Alt.Country From 1,000,000 A.D.
Ralph Quirino | Keswick, Ontario Canada | 01/04/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Thanks to three off the wall alt.country (before the phrase even existed) albums for Arista in the late seventies, T-Bone Burnett, David Mansfield and Stephen Soles carved out a special place with music critics taken in by their cryptic songwriting and hard-edged country (tinged with art-rock flourishes here and there). Thankfully, fans of the original releases can finally get a decent collection from Edsel U.K., one of the leading reissue houses on the planet. The sound reproduction is warm and full while the selections chosen are bang-on-the-money. "Interviews" itself is written from the vantage point of acheologists a million years from "now" as they try to make sense of our era while "Cheap Perfume" and "Last Chance To Dance" aren't your everyday run-of-the-mill love songs. A great cover of Dylan's "You Angel You" scores top marks (the group had performed as backing band with Dylan during his infamous Rolling Thunder Review in the mid-seventies). It's to their credit that this music sounds as fresh as anything current out of the Wilco/Old 97's/Dave Alvin camp. Fans will be rewarded. Those who yearn for a little cerebral though behind their folk/country rock will enjoy this set. As a final aside, Burnett went on to produce great albums for others and record excellent solo albums on his own while David Mansfield joined Bruce Hornsby & The Range at the start of their career. Stephen Soles retired for a while before appearing as a guest on a couple of Peter Case's recent Vanguard releases."
