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I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: I Walk the Line
  • Artist name: Johnny Cash
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Hilltop
  • Collection: Friedman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $10.77

https://www.amazon.com/JOHNNY-CASH-PICKWICK-vinyl-record/dp/B0049R20FS

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this compilation before and I only recognize a couple of the songs on it by name, which is similar to the previous Johnny Cash compilation that I reviewed, Johnny Cash Sings Folsom Prison Blues (1970).

What I expected

As I previously described it, “Cash’s unique and consistent style [is] sort of an acoustic rockabilly shuffle.”

What it was actually like

I often wonder, when I’m listening to a song like Luther’s Boogie, whether I would be able to sing lyrics like these in public while keeping a straight face:

When Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie woogie
Luther played the boogie woogie, Luther played the boogie in the strangest kind of way

Probably not. That song was a little corny, as was Straight A’s in Love, but you know, the middle of the XX century was a different time.

Remember Me was relatively slower than the rest of the songs, and my least favorite.

The title track I Walk The Line was the first Johnny Cash song that I ever remember liking.

All the rest were good, and remarkably similar.

Grade

5/5: love it

New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971) (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: New Riders of the Purple Sage
  • Group name: New Riders of the Purple Sage
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $109.00

New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Though I had heard of NRPS at some point or another before starting this project, it was reviewing three of their records last summer that really brought them to my attention, and now I listen to them all of the time. Here are those three:

This record is their first, and I’ve probably listened to it around 40 times by now.

What I expected

Cosmic American music.

What it was actually like

All of these songs have a very consistent style and the recordings are pretty tight (but you can find a ton of NRPS live recordings on youtube that vary dramatically in how well rehearsed they sounded). There were a lot of great harmonies and Jerry Garcia steel guitar (and banjo). I love this record.

Henry was probably my favorite song on side one, as it was the fastest and most energetic, and I liked Louisiana Lady the most on side two for the same reason.

Glendale Train also stood out as excellent, for the banjo and also for how they made the sound evoke a train engine (check out the beginning of this live version), and I also love the proto-funk bass in Dirty Business.

My least favorite song was All I Ever Wanted since it was slower (though I don’t skip it when I listen). On the other hand, Last Lonely Eagle was a similar tempo and I thought it was great.

Grade

5/5: love it

City of Gold by Pearls Before Swine (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: City of Gold
  • Group name: Pearls Before Swine
  • Artist name: Thos. Rapp
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • “DMG” written in the top right corner of the back of the album, indicating that my father owned it
    • PROMOTION and NOT FOR SALE printed on both sides of the LP
  • Buy it on Amazon: $15.00

City of Gold by Pearls Before Swine

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never listened to this record before, but it will be the fifth by Pearls Before Swine that I review. The previous four were:

What I expected

More psychedelic folk.

What it was actually like

This was my favorite of my father’s five Pearls Before Swine records (which probably comprise the most complete Pearls Before Swine collection on vinyl anywhere in the world[1]), but also the most different from the others, despite being unmistakably Rapp – because of his voice, but also his vocal style and his compositions.

The main difference between this record and the previous four were that this one was much heavier on country, though mostly on the first side.

Thos. Rapp doing country was a bit like Bob Dylan doing country (though both were similar and dissimilar to Gram Parsons doing country), and as soon as Sonnet #65 started rolling, I thought that it was the most country thing that I had ever heard from Pearls Before Swine. Unfortunately, it lasted just about 40 seconds, which was way too short, but here are the lyrics, which are the first four lines of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets[2].

The title track City of Gold had some fantastic country style fiddle that was complemented very nicely by Rapp’s normal vocals, but on Once upon a Time he ventured into more of a country vocal style that was even a bit yodely at times. There was also a lot happening musically on that song, which was the record’s best, including a lot of harmonica and horns, that vibrating piece of metal from The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie, some touch of doo wop, trumpet and drums. It was complex in the best way.

