And I wish Johnny Cash had covered this too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ8PlwJarNw
― birdistheword, Sunday, 6 February 2022 05:00 (two years ago) link
A great live version of The Mobile Line from the early 90s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_obLJjdHPno
― that's not my post, Sunday, 6 February 2022 05:22 (two years ago) link
i didn't quite get if the trail of prev. unreleased titles, from several sessions over the years, were re-recorded, as-is, or some of both, on 2021's Treasure of Love round-up. Some of it sounded pretty geezer-y at first, like maybe recent re-dos. But real good material, and just about all the tracks locked into enjoyable listening after a couple of spins.
― dow, Sunday, 6 February 2022 21:29 (two years ago) link
Also, the sometimes arty adventures of Joe Ely's 2020 Love In The Midst of Mayhem grew on me quite a bit.
― dow, Sunday, 6 February 2022 21:32 (two years ago) link
xxp nice, thanks for sharing that!
I'll have to dive into the Flatlanders and the other solo albums next, this is all still new territory for me.
I played After Awhile a few times today and I love that one even more - one of the very best country albums I've heard from the past 40 years.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51XQ9GAQHRL.jpg
― birdistheword, Monday, 7 February 2022 00:17 (two years ago) link
They're all pretty good, but Ely might have the most rocking output.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 7 February 2022 00:52 (two years ago) link
Rocking is not necessarily what I want from the Flatlanders etc. But I do like some Joe Ely
― that's not my post, Monday, 7 February 2022 01:03 (two years ago) link
I mostly meant that it sets him apart. He's kind of the most conventional.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 7 February 2022 01:08 (two years ago) link
Makes sense … Honky Tonk Masquerade is excellent.
― that's not my post, Monday, 7 February 2022 01:10 (two years ago) link
Well, solo Ely was originally known for his own blend of country and rock, but not like the Eagles, not that much like anybody else known for "country rock", maybe a little, in terms of mavericky spaces, like Gramp Parsons (who hated the c-r tag and loathed the Eagles). Much appreciated in the 70s, lemme tell you, especially after Parsons died so early, and I believe the s/t debut was later on a twofer CD with the aforementioned Honky Tonk Masquerade---that would be 80 minutes worth spending--album three, 1979'sDown On The Drag, is ok, but next, one my all-time favorites is the 1980 Live Cuts, from his Clash tour, with Lloyd Maines as one-man steel guitar army, among other points of interest---no new material, but great delivery of some of Butch Hancock's best contributions, always a staple of early Ely.I dunno about 80s output---seemed to be trying a new, rockin' 80s sound of this own, w v. mixed results, but Lord of the Highway is OK and '92's Love and Danger had him back in the saddle, more to the country side, but no Butch. Best of Joe Ely(2001), would make a pretty damn good gateway.Some people have no use for Butch's voice, but never bothered me---also he does have all those what ya call 'em songs ffs---and his comps Own and Own and Own The Way Over Here are real good places to start, for the ones that Joe didn't cover, at least.Yeah, Jimmie Dale's s/t debut, "After Awhile" and cosmic Spinning Around the Sun are best solo albums of his that I've heard---a friend likes his live album with Butch, from an Australian tour, but I haven't heard it.in 2018, he did quite a fine duet album w Dave Alvin, streaming here:https://davealvin.bandcamp.com/album/downey-to-lubbockMore A Legend Than A Band is still the essential Flatlanders album, although there was some dissenting hype when the preceding Odessa Tapes were finally retrieved and released---they're worth hearing, but def not better. Ditto the 2000s Flatlanders reunions I've heard, Now Again and Hills and Valleys, wearing their ages pretty well.
― dow, Monday, 7 February 2022 03:17 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah, and Jimmie Dale's high school sweetheart-> wife, Jo Carol Pierce, is like the profane Laurie Anderson of Texas on Bad Girls Upset By The Truth.She and Ely and Butch,and the other Hancock, Wayne, and Robert Earl Keen and Terry Allen contribute to Songs From Chippy, which is Jo Harvey Allen's play based on The Chippy Diaries, written by a lumber industry sex veteran.
