Figurine: Desert Ranger

Another figure painted! For some reason I got bogged down a little on this one. Maybe it was being away for two weeks, or maybe it was that I had done something similar a couple years ago, so there wasn't anything novel about it.

Anyway, here she is - a female desert ranger!

I liked this figure's pose, and the detail on her arm and leg bracers (look closely and you can see they feature protective 'scarab' motifs). I also gave her a purple sash, for just a dash of colour. Here she is from the back:I am pretty happy with how this figure turned out. I imagine her as a bit of loner among her people, but still fiercely protective of them. Finally, here are the three similar figures I painted back in 2008. I wanted her to have a similar feel to them, and I think it worked out OK.
Next up: A standard bearer and a drummer in full plate mail. Groovy...

CD Odyssey Disc 130: Jimmy Rankin

Mark Knopfler's reign of terror is over! Finally - after two reviews of Knopfler, preceded by two reviews referencing Mark Knopfler - this review does not feature Mark Knopfler in any way!

Wait a minute...

Disc 130 is...Handmade
Artist: Jimmy Rankin

Year of Release: 2003

What’s Up With The Cover?: Jimmy Rankin is dressed up in a suit and top hat. I think it is supposed to look old-school, but Jimmy's face looks a little too...plastic. His pose is just a little too...artificial. I have therefore come to the only logically plausible conclusion - Jimmy has been replaced in this photo shoot by a terminator. Where's a plasma rifle in 40 watt range when you need one?

How I Came To Know It: I was a fan of the Rankin Family throughout their career. Jimmy is just one of them branching out on a solo career. I liked his first album, "Song Dog" so I stuck with him for his sophomore effort, "Handmade".

How It Stacks Up: So far Jimmy's put out three solo albums that I know of. Of the three, "Handmade" is the best.

Rating: 4 stars.

As I noted above, Jimmy Rankin is a former member of the Cape Breton folk group - the Rankin Family. As you may know, the Rankins were five siblings (three sisters, two brothers). Of them all, I think Jimmy is the most talented, and I'm glad he went on to do solo work. In fact, his solo work benefits from branching out from the very straightlaced old-school folk sounds of the Rankins, and into more interesting arrangements, and original material.

I really love this record, and when the Odyssey isn't dictating my playlist, I put it on often. In fact, I had it on just a couple weeks ago on a Tuesday night.

I love how it gets back to basics. All acoustic instruments, simple arrangements, and great songwriting. In fact, when this came out I remember seeing a program on its recording, and how they tried to emulate the old school "Sun" recording sessions. Basically, doing the takes for all the instruments simultaneously live off the floor. The album sounds great, which speaks highly of the musicianship of those involved.

This raw, 'live off the floor' sound hits most sweetly on the opening song, "Morning Bound Train". This track sounds so timeless it could've been recorded by Johnny Cash at Sun Records 50 years earlier.

Because the songs are stripped down, Jimmy's voice can really shine - and it does. I think coming out of a band known for its female harmonies, he hasn't always received his due, but this dude can really sing.

So many tracks stand out on this record. My favourite has got to be "Colorado" which is a bittersweet break up song. I'd quote some lyrics, but without Jimmy's mournful, powerful voice it wouldn't do it justice. I'll just say it always hits me emotionally, and more often than not has me warbling along in my own broken voice.

I will note that this song features someone taking old love letters down off a shelf and nostalgiacally going through them. This always reminds me of the song "Box Full of Letters", off the Wilco album, "A.M.", which I reviewed back at Disc 84. Throw in Alice Cooper writing to his wife from the insane asylum on "From The Inside" and you've got the early makings of a mixed tape.

The title track, "Handmade" also has great appeal for me. This is a song that hits on themes of authenticity. Jimmy is certainly talking about music, but he also brings in all kinds of issues relating to consumerism, and the fashion industry and a host of other things that need to be stripped down and reinvented.

"Have we lost our style in the face of fashion?
Have we lost the need and the will to care?
Something's gone, nobody's asking,
Seems the more I look, it's nowhere.

"Give me something that is real
Give me something I can taste
Show me someone who can feel
I'm sick and tired of this place
But everybody must get paid
Give me something handmade."

The song makes you despair a little for the world, but then you realize that Jimmy hasn't just asked for something real. He's delivered it on this album.

