No Depression [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Uncle Tupelo

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 15, 2003)
• Original Release Date: March 11, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00008J2RA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,673 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #48 in

  Music > Rock > Roots Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The album that named a movement (and a magazine), No Depression rocks and twangs in just about equal measure, though the rock side wins out most of the time. Even when a song downshifts from full-on punk to banjo- and mandolin-graced interludes, it usually shifts back again, seemingly louder and angrier than before. Beyond the influential sound, though, are some great songs, whether they're raging originals like "Graveyard Shift," an earnest, acoustic cover of the Carter Family's title track, or a decidedly desperate portrait of Leadbelly's "John Hardy." Six bonus cuts flesh out the 2003 expanded and remastered edition, including a cover of Gram Parsons's "Sin City." --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alt-Country begins here ...., April 17, 2003

By	B. Dreiling "bd8802" (Lawrence, KS USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Uncle Tupelo might be one of the most impressive and important bands you have never heard of. In the few short years -- and four amazing albums -- of their existence they developed a sound that would turn into the alt-country movement.

"No Depression" is the first record they released. You can hear the twang of the country music background that was around them in Bellville, IL, the punk rock sounds of The Clash and The Romones in the heavy, quick guitar riffs, and the folk influences of Bob Dylan in the lyrics of this album. It really transcended any music of the time.

The songs individually are all excellent. The songs "No Depression", "Screen Door" and "Live Worth Livin'" stand out in my mind as the best of the disk. Farrar and Tweedy's voices compliment each other track to track while also giving a depth to the sound of the album. Quickly you will pick up on differences of Farrar's raspy voice, and deep outward looking lyrics while Tweedy's voice is smoother and lyrics are more inward looking.

I would recommend any current fans of the new resurgence of Alt-Country (the likes of Ryan Adam and Jesse Malin) to pick up this CD and all of Uncle Tupelo's albums to see where the genre began. Fans of Wilco (Tweedy's current band) and Son Volt (Farrar's band) will already know about the greatness of them music, and should also pick of these disks as before the re-release they were almost impossible to find.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh My, yes indeed!, August 9, 2004

By	Frank Garon (Breinigsville, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Now this, THIS is my kind of music. Punk meets Country, with Rock sprinkled all over for good measure! From the opening note of "Graveyard Shift" to the close of "Blues Die Hard, there's 19 tracks of pure great music to be had here.

This stuff is potent - what creativity, what diversity, what a great sound these guys put out. Makes me mad I didn't discover them sooner, because Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt are two of the best groups I've been lucky enough to come across in the past year or two. Really and truly well worth buying this one is, you will be very glad you did!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alternative country comes alive..., December 19, 2004

By	Brian E. Burgess (NY, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A friend of mine actually gave me a copy of No Depression on tape shortly after this release came out and told me I had to check this new band out. For some reason it sat at the bottom of my tape collection for well over a year. I finally rediscovered the tape one day and realized it was time to check out the band with the unique name. Man, had I missed out on some seriously good music! There is a nice mix of punk and country on many of the songs on this cd. Songs such as "Graveyard Shift" and "Factory Belt" are quick paced, high-flying country/punk tunes but the song that blew me away (and still does to this day) is the old school country drinking song "Whiskey Bottle". Everytime I hear this song it just sends shivers up my spine as you can feel the pain and heartache in Jay Farrar's voice. Some great bonus tracks on the remastered version including a great version of Gram Parson's "Sin City" and an informative booklet just add to the original beauty of this release. Tupelo move forward into a more traditional country sound after this cd but "No Depression" is a groundbreaking effort.