Tracks The Thief and The Heartbreaker
- I've Known For Long
- Devil's All You've Ever Had
- Lucy Rider
- Low Man
- Hard Breaks
- Old Man Chicago
- The Thief & The Heartbreaker
Release date: 2007-05-14
Run time: 28 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.87
Review The Thief and The Heartbreaker / Alberta Cross:
Tracks If We Can't Trust the Doctors
- Who's To Say
- Garbage Picker
- So Long Cruel World
- Do You Trust Me?
- Superstition
- Someday
- Wayfaring Stranger
- Another Lost Summer
- The Hopeless Waltz
- Bluebird
- Jack On Fire
Release date: 2004-03-29
RRP: £8.99
Price: £5.50
Review If We Can't Trust the Doctors / Blanche:
Tracks American Water
- Buckingham Rabbit
- Blue Arrangements
- Honk if You're Lonely
- Smith & Jones Forever
- Wild Kindness
- Random Rules
- Send in the Clouds
- Federal Dust
- Night Society
- People
- We Are Real
- Like Like the the the Death
Release date: 1998-10-20
Price: £20.99
Review American Water / Silver Jews:
Tracks Once We Were Trees
- Banjo press conference
- By your side
- The sun surrounds me
- The good night whistle
- Hearts mend
- Old Manatee
- Let it run
- Yer selfish ways
- Close your eyes
- Jugglers' revenge
- Germination
- Once we were trees
- You take the gold
- The hustler
- Confusion is nothing new
Release date: 2002-05-09
RRP: £13.99
Price: £5.80
Review Once We Were Trees / Beachwood Sparks:Beachwood Sparks' second album, Once We Were Trees, is a classic modern-day example of what Gram Parsons once called the Cosmic American music: florid, effects-laden psychedelic country rock with its heart in the rolling crop-fields of California, and it's head lost in the eddying clouds. The only thing that dates this as anything later than a relic of the mid 70s is an unexpected-and very fine-cover of Sade's "By Your Side": with Hammond organ, harmonica and pedal steel weaving in and out of the mix, this is unashamedly retro stuff. Still, there's much here to recommend Beachwood Sparks above the humdrum alt-country crop. With Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis on production duties, the likes of "Hearts Mend" and "The Good Night Whistle" sound authentically lo-fi and archaic-except the odd moment of indulgence, as on the title track, where he phases in a roar of electronic feedback over the closing instrumental swell. Even the more faithful countrified tracks hit the spot, though -the lush "Banjo Press Conference" recalls Calexico at their most exquisite, while the Deliverance-style twang of "Juggler's Revenge" nears real hoedown territory. Once We Were Trees: you'd better believe it's a grower. - Louis Pattison.
![Review Joe Henry / Scar [Us Import]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/418S88XZTSL._SL160_.jpg)
Tracks Scar [Us Import]
- Cold Enough to Cross
- Scar
- Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation
- Struck
- Nico Lost One Small Buddha
- Edgar Bergen
- Lock and Key
- Stop
- Rough and Tumble
- Mean Flower
Release date: 2001-05-15
RRP: £9.99
Price: £5.18
Review Scar [Us Import] / Joe Henry:From roots rocker to song-writing impressionist to sonic adventurer, the musical progression of Joe Henry resists category and defies expectation, nevermore so than on Scar. The album-opening "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation" is Henry's most audacious move to date, as his smoky voice channels the comedian's tragic spirit while a saxophone break from free-jazz titan Ornette Coleman provides achingly poignant punctuation. The rest of the song cycle ranges from the sophisticated atmospherics of "Stop" (adapted by Henry's sister-in-law Madonna into her hit single, "Don't Tell Me") to the insistent funk of "Rough and Tumble". The production by Henry and Craig Street gives the music plenty of room to breathe, augmenting the organic interplay of guitarist Marc Ribot, pianist Brad Mehldau and bassist Me'shell Ndegeocello with bittersweet string arrangements. Though there are echoes of Van Morrison in "Mean Flower" and the Band in "Cold Enough to Cross", Henry is less a classicist than a restless visionary. -Don McLeese.
