Satisfied at Last

Joe Ely (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 7, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Redeye Label
• ASIN: B004XD0366
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,132 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Joe Ely Album In Recent Years, June 7, 2011

By 

Why Not Dream - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Satisfied at Last (Audio CD)

I listened to about half of the album while driving yesterday. About three songs into it, I thought, "Wow! This really sounds like Joe Ely again. These songs are nice." The sound is both simple and multi-layered. It doesn't sound forced, the songs feel like they come from the heart, and his voice feels natural.

Satisfied At Last includes the wistful classic "Live Forever" which Ely's been playing in concert for the last three or four years, and a few songs written by fellow Flatlander Butch Hancock, whose songs Ely always shines on (Think of "If You Were A Bluebird"). A few stand-outs are "Not That Much Has Changed," "You Can Bet I'm Gone," "Leo & Leona," "Mockingbird Hill," and the title track, "Satisfied At Last." He's playing a lot from this album in his current show -- and they sound great together with his other songs.

(There's an excellent article and interview with Joe Ely in the current issue of a magazine called LoneStarMusic where he talks about this album and others, as well as musicians he's worked with.)

Satisfied At Last feels like a more comprehensive CD than either Streets of Sin, Rattlesnake Gulch or Silver City. Those albums all have some very good songs on them (particularly Hard Luck Saint, Fightin' For My Life, 95 South, and That's Why I Love You Like I Do from those albums), but Satisfied At Last has a feeling of continuity and completeness that many of the best albums have.

That's probably pretty hard to accomplish on top of writing and producing individual songs.

I don't know yet if this is as good as "Letter To Laredo" or "Twistin' In The Wind" but it feels like it might just be that good -- and I'm still listening. Nice record, Joe.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic new record from a real Texas legend, June 7, 2011

By 

Cactus Jane "texas music lover" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Satisfied at Last (Audio CD)

"Satisfied At Last" is a truly beautiful collection of recordings from one of Texas' finest songwriters and performers. It includes some wonderful new tunes from Ely, as well as two excellent songs written by his compadre Butch Hancock (""Leo and Leona" and "Circumstance",) and the poignant "Live Forever" by Billy Joe Shaver.

It features an all-star cast of musicians (including guitarists David Grissom, Rob Gjersoe, Mitch Watkins, David Holt, Jeff Plankenhorn, Teye, Keith Davis, and Fred Stitz; master accordion player Joel Guzman; pedal steel virtuoso Lloyd Maines; and Austin favorites Glenn Fukunaga on bass and Pat Manske and Davis McLarty on drums.)

It's the kind of CD that gets better and better the more you listen to it. Definitely a must-have for fans of Joe Ely (or fans of great music in general!)

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong record, June 7, 2011

By 

Sumanth (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Satisfied at Last (Audio CD)

The many strengths of Joe Ely's new recording, Satisfied At Last, are readily apparent--the songs are unforced and effective, the production sound gracefully presenting them without an overabundance of layers, the performances are top-notch, and Joe Ely's singing voice is as strong as it's ever been--perhaps even better--its toughness movingly tempered by wistfulness and wisdom.

Some highlights for me include "Roll Again," the sultry, ska + blues touches presenting an effective short number; "You Can Bet I'm Gone" has a solid, grounded sound and a sublimely hilarious backstory (as Ely mentioned on stage recently, he read an obituary in a small town newspaper describing the last wishes of a skeet-shooting aficionado, who wanted to be cremated, then have his ashes loaded into shotgun shells and his friends shoot him into the sky); "Not That Much Has Changed," a meditation on the continuities of life and career, features a hook-line that subtly rearranges three of the four main chords used in the verse part (I, IV, V, vi) while he sings "Not that much has changed/It's all just rearranged"; and his touching rendering of Billy Joe Shaver's "Live Forever" (see Why Not Dream's comments on this above).