Primal Young

Steve Young | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 22, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 22, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Appleseed Records
• ASIN: B0000488TO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,491 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars solid and satisfying, March 6, 2000

By 

Jerome Clark (Canby, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Primal Young (Audio CD)

The years and a longtime, though ultimately triumphant, struggle with a road musician's occupational hazards have taken the edge off Steve Young's once nearly perfect voice. Still, on his best album in a long time, he sounds pretty good, and he suffers only by comparison. Primal Young, though not Seven Bridges Road (the early-70s masterpiece in whose shadow Young will forever stand), is a satisfying collection of originals, covers, and creative takes on the tradition. It starts with the Young composition "Jig," which listeners may confuse with a lost Townes Van Zandt song; at points Young's voice even sounds like the late Texas troubador's. Like much of the material to follow -- in which Young sounds like himself -- it has an appealing Celtic lilt, surprising when you consider that in many ways Young has the voice of a soul singer; yet he knows what he's doing, and he always makes it work. His slowed-down, country-blues reading of Lloyd Price's r&b hit "Lawdy Missy Clawdy" unexpectedly transforms it into something like a variant of the traditional "Corinne, Corinna." Other high points -- there are no low ones -- include Merle Haggard's "Sometimes I Dream," Frankie Miller's "Black Land Farmer," and amazing interpretations of the Appalachian songs "East Virginia" and "Little Birdie." Back in the late 1960s Young virtually invented the country-folk genre, and he shows us here that he's still among its masters.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This grew on me, June 7, 2000

By 

Bonny (Cedar Crest, NM United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Primal Young (Audio CD)

I've been a fan of Steve Young's, like for-EVER, honest-to-God, I first saw him at the "Young Folk" Sunday afternoon show at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969. I scoured Chicago for my first copy of the A&M record "Steve Young" (now re-issued). Got to know Steve through the years. As a young man, he was brilliant, funny and self-destructive, and terribly handsome. Now, as a not-as-young man, he is brilliant, funny, mega-creative and terribly HANDSOME.

I offer 4 stars for this review only because I've heard Steve with a-little-stronger vocal presence on past recordings, but hey, ANY musical offering from Steve Young is a gift.

These songs are Celtic in flavor and pure Young in execution. Time has not weakened that beautiful voice, or his great guitar playing, if anything, his performance has more depth now than ever.

We are just so fortunate to have Steve still recording. He remains an example of how good Americana music can be, but not in the same way as anybody else.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you need Primal Young, May 7, 2000

By 

Philadelphia fan (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Primal Young (Audio CD)

Primal Young sneaks up on you. It's got a quiet, transcendant effect. Steve Young sounds like a person who has been there and back again and he's sharing some of his wisdom with us less evolved souls. These songs represent a great range in content and emotion. The single-minded rage expressed in "Worker's Song" hits you right between the eyes -- this is no hackneyed, mushy politically/socially conscious song like so many out there. "Heartbreak Girl" is a sad and poignant love song. "Jig", "Scotland Is A Land" and "Blackland Farmer" express a quiet joy, a coming into your own kind of feeling, accepting the limitations and beauty of life. Steve Young's affinity with Merle Haggard songs is evident in his interpretation of "Sometimes I Dream". He has turned this song into a new classic. It's a masterpiece (check out a similarly masterful rendition of Haggard's "Shopping For Dresses" on the Merle Haggard tribute record, "Tulare Dust"). Steve Young's wall of sound voice will pull you under and soothe you like a driving lullaby. It's powerful, lasting medicine. I have long been a fan and this recording does not disappoint.