― dow, Monday, 7 February 2022 03:34 (two years ago) link
a friend likes his live album with Butch, from an Australian tour
That would be Two Roads and it’s fun. A highlight is the rendition of West Texas Waltz.
― that's not my post, Monday, 7 February 2022 03:36 (two years ago) link
Ah, this one kills me....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5-KHKwywAU
It sounds like something Johnny Cash & June Carter would've done together back in the day. Beautiful, beautiful song, and I heard Joe Ely's version too but Gilmore just knocks it out of the park.
― birdistheword, Monday, 7 February 2022 05:37 (two years ago) link
"Just A Wave" was the one that first struck me when my sister would play JDG, that album's become an all time fave. "I'm Gonna Love You" might be where the beauty & clarity of his voice most overwhelms me ...just thinking about it
― sloop johnnin' skater (geoffreyess), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:23 (two years ago) link
last year's Flatlanders album was pretty good, I thought
― sloop johnnin' skater (geoffreyess), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:24 (two years ago) link
Wait, what?
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:36 (two years ago) link
Oh, I see.
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:38 (two years ago) link
Flatlanders in that unique club of bands with more reunion albums than original tenure LPs.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:55 (two years ago) link
How do they stack up against Rocket From the Tombs? Or Television?
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:57 (two years ago) link
Oh Television only had the one new studio album.
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:59 (two years ago) link
Yeah, while RFTT was one album (comp) --> three reunion lps, the Flatlanders have one album (released post-breakup) --> four reunion lps.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 04:32 (two years ago) link
I mentioned The Odessa Tapes, which were eventually excavated and released in 2012, on on New West, which sez: After being forgotten about and stored for decades in the bass player’s closet, the remixed and remastered 14 songs are undeniably bright, immediate and magical. Many are familiar with these song titles from their 1972 Plantation debut recorded in Nashville but these earlier recordings eschew the polished production and bristle with innocence and the energy that is pure Texas.
New West Records along with The Flatlanders have overseen the restoration, research and release of their true debut album. Recorded in 1972 in Tommy Allsup’s Odessa, TX studio, the band put 14 songs to 3-track tape. Four of these recordings (*) have never been available on any Flatlanders album. Nah, it's not "their true debut album": even polished, still sounds like---tapes, non-magical, de facto demos for what, as the Austin Chroncle observed, is more like " a shelved Jimmie Dale Gilmore album" than a long lost Flatlanders 8 track (though the official debut, which was an 8-track only, I think, was initially listed under Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Flatlandes, and how could he not be the lead singer, whatever the billing?)Very nice, and you do get four prev. unreleased titles.From my Nashville Scene ballot comments re 2012 releases:The Flatlanders, The Odessa Tapes: 14 tracks (my Windows Media Player picks up sometimes distracting noise around the edges; boombox makes the audio sound perfect), recorded in Odessa TX, before the Nashville sessions, which were eventually released as More A Legend Than A Band, among other titles. The very useful booklet's author, Michael Ventura, thinks that these tapes (mostly same songs as More…) are better, because they don't the later set's "self-conscious Bob Willsian asides." Can't find my copy of that, so no comparative listening yet, but Ely, Hancock and/or Tony Pearson's occasional background harmonies always perk up the attention span here. Gilmore doesn't bend notes, syllables and keys with his nose yet, so there's a certain sameness and smoothness to the pudding-stirring sweetness. But sweetness and buoyancy--not too far above the ground, while they're discreetly extending some craft---and intimacy all are crucial ingredients here, as Ventura points out. The slightly lecture-y bits are never hectoring, the Flatlanders want to just to make love make sense to you, so it'll make sense to them, so the imagery times plain--for-serenades seek dialogue, seek truth in peeling and appealing veils, in balancing acts, even or especially those which might be seized on in sleight of hand---they want to understand, man. And woman, oh yes, and oh Lord too. They also know when to move on. Two previously unreleased songs by Gilmore, two by Hancock, all worth checking out; ditto a DVD interview with Gilmore, Hancock and Ely.It's on YouTube, Spotify etc.