There were also a bunch of songs that would have been right at home on the earlier Pearls Before Swine records: Wedding, which was also too short; Did You Dream Of; and Casablanca, which added some flute.

Raindrops was also a more typical psychedlic folk style song, with violin (or viola), but not country style, in a duet between Rapp and his wife Elisabeth.

The Man, while definitely not a soul song, did kind of sound like it was exploring a soul style with piano and flute, and every time he repeated the lyric “I want to see his face,” I kept thinking that it was going to turn into the Monkees song I’m a Believer. That was weird.

My least favorite song on the record was My Father, a Judy Collins cover, which was mostly Elisabeth’s vocals with horns. Another that I didn’t love as much as the rest was the cover of Nancy, a Leonard Cohen song. It was slower, less country and more boring, with extensive autoharp (I think).

His cover of the Jacques Brel song Seasons in the Sun, however, was great. It had lots of piano and lots of flute, and every time he sang, “We had joy, we had fun,” I kept laughing beause he sounded like he was grimacing, which was kind of how he always sounded. In any case, it was undeniably a great version of a great song, and was more rhythmic and structured by far than other Pearls Before Swine songs. And of course, the best/worst cover of that song is Nirvana’s.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 Seriously though, has anyone else even heard of this group?
↑2 And if you’re into mid-XX century American country-folk musical adaptations of poetry, I can not recommend the Fugs (whom I previously mentioned when reviewing Fairytale by Donovan) highly enough. Their preference was for the Romantics, especially William Blake – here is their Ah! Sun-flower and their Song: How sweet I roam’d from field to field – but they also did others: here are their interpretations of Algernon Charles Swinburne and of Charles Olson.

At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers Band (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: At Fillmore East
  • Group name: the Allman Brothers Band
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Capricorn Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written inside album cover, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $43.89

At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers Band

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I may have listened to this at some point, or to some later version of it, but I don’t remember specifically when that would have been. It will be the fourth Allman Brothers record that I’ve reviewed, and the previous three were:

What I expected

Blues, country, rock.

What it was actually like

This was entirely jam music, which was not difficult to figure out because it consisted of only seven songs across four sides, and jam music really is not my favorite. It also contained none of my favorite Allman Brothers songs. Despite that, I thought it was really good.

Side one was all electric blues classics with guitar solos. Statesboro Blues was intense enough to make me feel like I was eating in a barbecue restaurant, and Done Somebody Wrong was more danceable, but I did not like the slower and less fun Stormy Monday as much as the other two.

Side two was another cover, You Don’t Love Me, a great jam with excellent guitars and organ.

Side three was much more jazz, with two instrumental jams, Hot ‘Lanta and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. I thought the latter was the best song on the record, with guitars that made me think at times of Santana.

Side four was Whipping Post, which was pretty good when it maintained its fast tempo, but not when it slowed down.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Young Man’s Fancy by Neil Young (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Young Man’s Fancy
  • Artist name: Neil Young
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Zerocks
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “Brenner” written on record, indicating that my mother owned it
  • Buy it on Ebay: $89.00

Young Man's Fancy by Neil Young

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of this Neil Young record before, but it will be his eighth that I’ve reviewed so far. The previous seven were:

What I expected

This is a live double album from 1971, and appears to include a bunch of Neil Young’s hits from the peak of his (early) career.

What it was actually like

This album was packaged like a bootleg, and the performance was entirely acoustic and definitely sounded intimate and really fun. I could hear audience members coughing at a few points, and laughing when Young joked, but I wasn’t able to make out much of his discourse between the songs. In general, I loved it.

My favorites were: Tell Me Why from side one, A Heart of Gold[1] from side two, Sugar Mountain from side three and See the Girl Dance from side four.

Grade

5/5: love it

References

References
↑1 I’m not sure why it’s called that on the album, since it’s Heart of Gold everywhere else.