Customer Reviews

Songs From the Gravel Road

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've listened to this cd a bunch. If you want to have one of every Tyson cd (as I did), buy it. If you thought Ol' Eon was a sparkling gem, buy it. If you like Barry Manilow and disco music, buy it. If you like mushy gazillion track recording where Ian's voice, delivery and pacing get lost in the production, buy it. What's gone here (whether intentionally or through fatigue) is the crispness, the voice, the delivery, the picturesque imagery, and the pacing that makes Ian Tyson unique in ANY music, let alone western or folk music. If you've heard of Ian and want to get acquainted with what made him great, try any album but this one and Ol'Eon. Ian Tyson songs elsewhere have lyrics that command attention and prompted Wally McRae to write "Give Us a Song, Ian Tyson". To others this may be an example of "artist's growth" but to me it's a wart.

I got this CD when it was released in Canada in February 2005 and tried to do a "pre-review" for Amazon at that time. Of course, as I found out, you can't do a pre-review, but I wanted to let people know that this CD was more than worth waiting for. It is, in fact, one of Ian's best.

Since "Lost Herd", he has been experimenting with a new sound in his music and a new approach to his material. He has had some success; but, on "Songs from the Gravel Road", it finally comes together. And how! I am guessing that many of the reviewers giving him 2 or 3 stars for this CD simply have not made the transition yet. I can't blame them. When Ian switched from folk to cowboy in the late 70's and early 80's, it took me a decade to catch up with him. I hope those who are disappointed with this CD will keep it in their collection and pull it out a few times before they give up on it. It stands with the best of anything he has done.

Yes, it is true, Ian's marriage of many years (has it been 20?!) with Twylla has broken up and his sadness over this is evident throughout the album. There is a melancholy here that one just can't shake. But it adds to the albums impact rather than detracts from it. And it was the impetus to one of his finest ever songs, "Love without End". This is a beautiful song beautifully arranged and sung from the heart. His feeling of loss could not be more gently or more beautifully stated.

He delivers at least four songs that have single potential - well they would have single potential if country music in the USA weren't entirely insipid. These songs are: "Silver Bell", a Christmas ballad with a very catchy melody; "Land of Shining Mountains", another Ian tribute to his beloved Alberta; "Always Saying Goodbye", an ironically upbeat sounding song delivering a heart-wrenching message about parting; and, "Casey's Gone", a simple but irresistable dog song. I admit to being a sucker for dog songs. I love The Byrds' "Old Blue" and "Bugler".

Of the other songs, there really is not a weak one on the CD. A number, including "The Ambler Saddle" and "Moisture", deal with Ian's favorite subject, cowboying. "This Is My Sky" laments lost things, like love and America's spirit. "Road to Las Cruces" is a 3/4 time that ranges from thoughts of lost opportunity in love to cowboying to Mexicans risking all to sneak into America. And there's more - 12 songs in all.

Musically, Ian went to Toronto to record this one. I think this freed him to create a sound different than that which people have come to expect from him in his Calgary recordings. The musicianship is impeccable, and not overdubbed as one reviewer complains. If anything, it is a bit sparse. But he incorporates a bit of a jazz feel by using trumpet and saxophone on a few songs. His past efforts at incorporating jazz instruments on "Lost Herd" were a bit awkward. Not so here. The sound is like nothing you will here elsewhere, but it sounds natural and nicely integrated. As a 54-year old myself, Ian's continued creativity is a personal inspiration.

"Songs from the Gravel Road" is a great CD. Don't be discouraged by those who don't understand it on the first run-through. I have had this CD since before its US release and am on my third infatuation with it. It is one of those CDs that catches you and won't let go. This is one that will be appreciated for years to come.

Sorry, I completely disagree with the previous reviewer - this is some of Ian's best work.

Having had this CD since it's Canadian release a couple of months back, I remember not knowing quite what to make of it until the first few listens, but I now think it holds together as a really cohesive piece of work that reflects a time of transition in Tyson's life following the break up of his 20 year marriage.

Ironically, the best track on the CD, 'The Ambler Saddle' (listen a few times before judging) is one of the few with no obvious link to the 'relationship break down' theme that pervades. I doubt many songs have been written from the perspective of a bucking-horse saddle before this one!

'This is my Sky' is the opener and another stand out track. "Sweet America coming off the rails, that's what lies and money do" must be the line that offends the previous reviewer, as there are no other arguably anti-US references to be found here. Fairly innocuous and anyway, as Tyson says on the very next line, "who the hell am I to talk".

Other highlights on this CD (and there are many) include 'Land Of Shining Mountains', a melodic tribute to Tyson's adopted homeland of Alberta, 'The Road To Las Cruces' and a great adaptation of the folk song 'One Morning in May' that at first seems out of place, but actually fits with the CDs general theme of relationship traumas and barriers.

I heartily recommend this CD and hope this is not Ian's last.

As much as I want to like this CD, I just don't. As with "Lost Herd," Ian has put out a CD so bland, mellow, and listless that I haven't bothered to listen to it after the first three tries. I know that nothing can compare to "Cowboyography"--Ian's best album and one of my top five country-Western CD's ever--but I still expect a lot better than Ian's last two albums. Even "Live at Longview" missed the mark, containing few of his fabulous country songs from his earlier albums. I know Ian's up there in age now, but damn, I wish he'd do more songs like those from "Cowboyography" and "And Stood There Amazed" and "Old Corrals And Sagebrush."