Tracks The Stars Look Different from Down Here
- Just A Satellite
- People Are People
- Lost In America
- Emptiness
- Fight
- In Time
- Stars Look Different From Down Here
- Love Won't Free Me
- When You Come Around
- This Is Your Release
- It Is I
- Don't Get Me Down
Release date: 2006-05-22
RRP: £11.99
Price: £1.59
Review The Stars Look Different from Down Here / Cosmic Rough Riders:
Tracks Noble Creatures
- Steeple Full of Swallows
- Cranky Mulatto
- Last Letter
- Promenade
- Kicks in the Sun
- Gyroscopic
- All in the Pack
- Out on the Vine
- Moon Gone Down
- Spivey
- Few Extra Kilos
- How Will You Shine?
- Flavor on the Tongue
- Red Letter Day
Release date: 2007-08-13
RRP: £11.99
Price: £8.85
Review Noble Creatures / Gourds:
![Review Avett Brothers / Second Gleam [Digipak] [Us Import]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41sbmjwOeEL._SL160_.jpg)
Tracks Second Gleam [Digipak] [Us Import]
- Souls Like the Wheels
- Bella Donna
- Murder in the City
- Tear Down the House
- Greatest Sum
- St. Joseph's
Release date: 2008-07-22
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.83
Review Second Gleam [Digipak] [Us Import] / Avett Brothers:
Tracks The Fitzgerald
- Incident at Conklin Creek
- The Janitor
- Black Road
- Laramie, Wyoming
- Exit 194B
- Making It Back
- Welhorn Yards
- The Warehouse Life
- Don't Look and It Won't Hurt
- Casino Lights
- Disappeared
Release date: 2005-05-09
RRP: £9.99
Price: £8.79
Review The Fitzgerald / Richmond Fontaine:
Tracks The Revolution Starts Now
- I Thought You Should Know
- The Revolution Starts Now
- The Revolution Starts
- F The CC
- Warrior
- Rich Mans War
- The Gringos Tale
- The Seeker
- Condi, Condi
- Home To Houston
- Comin Around - duet with Emmylou Harris
Release date: 2004-08-23
RRP: £9.99
Price: £7.18
Review The Revolution Starts Now / Steve Earle:Having finally gained some commercial popularity whilst remaining true to his own individual sound with his 2002 album Jerusalem, Steve Earle, continues what he does best on the much-rocking, politically active The Revolution Starts Now!. Putting paid to the theory that country music is the home of all things right wing, Earle has put together an album that acts as a musical equivalent of Fahrenheit 9/11-and it expounds the same fierce opposition to the US' current political situation as Moore's work. Using songs written as a narrative of a soldier in Iraq ("Home To Houston"), and the climatic, two-part title track may seem like a cloying way to put his anti-war message across, but the clincher is that the songs are made catchy enough to hold attention and subtly insinuate their message. The musical style is that of Earle's usual, catchy country with the instantly recognisable rasping drawl, and the presence of Emmylou Harris on the sublime, driving "Comin' Around" is welcome relief. However, the angry undercurrent that informs this album is ever present, which makes this album heavy listening. But for such a concept, Earle makes it surprisingly accessible, and in doing so produces a brave and enjoyable work. -Thom Allott.