Sheila and I actually saw Jimmy live on this album's tour, in 2004. He was playing a small theatre at Camosun College - maybe 150 people tops. I was struck by how small a man he was - maybe 5'6" and thin. His big acoustic guitar almost dragged him around the stage, but sounded great all the same. And that same voice filled that hall with room to spare. He is a great live act, but you shouldn't necessarily wait for him to come to town - just go buy this album.

Best tracks: Morning Bound Train, Stay, Handmade, Colorado, Sweet Wheels, Running Home (this last one has that annoying extra bonus track appended to it as part of the same track listing - but since both tracks are good, it is worth a listen anyway).

CD Odyssey Disc 129: Mark Knopfler

Well - a quick and concerted effort and I'm through that last Mark Knopfler album. What will I roll next? As it turns out...another Mark Knopfler. Wow - what are the odds?

Well, with eight Knopfler discs and over 900 other ones, the odds of it happening were less than one in a hundred - until it happened. At that point, it became pretty much a certainty.

Disc 129 is...Get Lucky
Artist: Mark Knopfler

Year of Release: 2009

What’s Up With The Cover?: A very strange angle shot of a marquee board in lights. As covers go, this one sucks, Mark. I actually prefer the guy in the short pants from "Ragpicker's Dream".

How I Came To Know It: A lot of this is going to sound repititious with my last review, but knowing Knopfler for a long time, this is just me dutifully buying his latest record. "Get Lucky" is his latest record, and I've had it less than a year.

How It Stacks Up: When I reviewed "Ragpicker's Dream" I assumed it was better than "Get Lucky" but really, "Get Lucky" has the edge - so it will supplant "Ragpicker's Dream for 5th of my 8 Knopfler records. A short-lived reign of mediocrity, indeed..

Rating: 3 stars.

Between "Ragpicker's Dream" in 2002 and "Get Lucky" in 2009, Knopfler released three records, to varying degrees of success. The one preceding this one is "Kill To Get Crimson" (2007) which I did not enjoy greatly. "Get Lucky" is not his greatest work, but it is a marked uptick, and gives me hope for whatever he decides to do next.

Anyway, seven years later (or a day - depending on how you're measuring time on A Creative Maelstrom), Knopfler is still doing his own damned thing, and singing pop/folk songs about increasingly obscure topics.

On "Get Lucky", these include the hard life of a British lorry driver in the 60s ("Border Reiver"), and a guy who makes guitars that Knopfler thinks are swell ("Monteleone").

For his part, Knopfler's guitar remains swell, now 30 years removed from the first Dire Straits album. Wow - time flies.

I like that this record also returns to some of the arrangements he used to good effect way back in 1996 for "Goldenheart", particularly the increased use of strings and french horns.

My favourite tracks on this album actually showed up rather late. While earlier tracks are pretty uneven, the last four are the best run on the record, and take what is really a 2 star album at this point, and elevate it to 3.

It gets started, with an honest and respectful track about comrades lost to war unsurprisingly called "Remembrance Day." The lyrics to "Remembrance Day" aren't the most amazing (e.g. "we will remember them"), but the tune conveys just the right combination of reverence and gravitas.

Next up, a song that I think is about an itinerant worker. Here, Knopfler has learned the lesson lost on "Ragpicker's Dream" and engages us with the specifics of the character:

"I'm better with my muscles
Than I am with my mouth
I'll work the fairgrounds in the summer
Or go pick fruit down south."

It is a nice sketch, and a reminder that not everyone finds an easy way in this life, but many of these same people work hard, honest days and years all the same.

"So Far From the Clyde" is the song about a boneyard, where ships are scuttled and dismantled. I've always been enamoured with the age of sail, and I found an myself actually feeling a little depressed at the description of the 'death' of these ships.

And the final song on the record (and my favourite) is "Piper To The End" which tells the story of a young man who falls in battle, alongside his bagpipes:

"This has been a day to die on
Now the day is almost done
Here the pipes will lay beside me
Silent with the battle drum
If friends in time be severed
Someday we will meet again
I'll return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end."