Lots of mixed reviews on this one, but all I know is some of these songs hit me in the same way songs from other Tyson disc do. Maybe not his best, but some damn fine songs there just the same. Can really picture the action taking place in Silver Bells, the lonliness of the girl away from home at Christmas. Land of Shinnig Mountains has me imagining an old Ford pickup kicking up prarie dust with the Rockies starting to get bigger on the horizon. Road to Las Cruces and the Ambler Saddle also tell good stories. Hell, edit out the ones you don't like, but these songs work for me. Thanks IAN

In his fifth decade of recording, Ian Tyson has created a body of modern roots music that impresses, moves, and continues to grow, if -- as we see here demonstrated -- not always in the most inspired directions.

Tyson's basic style hasn't changed much. The folk ballad remains the template; whatever else Amazon's designated reviewer would have you believe, Tyson is not what any but the most casual country-music listener -- in other words, the sort who hears a steel guitar and naively assumes that he or she can only be in the presence of a honkytonk act -- would identify as a "country" singer. (Tyson, with his former wife Sylvia, actually cut one pure-country album, as Great Speckled Bird, in 1972. It was a critical but not a commercial success. Good as it is, little of it sounds much like Ian's folk-oriented solo work.) Over time, it is true, Tyson has experimented with different instruments and textures behind his acoustic guitar. Even so, anyone who remembers the Ian of Ian & Sylvia will instantly recognize the Ian of Ian Tyson.

On Songs from the Gravel Road, jazz horns appear on a few cuts. Nothing wrong with jazz horns, of course, but here they add nothing and subtract something. They signify no more, one infers, than Tyson's boredom with standard Western-music arrangements. They do, however, underscore the point that he decided correctly to spare us the jazz recording he was envisioning a few years ago. Gifted he surely is, but he is no jazzman.

This is, sad to say, largely a disappointing album. It has some shining moments, though, when Tyson is playing to his strengths. There is the spare, appealing reading of the Anglo-Celtic traditional "One Morning in May," long a favorite of the Irish folk musicians for whom Tyson has an affinity; authentic 19th-century cowboy songs often borrowed Irish melodies, as anyone who knows from where "Whoopi Ti Yi Yo" and "Streets of Laredo" ultimately came is well aware. The simple, touching, but unsappy song about the passing of a beloved dog, "Casey's Gone," is another exquisite moment. "Range Delivery" and "Always Saying Goodbye," on the other hand, are destined I'm sure to show up on no one's list of favorite Ian Tyson songs.

It apparently needs stressing that the album is innocent of "anti-American" sentiments, unless one holds the peculiar belief that one has to love George W. Bush to love America. As a passing reference in the splendid opening song "This Is My Sky" makes clear, Tyson does not love George W. Bush; so what? A plurality-to-majority of Americans, according to consistent recent polling data, don't either, and I'm sure they -- we -- are no less patriotic for it.

In any event, one fervently hopes that his 71 years notwithstanding, we have not heard the last of Ian Tyson. But next time perhaps we will get a more consistently realized album. We expect nothing less of this great artist of the Western landscape.

First of all let me say that I love Ian Tyson's music. I once told him that out of all my CD's, if I could only take 10 to the moon, one of his would be in the 10. This disc has some really great songs with that signature voice of his coming through. Some are sung in his traditional Western style, some are folk-like which is what he originally sang and some are expansions into new realms, with instruments and tempos usually not heard on country recordings. This album is a fusion of different genres, including many songs in the traditional Tyson style. There are very few CD's out in the universe on which I love every single song on the disc. If I totally love 4 or 5 of the cuts, that is a good percentage. I totally love at least that many of the songs on this, so that makes this a great album. There are many traditional Tyson cuts on this and in the other songs he is stretching out musically and incorporating other sounds, instuments and styles into the music. Some of the songs have complex instumentation played by incredible musicians. Some are a little jazz-like, and there are some really great country/western songs on this with incredible fiddle and pedal steel parts. It's a keeper.

This is the first Ian Tyson cd I've purchased, and after I listened just once I really regretted not having discovered him sooner. Ian's voice is simply outstanding for anyone, let alone a man of Ian's vintage. The lyrics are wry, wistful, and intelligent. The melodies are memorable from the first listening and simply get better each time. How's this for a poingnant snapshot of the border: "At the line of desire: seven strands of barbed wire."

I'm a big fan of this style of music (Chip Taylor, Guy Clark, Tom Russell, David Olney) and this is absolutely on par with the best of anything in this genre I've heard. Each cut is outstanding; the man is a master craftsman of song.

I'm frankly shocked at the negative reviews on this one. It appears that some folks don't like the fact that Ian's style is a bit eclectic on this record. In my opinion, that's what makes this album all the more appealing. If this is his worst effort, I'm in for a big treat because I've just ordered every other Ian Tyson disc in print.

Is this one of Ian Tyson's best or worse? Evidently a few people think it is worth no more than one or two stars, but as for me I was thrilled to get it. Love Without End no doubt chronicles is his unfortunate domestic experiences and is very heartfelt. Road to Las Cruses, my favorite song on the album, paints typically accurate pictures of number of scenes from that area of the south west. One Morning in May and Casey's Gone are both reminiscent of his younger years and probably would have made great Ian & Sylvia songs.

Many of you have probably heard of the documentary with the same name as this album that was done by Bravo in Canada a few years ago. Much of it has been posted to Youtube and I have been trying in vain to get Bravo to sell me the DVD in USA. Recently I found it actually was available, but with very limited distribution, as part of a two DVD set named "This is My Sky". As soon as I found it was available, appropriately enough from Hitching Post Supply in Snohomish, WA (google it) I ordered one. It arrived today and what a great set it is! Both DVDs are really excellent. This is My Sky is filled with terrific live performances and is alone worth the price of the set.

Glad I got another of Ian's DVD's. Made a great Christmas present for the man who introduced me to this singer. Tyson is getting a lot of well deserved publicity -- was on the cover of The Cowboy Way this month. Can't say enough good about this DVD -- it's really great!