Customer Reviews

When The Storm Is Over/Fly Through The Country

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

 

 

During the 1980's I immersed myself in bluegrass music. I first sought out Bill Monroe, of course, and then Flatt & Scruggs, Ralph & Carter Stanley and from there it was more progressive artists like J.D. Crowe & The New South, The Country Gentlemen, The Seldom Scene, and The New Grass Revival. For too many people, bluegrass music is still personified by the inbred hillbilly from Deliverance playing "Dueling Banjos." That's too bad. This is the music that comes closest to touching the heart and soul of our country's earliest history and for a time no one did it better than Sam Bush (fiddle, mandolin, vocal), Courtney Johnson (banjo), Curtis Burch (guitar, vocal) and John Cowan (bass).

This reissue packages their first two studio albums for Flying Fish from 1975 and 1977. [Their debut on Starday featured Ebo Walker on bass.] Fly Through the Country is the more traditional of the two, while When the Storm is Over added piano and drums on many of the tracks. But they would constantly balance the two. They'd do the Flatt & Scruggs standard ("Doin' My Time") one moment, then turn around and cover Jackson Browne ("These Days") the next. They'd also cover Jimmy Webb ("Fly Through the Country"), Rick Roberts ("Four Days of Rain" from The Flying Burrito Brothers) and Townes Van Zandt ("White Freightliner Blues"). Both albums feature John Hartford covers: "Skippin' in the Mississippi Dew" from the former and "Vamp in the Middle" from the latter. The only songwriter in the band was Sam Bush who wrote the instrumental "Crooked Smile," a nearly eight-minute instrumental heavily influenced by David Grisman's "dawg" music, which blended jazz and bluegrass. Bush also co-wrote another six of these tracks with Steven Brines.

Amazon.com only lists the tracks from When the Storm Is Over. Here's the tracks from Fly Through the Country: 1. Skippin' in the Mississippi Dew 2. Good Woman's Love 3. Glory 4. All Night Train 5. Fly Through the Country 6. This Heart of Mine 7. The Dancer 8. When She Made Laughter Easy 9. Doin' My Time 10. These Days

While the band would continue to have success into the 80's with a slighltly altered lineup, these early recordings have an excitement and urgency about them that still make them enjoyable twenty-five years later. And this two-fer is a real bargain. Grab it while you can. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

"When The Storm Is Over" continues to solidify the New Grass Revival as America's premier progressive bluegrass band. All of the elements that would become the band's trademarks throughout their existence are already evident; innovation, distinctive interpretation, superb presentation, excellent writing and song selection, not to mention their unsurpassed musical abilities. "When The Storm Is Over" is fittingly combined with an earlier album release, "Fly Through The Country", on one CD. Very similar, these two albums give us a good perspective of their early work following the departure of Ebo Walker on bass, who appeared on only one album. Replaced by John Cowan, his Rock/Blues influences further delineated the group from mainstream bluegrass and provided greater diversity.

This set has it all - There are soulful ballads - "Sail To Australia" and "He Says I Love You". "Four Days Of Rain", the title track "When The Storm Is Over", and "Like A Child In The Rain", are delightful upbeat melodies. "White Freightliner Blues" and the instrumental duet "Tennessee Rain" are proof that the group has dedicated roots in the heart of bluegrass, demonstrating the ability to play traditional renditions fluently....and during a time when "progressive" and "bluegrass" were still contradictory terms. "Crooked Smile" is the climactic high-powered instrumental jam, finishing off the record with Bush's wonderfully constructed mandolin lead throughout, reminiscent of "Red Man Blues" and its fiddle work from their previous live album.

The only reason this record gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because New Grass Revival only gets better from here.

This compilation of two separately released records on vinyl is absolutely one of the best driving cd's available. If the sun is shining, and you're on the road, this is a must have for those who love finger pickin'!

Two albums on one CD. When the Storm is Over is very good. Fly Through The Country is excellent. Though Bela Fleck was not in the band when they recorded these two albums, Fly Through The Country represents the best songs the band ever recorded. This would be the one studio album of theirs that is a must have.

Never get tired of this one! Every song is superb. Great vocals and great picking by the boys. Definitely a keeper!

I was very satisfied with your service and the condition of this CD

Thanks very much

markus

This CD is a combination of two NGR albums - Fly Through the Country and When the Storm is Over.

If you're looking for classic NGR, this is it. Just about every tune you remember from the original guys (Sam, John, Curtis, and Courtney) is included - just about every song on these albums was a "hit" for them. In addition, the best of these were carried over to the more modern NGR sound when Bela and Pat joined the group.

I call it "transitional" for two reasons. The first was mentioned in the previous paragraph. The second is that these albums are where NGR really "locks in" it's signature sound. The preferred harmony stack, extended jams, and song selection would continue until the much later days of the band where they went a bit more in the jazz direction.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that a number of the songs would be better featured in a "live" setting. "Fly Through the Country" (the tune, not the whole album) falls a bit flat in the studio as do a couple of others. Fortunately, there are a couple of live albums (one from this era and another from the later incarnation) where you can hear NGR playing as they were meant to be.

Go ahead. Buy this. You won't be disappointed, and you'll feel right "at home" with a bunch of guys who streached bluegrass to the breaking point, and became legend because of it.