This song could just be a timeless homage to any Piper, so many of whom have marched bravely to battle over the centuries. If I had strictly enforced my Modernist tendencies, and just taken the song without context, it would remain just that - and still stand strong on its own. However, this time I feel compelled to share some liner notes from "Get Lucky" on the specific subject of this song. Take it away, Mark:

"Piper To The End is for my Uncle Freddie, Lance Corporal Frederick John Laidler, a piper of the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish, the Black Watch, RHR, who carried his pipes into action and was killed with them at Ficheux, near Arras on the 20th May, 1940, aged 20."

RIP, Corporal Laidler.

Best tracks: Remembrance Day, Get Lucky, So Far From the Clyde, Piper To The End

CD Odyssey Disc 128: Mark Knopfler

Strangely, my last two reviews (Sting and Steve Earle) I specifically mentioned Mark Knopfler, and now, here comes a disc by Knopfler.

Disc 128 is...The Ragpicker's Dream
Artist: Mark Knopfler

Year of Release: 2002

What’s Up With The Cover?: A young working class couple dances in their kitchen. She seems to fancy him, despite the fact that his pants are rolled up too high.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of Knopfler's solo work through his two previous albums when this one came out. I bought it without hesitation.

How It Stacks Up: I have eight of Knopfler's solo albums, 2 of which are collaborations. This is not one of those. Of the eight, I'd say "Ragpicker's Dream is about 5th (4th out of the 6 solo albums).

Rating: 2 stars.

Knopfler's solo career over the past twenty years is a real study in doing whatever the hell you want. The guy has lots of money and his albums since leaving Dire Straits reflect the career of a man who is more interested in pursuing his wide musical interests than in re-establishing commercial success. I really admire this approach, even if I'm not always enamoured with the results.

The two Knopfler solo albums preceding "Ragpicker's Dream" (1996's "Golden Heart" and 2000's "Sailing to Philadelphia") are some of his finest work. "Ragpicker's Dream" definitely suffers by comparison. It just isn't the same quality of work.

One thing that is always on display, is Knopfler's mastery of the electric guitar, and "Ragpicker's Dream" shows him playing a much more understated style than usual, while not losing that big bluesy style. Everything about Mark Knopfler's guitar work is so perfectly constructed, yet the way he plays, it always seems like he is making it up as he goes along. Songs like "Hill Farmer's Blues" show Knopfler off at his most quietly confident.

That said, few songs stand out on this record. There are some good bluesy tracks, like "You Don't Know You're Born" and "Coyote" (the latter of which is actually a song about Wile E. Coyote, from cartoon fame), but these songs are few and far between and when they do appear, they are merely good, not great.

As Knopfler's solo career goes along, he has also delved into increasingly obscure storytelling. Don't get me wrong - I like good stories about working class heroes as much as anyone, but I find they are more compelling when there is some sense of character developed. Songs like "Why Aye Man" and "Marbletown" tell interesting working class experiences, but without defined character, it is hard to hang your emotional hat on them.

Compare this with my last album, where every story Steve Earle tells provides a snapshot of history, enriched further by the colourful characters that the songwriter has us see events through. On Knopfler's earlier two kicks at this musical style, he gets this lesson well. On "Ragpicker's Dream" this is often lacking.

That said, the album is definitely worth a listen, if nothing else than to listen to a master guitar player, still fearlessly finding new ways to explore his craft more than twenty years after he first blasted onto the stage.

Best tracks: Why Aye Man, You Don't Know Your Born, Coyote.

CD Odyssey Disc 127: Steve Earle

When in doubt, you can't go wrong with Steve Earle. Thank you, dice gods.

Disc 127 is...Train A Comin'
Artist: Steve Earle

Year of Release: 1995

What’s Up With The Cover?: Steve Earle looks cool, smokin' a cigarette and playin' the guitar.

How I Came To Know It: As you'll know from previous Steve Earle albums, I love the guy, and this is just me drilling the conversation. I actually got "Train A Comin'" fairly later on - probably around 2002.

How It Stacks Up: I have fourteen Steve Earle albums - this is one of the better ones, but competition is tight with Steve Earle. I'll say somewhere between 6th and 8th depending on my mood. I'll split the difference and say 7th, but if I also rank some future Earle album 7th and you call me on it, you'll just be pointing out how much time you have on your hands.

Rating: 4 stars.

