Pedal Steal is the latest installment in Sugar Hill's plan to restore all of maverick renaissance man Terry Allen's recordings to print again. It's loosely based on an actual steel guitar player who wandered Texas and New ... more »Mexico in the late 60s-early 70s, one of the first to use the instrument for rock and roll. Commissioned as a soundtrack for the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company in San Francisco, Pedal Steal premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival October 22, 1985. The soundtrack and staging of Pedal Steal received the New York Dance Critics' acclaimed "Bessie" award. From album liners by author Dagoberto Gilb:In Pedal Steal... you hear guitar strings being tightened into tune, slowly, the crickets in your ear on this dark night outdoors. Boots step toward you. They get steady closer. Guitar string wind. Somebody?s quick practicing rock & roll drums until the rhythm changes, a slower, deeper Indian beat. The highway fizz interrupts. A clavinova chimes wind and a steel guitar whines and drawls country syllables but the organ sound goes Mexican, mariachi trumpets and a McDonald's commercial interfere. A Navajo chant is closer than a TV show on in the background at a motel and the rock drummer is back, better now, grown, and a young guitar does an acid rock squeal, bend, warp, and it all shifts Indian, like drinking tequila, and there is thunder, and sax reeds, A Sentimental Journey, settle the air: This is the beginning....« less
Pedal Steal is the latest installment in Sugar Hill's plan to restore all of maverick renaissance man Terry Allen's recordings to print again. It's loosely based on an actual steel guitar player who wandered Texas and New Mexico in the late 60s-early 70s, one of the first to use the instrument for rock and roll. Commissioned as a soundtrack for the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company in San Francisco, Pedal Steal premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival October 22, 1985. The soundtrack and staging of Pedal Steal received the New York Dance Critics' acclaimed "Bessie" award. From album liners by author Dagoberto Gilb:In Pedal Steal... you hear guitar strings being tightened into tune, slowly, the crickets in your ear on this dark night outdoors. Boots step toward you. They get steady closer. Guitar string wind. Somebody?s quick practicing rock & roll drums until the rhythm changes, a slower, deeper Indian beat. The highway fizz interrupts. A clavinova chimes wind and a steel guitar whines and drawls country syllables but the organ sound goes Mexican, mariachi trumpets and a McDonald's commercial interfere. A Navajo chant is closer than a TV show on in the background at a motel and the rock drummer is back, better now, grown, and a young guitar does an acid rock squeal, bend, warp, and it all shifts Indian, like drinking tequila, and there is thunder, and sax reeds, A Sentimental Journey, settle the air: This is the beginning....
CD Reviews
Do not expect a music CD
Larry C. La Marca | Lower La. (louisiana) | 03/21/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Imagine yourself at a play. Now, imagine you are blind.That is what this CD is. A play has actors, dialogue, scenery, and usually music. This cd has the dialog, and some music, But if you buy cd's for the music, you will be very disappointed in this one. I am a big Terry Allen fan, own most of his cd's, and I realize he is a multimedia artist, but no matter how you cut it, This cd was not worth the money. DONT BUY IT!"
Another Great Chapter
E. C Goodstein | Northern CA United States | 03/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sure it's short-- but really distinctive. This one twists and twirls together 'western' legends-- Billy the Kid morphs into a story about a tragic pedal steel player (and back again), with pointed satirical and touching evocations of the West. Beauty, humor, tragedy, absurdity, lust and a changing, kinda wild landscape all around. And musically, he touches on stuff from "Sentimental Journey" to Hendrix-feedback, spoken word akin to a 'Texasfied' Firesign Theatre, Willie & Waylon, maybe Tom Russell or Ian Tyson's psychologically complex cowboy songs, and his own work. Can't say the themes aren't also in his other work-- but the concentration and sometimes pointed phrasing here make it worthwhile. Compelling I think."
One of the Best CDs You Will Ever Own, Promise!
Johnny Hughes | Lubbock,Texas | 09/30/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first discovered Pedal Steel out at Mike and Jack's, the underground West Texas hideout which fostered so much music. Imagine, that was twenty years ago. Terry Allen is a complex, totally artsy genius.
If there is one CD that every serious Texas music lover should own, this is it. Pedal Steel is a play, a concept album, a risky musical departure from the ordinary. You have my word that you will love it. Terry Allen is a true Texas treasure.
Johnny Hughes, author of the upcoming novel Texas Poker Wisdom."
Mighty Fine
Daniel Morris | Westlake, OH USA | 07/12/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Captivating. Listened to this on a long stretch of highway. Terry Allen writes like he's hearing that final call; intense and involving. Musta been a helluva play to see, but listen to this anyway. You DO have an imagination, dontcha? And don't miss CHIPPY."
Track Listings (1) - Disc #1