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REISSUES: NEW THEN. NEW AGAIN
VARIOUS
Boots, Buckles and Spurs:
50 Songs Celebrate 50 Years of Cowboy Tradition
Columbia/Legacy
Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the now
Wrangler-presented National Finals Rodeo, triple-disc box
Boots, Buckles and Spurs compiles cowboy songs from the
WWII-era ("Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Cattle Call") up to the
present day (Montgomery Gentry, Don Walser, etc.). Much of
it has been used as warm-up music for the event itself, but
the set functions just as well as a far-reaching compendium of
trail, roping, riding and ranching tunes.
Having the vaults of Columbia Records to cherry-pick from
definitely helps matters. Many of the label's top artists—
Johnny Cash, Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson and Marty Robbins
among them—have been country stars, and each of those
is represented on the set. Other more left-of-field selections
like Ian Tyson's "Leavin' Cheyenne" and Robert Earl Keen's
"That Buckin' Song" help to set the box
apart from being just another roundup
of cowboy-mythologizing troubadours.
Instead, it's a rare case of both country
and Western being equally represented.
Extensive notes chronicling the his
tory of rodeo itself make appropriate
and informative reading material as the
proverbial tumbleweeds coast along this
wide-open range.
RY C00DER
The UFO Has Landed:
The Ry Cooder Anthology Show
Time Rhino/Warner Bros.
- •
BOOTS
L BUCKLES
bluesman and the honky-tonker all in one stout package.
Rather than make dour political or mid-life crisis albums like
some of his contemporaries, he's content bridging old style
with new fittings and ideas. With that, The UFO Has Landed
is a fine introduction to Cooder's work, even if the song that
inspired its title ("UFO Has Landed in the Ghetto") is mysteri
ously absent. A true anthology, though, it ain't. Do the man's
back catalog justice and issue a box set already!
Elsewhere, Cooder's oft-overlooked Show Time, from 1976,
sees a digital re-release. This should be a comfort to budget
conscious fans as the eight-track album has been out of print
in the U.S. for years and the import version usually fetches
well into the $20-530 range.
Recorded on the cusp of Chicken Skin Music, the live Show
Time finds an extraordinary band, including accordionist Flaco
Jimenez, playing backup. The accompanists and added gospel
singers bring much to reworked versions of "Alimony" and
"Jesus on the Mainline." But it's Cooder's show and, even in
this brief performance, he's already an ace bandleader steering
the group through selections inspired by both the church and
the cathouse. At around a buck a song,
both Cooder devotees and those look
ing to investigate his musical prowess
beyond Buena Vista will be hard pressed
to find a lemon in this particular bag.
BLUE ASH
No More, No Less
Collector’s Choice
50 SONGS
-CELEDRATE-
50 TEARS
@ COWBOY
TRADITION
l&o}-.
mm
Variety has been the name of the
game for Ry Cooder since the Californian
singer/guitarist's early days in Captain
Beefheart's Safe as Milk-era Magic Band
and with Taj Mahal as the Rising Sons.
So, when a compilation comes along
labeled as a Cooder anthology, one must
be aware that it is an achievement in
itself to represent Cooder's melting pot
of styles within such confines. This is
substantiated by the double-disc The UFO
Has Landed, a two-disc survey of Cooder's work during the last
three decades that focuses primarily on his string of potluck
Americana albums from the '70s and '80s.-
Though Cooder has since expanded his range to include
soundtrack compositions and excursions into world music with
the Buena Vista Social Club and others, you can't really digest
the full enchilada without hearing albums like folk music trav
elogue Into the Purple Valley and the Tex-Mex-meets-Hawaii-
cool Chicken Skin Music. Plenty of material from those and
other 70s releases pop up, as do many from later releases like
Get Rhythm and Bop Till You Drop—notable for its detour into
rockabilly, yes, but also for being the first album to utilize
digital recording.
Concerning Cooder's work during the '90s and 2000s is
where the playlist becomes a little haphazard. Understandably,
an anthology should not focus greatly on an artist's most
recent recordings. But, only two tracks from Cooder's
"California Trilogy" (2005's Chavez Ravine, 2007's My Name Is
Buddy and 2008's I, Flathead) are present, and not a single
sliver from the ingenious ...Buddy made the cut. The omissions
wouldn't stand out so much if those albums hadn't produced
some of the most heartfelt and creatively substantial work of
the man's career. Also, none of Cooder's collaborations with
such world musicians as Manuel Galban are touched upon,
though his soundtrack compositions do get nods with selec
tions from such films as The Long Riders and Alamo Bay.
The quality of what's included here, though, cannot be
disputed. From the slack-key gospel of "Always Lift Him
Up" to the warped road music of "Drive Like I Never Been
Hurt," Cooder is aptly represented as a performer whose art
truly knows no boundaries. He's the iccker, the jazzman, the
Ohio power-pop troupe Blue Ash may
not have become the household name
that homies Cheap Trick did during
the early 70s, but it produced guitar-
chargeo, harmony and hormoTie-drenched
tunes every bit as memorable. The
group's long out-of-print 1973 debut, No
More, No Less, does well in backing up
that assertion.
Leading off with the group's claim to
one-hit wonderdom, "Abracadabra (Have
You Seen Her)," the whole of No More...
rides a heavy crest of Bill Bartolin's
soaring guitar licks and the group's
effective use of harmony vocals contrib
uted by each of the four bandmembers.
Jam-packed with Guitar Hero-bound
riffs, monster choruses and even some well-airanged ballads
masquerading as rockers ("Dusty Old Fairgrounds"), this is an
obscure gem on which power and pop are both evenly matched
and brilliantly intertwined.
JAMES HARMAN BAND
Do Not Disturb
Hepcat
Blues bandleader James Harman reveals himself as a man
who knows how to both soothe a forlorn lover and ensure max
imum motel room privacy on his 1991 release Do Not Disturb.
Though the album presented harp player/ vocalist Harman on a
new label (Black Top) and fronting a new lineup of his synony
mous backing band, the new blood and vivid songs resulted in
one of Harman's most sworn-by releases.
Whereas some blues players focus more on the licks than
the lyrics, Harman proves himself highly attuned to both,
giving songs like "Phonebill Blues" and "Motel King" a little-
things-mean-a-great-deal perspective that attaches itself to
the meaty Chicago style heard throughout. Backed by such
accompanists as bassist Jeff "Big Dad" Turmes and Los Lobos'
David Hidalgo, Harman is in top form here, even if he can't
seem to come to terms with having his privacy infringed upon
or getting a decent night's rest atop that damned motel bed.
Michael Andrews
Redux Nation is a monthly column focusing on album reissues, repackag-
ings and box sets.
26 FLAGPOLE.COM • DECEMBER 10, 2008