For some reason, I don't put this particular Steve Earle album on very often, even though I really enjoy it when I do. My last memorable listen was shortly after buying it, I hung out at my buddy Casey's place and played it for him. He returned the favour by introducing me properly to the great Muddy Waters. One more awesome thing I can thank Casey for on a long list of such things.

This time around, I had one song to go from my drive home from work on Friday, but I deliberately left it in the car so I could get another full listen out of it. Then, driving around shopping with Sheila today, I heard it again (that is OK by the rules, as it was a second listen) and I got so excited I decided to race home and review it right away.

As I've alluded to in earlier reviews, "Train A Comin'" is Steve Earle's first 'sober' album, after cleaning up off of Heroine and sorting his life out. Many of the tracks are old songs he wrote back in the seventies that he just now was recording, with a few new songs, and a couple of very interesting remakes.

The whole album is done in a very stripped down, unplugged manner - very traditional bluegrass/folk sounding. Having said that, Earle is quick to point out in the liner notes, "this ain't no part of no unplugged nothin' - God I hate MTV." Ah, Steve Earle - always struggling to say exactly what's on his mind.

The best song on this record is a new composition "Goodbye", which was recorded the same year on Emmylou Harris' amazing album, "Wrecking Ball" - but I'll talk about Emmylou's version when I roll it.

This is a five star song about regret and lost love, which has few rivals. I've heard this song dozens of times, but when it came on driving home from work on Friday, I got choked up all over again. The chorus sums up the combination of loss, and the shame of being so far gone that you can't remember what happened to cause the loss:

"I recall all of them nights down in Mexico
One place I may never go in my life again
Was I just off somewhere or just too high
But I can't remember if we said goodbye."

While "Goodbye" is easily one of Earle's greatest songs, this introspective song is not typical of the album. The real strength of "Train A Comin'" is the amazing folk tales Earle effortlessly spins. There are three standouts on this record.

"Mercenary Song" tells of three fortune seekers that go to Mexico to fight for Pancho Villa as soldiers of fortune. "Tom Ames' Prayer" tells the story of a young criminal, Tom Ames, and his rebellious relationship with his God.

Finally, "Ben McCulloch" tells the story of two brothers who sign up to fight under General Ben McCulloch in the American Civil War. I love how Earle paints history from the perspective of the common man:

"Well the poster said we'd get a uniform and seven bucks a week
The best rations in the army and a rifle we could keep."

And later on as service with McCulloch turns sour:

"And on the way to Fayetteville we cursed McCulloch's name
And mourned the dead that we'd left behind and we was carrying the lame
I killed a boy the other night who'd never even shaved
I don't even know what I'm fightin' for I ain't ever owned a slave."

This song always makes me think of Mark Knopfler's song, "Bonaparte", which describes a similar story of French soldiers in the service of Napoleon.

All three of the folk tales on "Train A Comin'" were originally written in 1975, when Steve Earle was only 20 years old, and almost ten years before "Guitar Town" would make him famous.

The final element to "Train A Comin'" are some of most thoughtful and memorable cover songs you'll hear on a record. Earle puts a folksy, bluegrass edge onto the Beatles' "I'm Looking Through You" and the applies the same treatment to the Jamaican reggae/disco hit "Rivers of Babylon". After hearing them you'll swear they were both written in the Kentucky hills. The last remake, is "Tecumseh Valley" an earnest and emotionally honest tip of the hat to Earle's mentor, Townes Van Zandt (Earle went on to do an entire album of Van Zandt songs in 2009, which you'll recall from Disc 28).

I guess this album makes me doubly thankful. Thankful to hear such a great record. And even more thankful that Earle sobered up and stayed alive to record nine more following it.

Best tracks: Mercenary Song, Goodby, Tom Ames' Prayer, Northern Winds, "Ben McCulloch, Rivers of Babylon, Tecumseh Valley.

CD Odyssey Disc 126: White Stripes

Well, my last review certainly provoked a 'Stinging rebuke'! I'll leave Chris D. the last word on that one, and move on with the next album offered up by the gods of randomness.

Disc 126 is...White Blood Cells
Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: 2002

What’s Up With The Cover?: Jack and Meg White are accosted by five shadows. Jack looks disturbed; Meg looks bemused.