Tracks The Trumpet Child
- If A Song Could Be President
- Entertaining Thoughts
- Don't Wait For Tom
- Trouble
- Desperate For Love
- Nothing Is Innocent
- Let's Spend The Day In Bed
- I'm On A Roll
- I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time
- Who'm I Kiddin' But Me
- Trumpet Child
Release date: 2007-11-12
RRP: £10.99
Price: £8.30
Review The Trumpet Child / Over The Rhine:
Tracks The Ballad of Sally Rose
- Long Tall Sally Rose
- Timberline
- Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
- You Are My Flower Heart To Heart
- Wildwood Flower
- Diamond In My Crown
- Swing Low Sweet Chariot
- I Think I Love Him
- Woman Walk The Line
- Ring Of Fire
- Ballad Of Sally Rose
- Six Days On The Road
- KSOS
- Bad News
- Whitle Line
- Rhythm Guitar
Release date: 1996-07-01
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.99
Review The Ballad of Sally Rose / Emmylou Harris:
Tracks Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
- Saturday
- 850 Double Pumper Holley
- Weird Sisters
- Hammering The Cramps
- Homecoming Queen
- Heart Of Darkness
- Spirit Ditch
- Rainmaker
- Ballad Of A Cold Lost Marble
- Tears On Fresh Fruit
- Little Bastard Choo Choo
- Gasoline Horseys
- Sad And Beautiful World
- Someday I Will Treat You Good
- Cow
- Most Beautiful Widow In Town
Release date: 1996-05-06
Price: £4.99
Review Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot / Sparklehorse:The snappily-titled debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot signified the emergence of a major talent. Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous was one of an encouraging vanguard of young American songwriters (see also 16 Horsepower, Grant Lee Buffalo, Uncle Tupelo, Nadine) attempting to wrench the legacy of Hank Williams out of the clammy grip of Nashville's legion of anodyne Garth Brooks clones and redefine American music for a new age. The fact that Linkous owed as big a debt to the likes of Pavement and Sebadoh only served to make his music more interesting. The songs on this album, simple enough ballads at heart, came dressed in a wildly varied array of effects and distortions, all astutely judged to accentuate, rather than distract from, Linkous's lyrics of loss and hope. A great start. -Andrew Mueller.
Tracks I Am Shelby Lynne
- Life Is Bad
- Your Lies
- Leavin'
- Black Light Blue
- Lookin' Up
- Where I'm From
- Thought It Would Be Easier
- Gotta Get Back
- Why Can't You Be
- Dream Some
Release date: 1999-10-04
RRP: £8.99
Price: £7.36
Review I Am Shelby Lynne / Shelby Lynne:One of the new breed of US crossover country stars, 30-year-old Shelby Lynne has a lived-in voice and the offhand grace of a southern steel magnolia. Although she recorded some albums in Nashville, it wasn't until she returned to her native Alabama that she made this, her debut for Mercury, and the one she is most proud of. Mixing lilting Southern soul with slide guitar country on tracks like "Leavin" and "Why Can't You Be", she has the same down-home, dead-sharp style of 1970s deep-soul sisters like Ann Peebles or Shirley Brown. There's also a touch of girl-group pop purity in songs like "Your Lies" and languid nostalgia on "Where I'm From", a wry tribute to a hometown that "ain't no Margaret Mitchell". Most powerful, though, is the acoustic reverie "Lookin' Up". When she was 17, Lynne's father killed her mother before shooting himself and that sense of personal tragedy seeps into this song, especially in the classic line: "I'm lookin' up for the next thing that brings me down". -Lucy O'Brien.
Publisher: MCA
Price: £5.27
Review PONTIAC / MCA:Pontiac is Lyle Lovett's finest album, but it still contains the strengths and weaknesses that have become Lyle's hallmarks. Crack playing, keen observations and clever lyrics, and a neo-traditionalist aesthetic that pulls in everything from Texas folk, honky tonk and western swing to old-school pop all shine brightly here, but they're consistently dulled by an ironic distance and a bitterness toward women that approaches misogyny. On Pontiac, the strengths generally win out, however, as Lovett convincingly stalks an old lover ("L. A. County"), says 'take my wife, please' ("She's No Lady"), and on the title track, offers a character sketch that could've been penned by Raymond Carver. -David Cantwell.
