Search - New Riders of the Purple Sage :: Gypsy Cowboy/Adventure of Panama Red

Simply sublime.

Junglies | Morrisville, NC United States | 08/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reaing the prior reviews I was surprised to discover that Gypsy Cowboy had not had a release here in the United States. Why was I surprised? Well mainly because I have a copy which I purchased in Record Savings in Banbury, Oxfordhire over ten years ago.



I am also surprised because Gypsy Cowboy is such a great album. In some ways it is the epitome of the whole cowboy rock or country rock which began with the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo and which later blossomed and reinvigorated much of the two genres.



This album is consistently good throughout beginning with the soulful Gypsy Cowboy which no-one could imagine to be the first choice of DJs to play on the radio but which sets the tone and standard for the rest of the album to follow.



This band had finally escaped from the shadow of the Grateful Dead although my strongest feeling about this is that it is very close in feel to Garcia's first album and highlights his own skill with the pedal steel guitar. It is clear too that the songwriting talents of Dawson and Torbet werein some competition with each other producing some very high quality songs indeed.



Some of the standard themes are clearly in evidence, illegal whiskey running and trying to escape the taxman and the finding of gold during the goldrush days testify to the attractions of the cowboy image of individuality and finding your own way in life while the conflicting images of women portrayed in Groupie and Linda as well as She's No Angel are clearly articulating the contentious dichotomy which they play in men's lives.



The highlight for me of this album has to be Death and Destruction not only because of the subject matter which compares historic human disasters against the then contemporary anti-capitalistic view of the American way of life which the musicians had rejected in favour of the earlier rugged individualistic cowboy era. The lyrics are very evocative and bring horrific images to mind while the music skillfully complements those images but soars into the stratosfear nevertheless. Apocalyptic in more senses than one.



Others have remarked upon the individual musicians and with whom I heartily concur but this is certainly a case not of their being "there are are no I's in Team" but of "Team is made up of I's". Certainly their reputations as individual musicians was already high but this combination is greater than that.



Revisiting this album some twenty-two years after it's release, it is surprising in some ways, but not in others, hhow new and refreshing this album sounds today. A classic of it's time which I would sum up in one word...



...sublime."

I Remember When

P. Pirillo | mansfield, TX USA | 12/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are the 3rd and 4th albums with the band at their peak. No longer under the shadow of the Dead, they were burning up the stages across the country with Buddy Gage kickin ass on his steel guitar.With Panama Red, the were the epitomy of the long haired, dope smoking Country Rock band. Panama Red is a must for a New Rider fan. Gypsy Cowboy is a wonderful plus,as this is the first time it has been available"

Gypsy Cowboy-Great lost classic

J. Werfelman | Sciota, Pa USA | 04/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am so psyched this finally came out on Cd,because this is one of the if not the best psychedelic country rock album ever.
Songs of love,whisky.great open spaces and groupies are backed
by the rythem section of Spencer Dryden(Jefferson Airplane) on
drums and Dave Torbert on bass. David Nelson's country tinged
lead guitar and Buddy Care's scorching and beautiful pedal steel
fill out the sound landscape. Country music with a rock beat they said. If you saw the riders in concert in the early seventies
they tore up halls thruout the country. Finally "Death and
Destruction" is worth the price by itself. A 12 minute plus
rocking jam highlighted by Cage's scorching steel this song
should have got the same type of recognition as something like
"Green grass and high tides" by the Outlaws. This album makes
is one of those great records most people never heard. Now you
have your chance.Go for it."