Stephen's comments on #13.

Or, Bring On The Whiskey.


First off, the inside sleeve track listing is mixed up. It was a crisis. Not a big one. The bigger crisis was... well, as for me, there's always been a natural prejudice against country music. In my formative years (let's say before the year 2000), I tended to take a very passive approach to country music. Looking back, I see that as due more to overexposure to country-pop (or pop-country, or what have you) during the late 1980s. Also, this prejudice was based on rancid dislike for Garth Brooks. A dislike that exists to this day. Then, of course, there's the country music that connects directly with the Bush administration currently. "Shock'n Y'all"? Fuck off.

I get the feeling I’m making more of this than I should. I see Wikipedia’s entry on Countrypolitan includes this quote: 'Upon being asked what the Nashville Sound was, Chet Atkins would reach his hand into his pocket, shake the loose change around, and say "That's what it is. It's the sound of money". '

So, perhaps, that's one way to frame this this genre for people like me today: somewhat aware of music in the 1970s and willing to move beyond the current pop radio airplay. Someone who may not have ‘liked’ country, or who would not have found it fashionable, but could let their gaurd down. I think about the country music that influenced me growning up: Johnny Cash (wouldn't have admitted that in the glam '80s). Los Lobos (I will at least claim fandom pre- "La Bamba"; so I'm talking 'One Time One Night' and 'A Matter of Time'); and K.D. Lang. I received her video compilation "Harvest of Seven Years" as a gift in 1991: it's a great compilation. So, perhaps this stuff isn't entirely foreign.

All star rankings are out of five stars. Also: I wrote these comments fairly cold. My process is to read the compiler's synopsis after hearing the song, so anything I'm guessing at in the song comments, I've attempted to rectify and learn by reviewing other comments when I'm done.

Your'e Stronger Than Me: I tend to associate Countripolitan with the "open" sound featured in the production here. That might be due to my main exposure to the style, K.D. Lang's Shadowland album (featured in track 9). In other words, the high-end piano twinkling, the reverberated guitar, and the mid-tempo pace. I suspect I'll be saying this throughout the entire collection, but this music makes me want to find a bar and a jukebox, preferably with these songs in it. I can't say I can recall much of the Patsy Cline catalog, but I can probably sit here, right now, and play the song "Crazy" back flawlessly in my mind, and I've never actively sought the song out. Conversely, it's hard song to come back around and try to "hear" it, as if for the first time (much like hearing just about anything by the Beatles.) I can't say I've actively listened to this song before, so it's the better choice for this collection. I loved it. I know the sentiment in the lyrics is something time-honored in all of music, particularly country and blues, but that's fine with me. Bring on the whiskey. (****)

I Know One: Short and sweet, this one. Jim Reeves has a fatherly voice, so naturally my images here are in black and white, and include something out of My Three Sons. Maybe I'm less apt to connect with a song about a gentleman caller with a rose in his extended hand. I don't think his suit fits very well. Still, it's catchy. It's a tricky thing for me. When a wordless chorus is used in a song; if it starts to sound even the least bit ironic, I start to giggle. It's almost as if they're standing right behind him, Mel Brooks style, while he's conversing with his future ex. Well, almost. I think it works here. (***).

Crazy Arms: Okay, full disclosure: I actually paid to see the the Dennis Quaid star vehicle Great Balls of Fire! in the spring of 1989, based soley on the fact that Winona Ryder was in the movie. While the film was horrible and is now forgotten, the music was great, simply because Jerry Lee Lewis went back and recorded all his own music for the biopic. That included this song, which came with a caveat: Dennis Quaid performs a duet with Lewis. Well, I haven't listened to that version for a while, but this song feels like a close proximity. I feel less connected to Price's warbly singing style than, say, Patsy Cline's gentle authority, but then I'm thinking of Winona Ryder, circa-1989, to make up for that. Just with crazy arms. (***). I see. I should be reading Dan's primer as I write this. Basically, a million people have done this song. Got it.

Raindrops Falling on a River: Hey, it's Jim Morrison! Doing country! Sorta mariachi-style, this bit. Maybe it's because he sings his love has vanished like raindrops in a raging river, but I'm not connecting with this one. Muscially, I can't get there, the mid-tempo pace is almost something you could dance to, in a circle with all the others on the dance floor. I suspect you're actually supposed to be sitting at the bar for this one. (**).

