Nothing new here
P. Semenuk | Detroit, MI USA | 08/31/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Tis is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. I have four other supposed JB albums with the same music on it. Not worth buying if you have High Cumberland Jubilee. Not even worth one star."
All in one place at last!
David A. Bede | Singapore | 03/02/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The previous reviewers are correct: there is nothing new on this collection. But the collection itself is new, in that it's complete. There are literally at least half a dozen compilations out there featuring material from Jimmy Buffett's first two albums. For good measure, the two original albums, "Down to Earth" and "High Cumberland Jubilee," have both been in print on CD in their own right for several years now. Trouble is, all those earlier collections omitted at least one song (usually either "The Christian?" or "England"). If you wanted everything Buffett recorded for Barnaby Records in 1970-71, you had to buy the two CD reissues of the original albums.
As far as I know, this set is the first one to include every one of those songs in one place. So unless you're a stickler for the original cover art, this is the set to buy. I don't know how much of a cheap cash-in this set might be. (The title, for starters, is extremely misleading - the whole parrothead phenomenon was a decade in the future when these recordings were made.) But at least it presents the songs with more respect than the earlier compilations did, in the order in which they appeared on the original LPs, with suitable placement for the two "lost" tracks that weren't originally included.
And what about the songs? It can't be emphasized enough: this material is entirely from before he'd ever even been to Key West, and it sounds like it. That said, there are hints of what was to come if you know where to look for them. "Truckstop Salvation" is probably the earliest example of his sense of quirky humor about cultural divides (in this case, the divide is over a long-haired trucker who makes the mistake of stopping for gas in a small Southern town), with "The Hangout Gang" and "Death Valley Lives" close behind on the second disc. He was also writing "it ain't easy being a star" songs before he even was a star in his own right: "Richard Frost" and "Ain't He A Genius" may have been wishful thinking at that point, but they do sound great. There are also the usual story songs, notably "Turnabout" (about an unrequited crush that's about to be requited after all), character sketches ("Ace" and "Death Valley Lives" are as good as anything he has ever served up in that category), and the obligatory travelogue: the wonderfully catchy "A Mile High in Denver". Tucked inconspicuously into the first disc is the original version of "The Captain and the Kid," which manages to be ever so slightly more low-key and poignant than the better known recording.
But there are also songs that prove Buffett could have taken his career in a very different direction than he did. There is more direct confrontation against social injustice than in the rest of his catalog combined, with "The Christian?" eerily predicting the rise of the religious right while "Captain America" skewers then-Vice President Spirou Agnew (who is referred to by name in the song) brilliantly. "Rockefeller Square," "Bend a Little," and "The Missionary" address a variety of early-70s topics yet do not sound dated at all now. Perhaps most fascinating is "High Cumberland Dilemma," a first-person account of a young, pregnant hippie couple who are rapidly discovering that living off the land isn't all it's cracked up to be. (By the way, that song also bears the odd distinction of being a deleted track from a deleted album: High Cumberland Jubilee was "lost" for five years before its release, and when it finally appeared, "High Cumberland Dilemma" wasn't on it.)
The best way to put it to those who haven't heard these songs before is this: if your favorite Buffett songs are "Margaritaville," "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and so forth, you probably won't like what you find here. If you like his ballads and story-songs as well as the party anthems, you'll probably like these songs. If you like the ballads better than the party songs, welcome to your new favorite Buffett album."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1