Search - Emmylou Harris :: Luxury Liner

A High Quality Reissue

K. Giorlando | Eastpointe, Michigan United States | 04/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Finally! An audiophile's dream! Every note played on Emmy's Gibson J-200 is as clear and pristine as if the listener were in the studio itself. Listen to her vocals - crisp and clean.
Now, check out the songs. Luxury Liner is what I consider to be the first in Ms. Harris's peak period releases, going through her Ballad of Sally Rose (OK! OK! I know about White Shoes, but that was just a blip. Even so, that album is so much better than what she's been releasing lately!).
My favorite tune on Luxury Liner is Hello Stranger. Giving that classic the Cajun feel was a stroke of genius. And the way the vocalists play off each other throughout the song (especially when she's sung it in concert) is mesmerising. She literally brought an almost forgotten song from the 1930's back to life!
You're Supposed To Be Feeling Good is Emmylou at her prime, with a sort of ethereal sound quality to it. I'll Be Your San Antone Rose is pure country, which Ms. Harris has all but forgotten about in this 21st century.
Every song on this disc is a gem. Listen to Albert Lee's blistering guitar solo in the title tune! And, with loads of help from Ricky Skaggs fiddle playing, she blows away the original Chuck Berry version of (You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie - no easy task.
At a time when current country music is abysmal at best, thank God these albums are available for us to remember what once was. Yes, I realize she's gained new fans from her more current releases, but her new direction in music leaves me empty. I long for the music that blew away all competition - THIS kind of music!
C'mon, Emmy! Ricky Skaggs (who, for those who don't know, was new to Emmy's group on Luxury Liner), Patty Loveless, Dolly, and numerous others have rediscovered their country roots and have had great success in doing so. This current crop of country cr*p (like Shania, Dixie Chicks, Garth, and a host of others) have done great harm to country music. With albums like Luxury Liner, (and Quarter Moon, Roses, Blue Kentucky Girl) you revitalized it almost single handedly back in the 1980's. Why don't you take up that challenge again?"

"Ooh, but she sure could sing, Yeah, she sure could sing..."

Tom B | Westport, CT USA | 11/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...So go the apt lyrics of a song ("She") on this gorgeous collection of artistic fabulousness. For anyone who hasn't heard the phenomenon that is Emmylou Harris' clear-blue bell-like young voice, this disc will tilt you back like a mountain breeze on a June day. Such wonderfulness! My exultation falls far short of the clarity, purity and sheer musical beauty of the brilliant music recorded here, that you can purchase, amazingly, for a few dollars. What a wonderful world! I have, I think, all of Emmylou's albums, and I will say that this one stands near the top. That's saying a lot for an all-time world-class musician of Emmylou's stature. Whether or not you agree about the superlatives, you can't help but enjoy the soaring lyrical tracks on this disc. It's impossible to dislike this music, and very possibly it will become one of the most-played favorites in your collection, as it is in mine. Enjoy."

I'll tell ya how much I like this recording:

Tim Withee | Los Angeles, CA | 07/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've had a copy of Luxury Liner in one form or another since 1978. It still gets as much play as any recording in my collection because it simply is a timeless set of American music by an ensemble of rising young stars who were on fire with creativity. Luxury Liner was the vehicle that allowed Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band to show the world the amazing complexity -- and greatness of their musical soul. Harris, Lee, Skaggs, Crowell, DeVito, et. al. -- Man, what a crew!The album itself doesn't have a weak track. But obviously I like some tunes more than others. Here are my personal favorites: Track one, side one, the title track -- and immediately you get hit upside the head with Harris' vocals and Albert Lee's incredible Telecaster licks. I remember reading where Joe Walsh called Lee's playing on this tune "incomprehensible." As in really, really hard to try and duplicate. Try James Burton on speed, playing flawlessly and maybe you might come close to Albert Lee's work on Luxury Liner. The next tune, "Pancho and Lefty," features Emmy's haunting vocals, that give this great song just the right treatment. No other recorded version even comes close to this performance. It's one of the all time great country tunes and it very well might make you cry. When I Stop Dreaming, You're Supposed to be Feeling Good (another highlight tune), and I'll be Your San Antonio Rose round out the first side.Side two starts out with the Chuck Berry opus, C'est la Vie (You Never Can Tell). It's a rollicking, fun tune that is probably better than Berry's original. Harris vocals are sassy and strong, and the band rocks the tune just right. The next tunes are Making Believe and Hello Stranger, followed by Rodney Crowell's, She, that just might be the sleeper tune on the entire album. It's a ballad, and simply a great performance by Ms. Harris, who paints beautiful word pictures with Crowell's lyrics. The Hot Band provides a spare, tastefully beautiful backing. In point of fact, one of the real strong points on the album is Emmylou Harris credibility with a song. She makes you believe the tunes are autobiographical -- the hallmark of a great vocalist. The album closes with Tulsa Queen -- another haunting tune that for some reason or other always brings to mind hot summer nights at lonely train stations somwhere out on the High Plains. I usually listen to this tune several times because of that lonesome quality that this tune brings out. More great work here from the Hot Band. But what can I say? This was one great group of musicians!This CD should be owned by any serious collector of American music. It was great when it came out -- it featured some outstanding young musicians who all went on to become stars in their own right -- and it really moved Emmylou Harris into the forefront of country/rock artists. The album came out in the late/mid-seventies -- a period that I call the "cosmic cowboy" era that had alot of movement in country music toward a more rootsy, hip sound. There were alot of young artists, Like Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman and the Flying Burrito Brothers -- combined with the older rebels, like Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker,and Waylon Jennings that were putting out music that was the antithesis of the more lush Nashville "countrypolitan" sound that was dominating country music top-40 in the 70s. Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band were kind of at the vanguard of this movement, and Luxury Liner stands out as one of the great pieces of work of this period.I think that when people look back on Harris' career, they'll look to Luxury Liner as her breakout album that demonstrated most emphatically that Emmylou Harris was/is an important artist of great depth."