Success: It's amusing how here, life got so good that failure occured in spite of things. I'm a fan of Costello, although I was probably most attentive to his work when I started college, which means I followed the same pattern as 98 percent of his fan base. Perhaps it doesn't help me here that my favorite EC album is "Imperial Bedroom", the album after "Almost Blue", although musically the two works aren't divorced from each other. ("Almost Blue", the song, shows up in "Bedroom"). Maybe that's just an excuse. I think what I'm hearing here is an honest homage from a guy who, I'm guessing, recorded his country cover album in praise of music he loves. It's decent enough, and EC is eclectic. But I'm not clicking with this one, either. (**1/2).

Long Walk Back to San Antone: Okay, that's the voice. I know it's possible the song's mix, the production, or what have you , may be enhancing his voice, but I love the vocal here. It's the kind of sound that would stop me shuffling through a radio dial (okay, clicking on various web-based streaming links), just to hear it. It's cruel, but the laid back way Junior Brown relays this woe, it's almost amusing. Like, dude, what exactly did you do to get her so ticked off at you? I'm impressed by Junior Brown's inventiveness (mentioned by Dan and covered in Wikipedia). And here, the guitar work -- or is that guit-steel? --- is fun to listen to. The whole song is fun. (****).

Worst of All: On his website, Mike Ireland states his influences are 70s country, and 70s pop tunes. So, to suggest an answer to the question, why isn't this guy more popular? I can't imagine a less-fashionable foundation for current popular music than 70s country. And Ireland is resolutely anti-flashy. My limited knowledge of what makes current country music popular includes young guys doing arena-sized rock shows, and Ireland just doesn't fit it. This is too bad, because this is a great song. Maybe I'm just easily convinced, but his influences do take me back to 70s pop and country, when the two mixed more evenly on the radio. I appreciate the sentiment: "I know your'e gonna leave me, so I have to love you worst of all," among my favorite lyrics on this mix. I have to agree with Dan on this one, this song is majestic. (****1/2).

Blue: I guess this is the one song on the mix that I remember hearing a lot when it came out. My mother-in-law loved, loved, loved this song. Rimes was quite the deal, based on her age. I remember there was a few books about her life, a t.v. movie, and t-shirts with her face everywhere for a while in the late 90s. Granted, if I didn't have my extended family as part of her fan base, I'd have missed the whole thing. At the time, I reacted with a bit of cynicism. At 13, shouldn't we be getting the authorities involved to come in and ask questions? What happened to this kid? Okay, I'm not completely serious. The song doesn't really go into real adult territory; I think Rimes is conveying feelings a kid may have, if they're mature and are guessing at what love can be. With that, I won't quibble further. Rimes is a performer who can sing, and this is a performance, after all. Perhaps after hearing Mike Ireland just one track before, this is a bit of a letdown, if only becuase it's just solid. Also, with Patsy Cline opening the mix, I'm already prepared to go back and listen to the first song again. So, (***).

Lock, Stock and Teardrops: Of all the songs here, this is the one I'm most acqainted with. I bought "Shadowlands" back in 1991, shortly after K.D. Lang hit perhaps her high point with the general public with Absolute Torch and Twang. While it's easy to say cultural politics kept Lang from being an even bigger country sensation in the U.S. (although I'm sure that's part of it), I think Lang was simply too eclectic to stay locked into one mode for too long. Some critics panned her for putting out a distinctly non-country album in 1992 (Ingenue), but that album's focus on torchy songs sans steel guitar was simply okay, rather than fantastic, like this song. I love Lang's voice, especially back in these days, when she recorded a number of songs that were so dynamic. (It was Holding Back the Reins, which she performed on Saturday Night Live, that got me into her early albums). (****1/2).

I Can See Me Loving You Again: Good closer, so quiet, and... well, is this not the only song on the disc about maybe making things better? Even if in Paycheck's voice, the soul of a born loser is laid bare? Not that there's anything wrong with that. I think I can relate to that fairly well, though I haven't been in prison or rehab, personally. I like the images of someone down to just about nothing left; the music has to feature finger-snaps, for God's sake! At least, that's what I'm hearing. (*** 1/2).

Summary:

Countripolidan: ****

If for no other reason, I praise this mix, as it introduced me to Mike Ireland and Junior Brown, and helped me get a deeper perspective on a genre I've got a few meaningless hangups about. Given that I'm familiar with some of the stuff on this disc anyway, I don't know how I got into that rut. It's not like I'm even cool. I despise cool. It gets in the way.

Favorite song here: Worst of All.

Least Favorite: Raindrops Falling on a River.