Tracks Follow the Lights
- My Love for You Is Real
- Follow the Lights
- Blue Hotel
- Dear John [Live Studio Recording]
- Down in a Hole
- This Is It [Cardinal's Version]
- If I Am a Stranger [Live Studio Recording]
Release date: 2007-10-23
RRP: £9.99
Price: £2.93
Review Follow the Lights / Ryan Adams & The Cardinals:
![Review Wilco / A Ghost Is Born [VINYL]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RXN1YH80L._SL160_.jpg)
Tracks A Ghost Is Born [VINYL]
- Wishful Thinking
- Spiders (Kidsmoke)
- Handshake Drugs
- Company in My Back
- Hummingbird
- At Least That's What You Said
- Theologians
- Late Greats
- Hell Is Chrome
- Less Than You Think
- I'm a Wheel
- Muzzle of Bees
Release date: 2005-03-28
RRP: £14.99
Price: £11.64
Review A Ghost Is Born [VINYL] / Wilco:On A Ghost Is Born, Wilco singer, songwriter and supreme commander Jeff Tweedy leads his former alt. country colleagues on another journey towards the leftfield, with Sonic Youth's Jim O'Rourke once again handling co-production duties. But in many ways, it represents a slight backstep from the direction hinted at on its acclaimed successor Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This is by no means a bad thing. Like Lambchop's best work, it's an album that's full of clever experimentalism and understated studio trickery, yet one where Wilco's very human and very organic core is highlighted, most likely because of Tweedy's dusty past with alt. country mavericks Uncle Tupelo. To Wilco's credit, the songs on A Ghost Is Born never suffer from over-production or wilful contrivance. Even on a 10-minute epic such as "Spiders", they manage to keep the listener's interest with a simple, driving rhythm and gradual layers of guitars, before the song bursts forth in the fourth minute. It's an extended jam, sure, but it's never dull-a remarkable feat in itself. In fact, A Ghost Is Born harks back to Wilco's altogether excellent second album, Being There, an innovative and original take on country rock and pop. [+]That alone puts it up with the best of their work. -Robert Burrow.
Tracks Little Amber Bottles
- What This Town Needs
- I'm Sure Of It
- Child Of The Moon
- Last Year's Leaves
- Little Amber Bottles
- World's Largest Crucifix
- I Can't Sit Down
- World I Used To Be Afraid Of
- Scar Beneath The Skin
- Year From Now
- No Matter Where You Go
- O Death Where Is Thy Sting
Release date: 2007-06-18
RRP: £10.99
Price: £8.29
Review Little Amber Bottles / Blanche:
Tracks Tuned to Love
- Turn The Radio Up
- From Head To Sandy Toes
- Photographs And Tickets
- Through The Stratosphere To The Stars
- Ship On The Ocean
- Ballad Of The Dumb Angel
- The Mutineer
- Cold Water
- Tuned To Love
- Why'd We Fight
- Deathclub
Release date: 2008-06-02
RRP: £8.99
Price: £3.70
Review Tuned to Love / Loose Salute:
Tracks Live 1973
- California Cottonfields
- New Soft Shoe
- Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man
- We'll Sweep Out The Ashes
- Big Mouth Blues
- Country Baptizing
- Streets Of Baltimore
- Love Hurts
- That's All It Took
- Encore Medley
- Cry One More Time
Release date: 1997-04-14
RRP: £15.99
Price: £5.69
Review Live 1973 / Gram Parsons:
| Models & Brands:
The Thief and The Heartbreaker, If We Can't Trust the Doctors, American Water, Once We Were Trees, Scar [Us Import], The Stars Look Different from Down Here, Noble Creatures, Second Gleam [Digipak] [Us Import], The Fitzgerald, The Revolution Starts Now, The Trumpet Child, The Ballad of Sally Rose, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, I Am Shelby Lynne, PONTIAC, Follow the Lights, A Ghost Is Born [VINYL], Little Amber Bottles, Tuned to Love, Live 1973 |