― dow, Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:17 (two years ago) link
Man I really love Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s Cliff Edwards style of crooning. Cliff Edwards? Hey wait, Jiminy Cricket!
― The Dark End of the Tweet (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 November 2022 02:03 (one year ago) link
I've wondered why Gilmore's 2000 One Endless Night isn't on streaming services.
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Sunday, 27 November 2022 02:18 (one year ago) link
Good question
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 November 2022 21:16 (one year ago) link
Cliff Edwards? Ukekele Ike!
Flatlanders classic for all time.
― ian, Monday, 28 November 2022 22:26 (one year ago) link
Have totally imagined JDG singing “Hard Hearted Hannah.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyHPb4MNHbU
― The Dark End of the Tweet (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 29 November 2022 14:42 (one year ago) link
i just put it together that JDG plays smokey in "the big lebowski" ...
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 29 November 2022 14:53 (one year ago) link
^ha!
― The Dark End of the Tweet (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 29 November 2022 15:14 (one year ago) link
Missed the chance to say I was going to mark you a zero for that. At some point I was getting certain scenes in The Big Lebowski mixed up with others in Kingpin and couldn’t remember who was in which.
― The Dark End of the Tweet (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 29 November 2022 15:29 (one year ago) link
Kind of amusing to me that I can imagine what Jimmie Dale Gilmore would sound like singing, say, “Saginaw, Michigan” and then I actually hear him do it and it sounds just like I imagined and even more so. So good.
― Soda Stereo Total (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 14:46 (one year ago) link
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2022/12/08/jo-carol-pierce-austin-death-obituary-wellington-jimmie-dale-gilmore-bad-girls/69703288007/
― Soda Stereo Total (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 10 December 2022 02:20 (one year ago) link
Aw man, she was great. A Flatlander at heart and then some.
Oh yeah, and Jimmie Dale's high school sweetheart-> wife, Jo Carol Pierce, is like the profane Laurie Anderson of Texas on Bad Girls Upset By The Truth.She and Ely and Butch,and the other Hancock, Wayne, and Robert Earl Keen and Terry Allen contribute to Songs From Chippy, which is Jo Harvey Allen's play based on The Chippy Diaries, written by a lumber industry sex veteran.― dow, Monday, 7 February 2022
― dow, Monday, 7 February 2022
― dow, Saturday, 10 December 2022 05:31 (one year ago) link
Reading this ^^ led me to look up more about this musical, Chippy. What a lineup of songs:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chippy_(album)
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Saturday, 10 December 2022 14:41 (one year ago) link
I used to have and enjoy that album of other people doing her songs called Across the Great Divide. Also saw her perform once and she was grebt.
― Soda Stereo Total (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 10 December 2022 15:01 (one year ago) link
Still in search of her song about Jerry Lee. I distinctly remember her singing “He’ll Leave you Breathless!”whilst making a self-choking motion along with accompanying sounds.
― Soda Stereo Total (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 10 December 2022 15:25 (one year ago) link
Mentioned here, along with some other stuff I remember:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-03-23-9303230097-story.html
― Soda Stereo Total (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 10 December 2022 17:40 (one year ago) link
For out-of-towners, Pierce was the event's central revelation. Pierce's orange cocktail dress and zebra-stripe stockings are nearly as loopy as some of her songs. She delivered some of the week's sharpest rock criticism in a hilarious and biting ditty about Jerry Lee Lewis and his string of ex-wives.
― dow, Monday, 12 December 2022 18:33 (one year ago) link