If you like country music (or music in general for that matter) and are not familiar with Townes Van Zandt, you will undoubtedly be aware of a number of his songs as he has been covered by diverse artists ranging from Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett through to Robert Plant and even Bob Dylan. A tortured genius in life, battling depression and the bottle, Van Zandt created some of the most hauntingly beautiful and lyrically poetic songs of all time.
This collection brings together his first 7 studio albums recorded between 1968 and 1978 and a set of out-takes and live recordings. If you are starting out with Townes, there is no better place to start as these recordings are by far his best. Many of his more well-known songs were recorded by him at later dates but pale in comparison with these.
Townes possesses a hypnotic voice. Some may deem it off-key and out of tune but such a narrow sighted analysis would miss firstly the magic that occurs when a writer performs his own material, and the genuine longing, suffering and heart bleeding emotion contained within. Van Zandt can be sadness incarnate as on 'No Lonesome Tune'; convivial entertainer on 'German Mustard'; sultry balladeer on 'If I Needed You' or wistful reflectionist on 'Flyin' Shoes'.
Van Zandt is first and foremost a songwriter and lyricist. One onyl needs to hear the oft covered fore mentioned 'If I Needed You' or 'Pancho and Lefty' (arguably his biggest hit) for evidence. Not that this should take anything away from his poetic delivery and elegant guitar. Inspired and influenced by bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins in his playing, he can break into the blues as well as most of his contemporaries.
For some, this collection may be overwhelming. If there was perhaps one criticism, and this is hard to do for me given the affection I have for his work, is that at first hearing it can get a little 'samey'. On occasion, some material lacks great strength but I think this only probably occurs when compared to the heavyweights here. These are frequent enough to make it all worthwhile.
The sound quality on this collection is very good but is of no difference to the individual albums released previously. If you already own them then this collection baring the bonus tracks and the well crafted booklet will add little.
Van Zandt died in 1997 from health problems attributed to years of substance abuse but many have considered the real cause to be a broken heart. He just gave up one day. It's a sad end indicative of the way he lived with heart on sleeve and this set helps get inside that emotional turmoil.
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Nov 3rd, 2009
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