Product Description 27 tales from the dark and/or strange side of the tracks (1965-1973)! First Time On CD! Lust, murder, alienation, war, depravity and credit cards. Troubled times demand troubled troubadours. And here they are. 27 tales of misfortune, desperation, woe and just plain high weirdness, delivered by a stellar cast of country music luminaries. First up, Marty Robbins sits us in The Chair, the grizzly, bathetic final resting place of a man about to be electrocuted for his crimes. Next Waylon Jennings takes us to a haunting graveside confessional and then Dolly Parton takes her last steps high upon The Bridge. You get the idea. In that seminal epoch of the late 1960s and 70s, the times were a changin' and it clearly wasn't always for the better. Autocide, infanticide, deicide and the desire to transmigrate into a stuffed toy are just some of the low-lights presented for your masochistic/musical pleasure. Deluxe remastered collector's edition with exclusive scholarly liner notes and rare photos in a 28 page full colour booklet. Most tracks make their very first appearance on CD. Look out trouble, here we come...
J**K
Countrypolitan Heartache
27 tracks of tortured angst from the likes of Marty Robbins, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Roger Miller and Lester Flatt, amongst others. Australia's Omni Recording Corporation label has compiled an excellent overview of neglected weirdness from the 60s and 70s. Highlights include Mark Slade's "Are They Gonna Shoot God?" (a killer chorus - !!), Lorene Mann's "Hide My Sin" (subtitled "A.B.O.R.T.I.O.N. N.E.W. Y.O.R.K.") and Burl Ives' heartfelt, string-soaked rendition of "The Times They Are A-Changin'". Social commentary and commercial imperatives rarely make such good bedfellows.The remastered sound is excellent and the extensive liner notes and photos perfectly capture this hugely entertaining - and sometimes affecting - subgenre of pop-country. As the notes remind us, these recordings were made at a time when it was still possible for musicians' passions to feel real and not prepackaged. Recommended.