How I Came To Know It: I heard the song "Seven Nation Army" back when "Elephant" came out in 2003. That got me hooked on the White Stripes, but I probably didn't get "White Blood Cells" - the preceding album - until about 2004.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums, which I think is all of them, although I haven't checked in a while. I really like "White Blood Cells" but I'm not sure it's my favourite. I'll say 2nd or 3rd depending on how I'm feeling about "De Stijl" at the time.

Rating: 4 stars

The White Stripes are a band that I find people either really like, or really don't like. Me - I really like them. I'm amazed at the heavy rock sound they get out of principally just two instruments - guitar and drum.

This album starts with a bang, with the tap of drumsticks and the screech of a little feedback before it launches into a Sabbath-like guitar riff. Jack White's vocal cuts in:

"Dead leaves and the dirty ground
when I know you're not around."

As songs that set the mood of an album, "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is high on my list.

As counterpoint to rock-it-out tracks like "Dead Leaves...", "White Blood Cells" also includes more quietly introspective tracks about childhood like "We're Going To Be Friends." which provide a nice counterpoint to the driving guitar, and keep your ear primed for each new track.

With the rise of single downloads, the art of album construction has suffered a little in recent years. The White Stripes show that it can still be done, and done well.

A big part of this success must also go to Jack White's production. He is truly skilled at getting maximum sound out of the simplest arrangements. He also manages to make the relatively average drum playing of Meg sound good. He adds to this a deliberately sloppy rock guitar and a lasciviously classic rock voice, blending it all together into some of the purest rock and roll to be made in some time.

"White Blood Cells" has sixteen tracks - usually cause enough for me to see red. However, the longest track is only 3:39 (ironically, it is track 12's "I Can't Wait"). The end result is a respectable 40 minutes of playing time. The first five or six tracks are simply awesome. As the album progresses, there are a few weaker songs that make an appearance, but even these are few in number, and are often over in under three minutes.

In fact, one of my favourites on this album, "Little Room" is only fifty seconds long - a short, but thoughtful track about the nature of success, and how hard it is to hold onto what it is that got you there in the first place:

"well you're in your little room
and you're working on something good
but if it's really good
you're gonna need a bigger room
and when you're in a bigger room
you might not know what to do
you might have to think of
how you got started
sitting in your little room."

This song to me, pretty much sums up how the White Stripes approach music. Simple songs, amplified out of all ho, but appealing back to the deepest roots of rock that will always be the wellspring of what makes this genre of music great.

Best tracks: Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Hotel Yorba, I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman, Expecting, Little Room, Offend In Every Way, This Protector.

CD Odyssey Disc 125: Sting

After a holiday break, the CD Odyssey returns - and the randomness of the selections is as unforgiving as ever. The resumption disc is one of Sheila's.

Disc 125 is......Nothing Like The Sun
Artist: Sting

Year of Release: 1987

What’s Up With The Cover?: Black and White shot of Sting trying to be sexy and intense. I don't think I'm the target audience of this cover.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to both Sting and the Police. I assume she knew the former from the latter.

How It Stacks Up: We have three Sting albums, two of which I don't particularly care for - this is one of those ones.

Rating: 2 stars.

I've admitted in previous posts that I was wrong about the Police in my youth, when I didn't give them a chance. Sting's solo career that followed I never gave much thought until I was introduced to him by Sheila in the mid-nineties.

I gave this album an honest shot, but I have to admit, I mostly don't get it. It is a bit all over the place. It has a little bit of the Police's reggae/pop groove, on top of which is ladled an unhealthy dollop of world beat sounds and jazzy saxophone.

I almost never like world beat sounds (Capercaillie's later albums successfully fuse the sound with gaelic folk music, but I'll leave that for when I roll it). I find on "...Nothing Like the Sun" it just gets in the way.

However, the real crime of this album is the ridiculous use of saxophone. Somehow Sting has created a chimera of Kenny G eighties saxophone, and a sort of muzak jazz noodling. It is an unholy fusion.

It is too bad, too - because some of the songs have a pretty strong melody, and Sting can certainly sing. Songs like "Englishman in New York" and "They Dance Alone" both have the makings of a nice tune, and are well sung, but Sting pretentiously dumps so much of this jazz fusion stuff into them that you lose the song among all the gadgetry.

