freeway" describes, but none of the rest of us has said it so well, nor has any other world-weary bachelor described his love for his new-found lady as well as Clark does in "Like a Coat From the Cold". "She Ain't Goin' Nowhere" would be the best song ever written about taking charge of your life if Clark hadn't equaled it later with "Better Days". Those are three of the best songs on this CD, but they aren't the only great ones here.

I first discovered Guy Clark in Santa Cruz, Cal. during the early 1970's I heard Jerry Jeff's version of LA Freeway, loved it, and went to buy it. I saw that it was written by someone named Guy Clark and I set out to see if he recorded anything. I found "Old No 1" and took it home. From the very first track, "Texas 1947", this album tore me up. This was pure soul, every word right from heart. There is not a phoney word on any cut here. In the almost 30 years that I have owned this album I have never grown tired of a single song. The songs are so powerful and so real they are truly the essense of living. I mean life ain't always pretty, and most of us have had some real ups and downs. "Instant Coffee Blues" catches perfectly that awkward feeling of waking up with someone you crawled home with the night before. And "Coat From The Cold" about a man who's suffered a lot is arguably the greatest love song ever written. I played it for my wife and she cried. And "Desperados Waiting For a Train" may be the greatest song ever written about growing up and reaching that epiphany that puts it all in perspective. Whether you're a country fan or not, this is one album that you should own. Guy Clark makes us believe he's lived his words. We want more. If you're someone who can appreciate honesty in music, this album will touch your soul. I have purchased over 50 copies of it and gave it to all the people I love. If we all did that the world would probably be just a little bit more soulful.

I have looked everywhere for this album. I have wanted a good cut of it forever. For anyone looking at it if you have not heard it you have notlived. So grab this one get yourself a glass of wine and unwind; or party down. Your going to fall in love with it. Thank you Guy Clark! It is totally awsome

"Old No. 1" is his first and possibly his best. I first heard the heart-tugging, homesick words of "L.A. Freeway" 25 years ago, and it's still as fine today as it was then. Every song on this album is a gem. Not bad for an ol' boy from Monahans, Texas.

Bar-none, these are the two finest Texas albums ever recorded. Like a gift from God, Guy recorded Old No. 1 and Texas Cooking in the early 70's. Every track winds like the Frio, smells like Uvalde and tastes like a Bandera saturday night. Yes, the very soul of Texas was captured in these two window frames, framed by the master carpenter/boat builder himself. Me, I've got boats to build and roofs to jump off of.

Anybody that enjoy's Guy, or any other great country roots music should really check this one out. Old No.1 and TX Cookin were his two first releases, and to this day, they remain his best. No duds to be found on this 70 plus minutes of pure magic. His influence on other musicians is too important to overlook, and it's too lengthy to cover in a review. If I were to talk about stand-out tracks, you'd reading this for an hour. A super bargain that should not be missed!