The worst example of this is the remake of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing". It starts off inoccuously enough, with a sort of pop version of the song - not great, but there. Then the guitar gets replaced by some bizarre sax solo. I'm not sure if at the end of this song Sting has the saxophone burned on stage, but I would suggest an improvement would be to burn the sax before starting.

When Sting keeps it simple, you can see his talent. The one song that stood out for me in this regard was "Fragile" which is a sort of Flamenco/Spanish guitar which reminded me strongly of Mark Knopfler's work. In fact, I decided to look it up and found Knopfler in the liner notes, but apparently he appears on "They Dance Alone". Anyway, this sound, coupled with Sting's ethereal voice really works - especially since it isn't layered in with a bunch of goofy pop/jazz.

Sting has a lot of talent, but he is better when Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland are keeping his ego in check. Released from adult supervision, there ends up being way too much jazz odyssey.

Best tracks: Fragile

CD Odyssey Disc 124: Cypress Hill

A Creative Maelstrom will be taking a short break after this review, but never fear, gentle reader! It shall return in less than 2 weeks time, on Monday, May 17th.

Write it on your calendar now - or put a sticky note on the fridge - or do what I do with "Order of the Stick" - compulsively check back every day hoping something new is up.

Disc 124 is...IV

Artist: Cypress Hill

Year of Release: 1998

What’s Up With The Cover?: A variation on "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" featuring skeletons. I'm pretty sure skeletons have lost the soft tissue necessary to see (eyes) or to speak (lungs), but maybe the guy in the middle's still holding on to his tympanic membrane - so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Synopsis - this cover is silly. Gangsta Rap should have covers featuring the band looking tough, not a bunch of posed skeletons.

How I Came To Know It: As I noted in my previous two Cypress Hill Reviews, I learned about this band through my buddy, Spence. This particular record is me just buying their next album, since I already had (and enjoyed) their first three.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Cypress Hill albums at this point (I'll likely buy more). I'd put this one last of the five, though, for reasons that I'll get into below.

Rating: 3 stars.

Cypress Hill is one of the few examples of Gangsta Rap that I actually enjoy. As I have noted in previous reviews, the band originally only sang about three things. These were:

1. Killin' folks
2. Smokin' dope
3. Killin' folks tryin' to take your dope.

Later they added a fourth topic:

4. Scorin' girls.

As it happens, "IV" is the album where this fourth element was added - fittingly, given it is their 4th studio release. In this case, there is a song called "I Remember That Freak Bitch (From the Club)". While this song is definitely about scorin' girls, it is not exactly high romance. That Parental Advisory sticker on the front is there for a reason, Mom and Dad!

This record has the great bass lines and groovy rap stylings of the earlier three albums, and when it is good, it is very good. Unfortunately, it has a couple of serious flaws.

First, it is too damned long. There are seventeen tracks, where there really should be twelve tops. In fact, you could pretty much chop tracks 13-17 right off the record. None of them are that good, and the one that is passable (#17 - "Lightning Strikes") is ruined at the end by a goofy monologue about buying dope featuring Cheech and Chong.

This brings me to the second flaw on this album. In three or four places, Cypress Hill decides to add in some goofy back story/radio play about a marijuana deal. It is simply not interesting to listen to Cheech and Chong's schtick anymore, and it gets in the way of the music. Not only that, often the dialogue is not a separate track, but rather tagged onto the back or front of a song - making it hard to simply skip and still enjoy the record.

Despite these problems, there is no denying Cypress Hill's talent to deliver tight raps and make you feel like you are on the street (without making you actually suffer the experience). "Checkmate" is a particularly furious track that is a must hear, which I believe is a rare departure from the above themes, returning to the old school rap battle. The rap battle is still my favourite topic of rap music - it never gets old and no one has to get shot.

This is a good album, but not a 'must have' unless you are a Cypress Hill completionist.

Best tracks: Checkmate, I Remember That Freak Bitch (From the Club), (Goin' All Out) Nothin' To Lose, Tequila Sunrise.

CD Odyssey Disc 123: Townes Van Zandt

After a brief hiatus, I'm home from a whirlwind trip to Vancouver where I celebrated my buddy Tony's 40th birthday (Happy Birthday!)

This review sees a new category introduced to the CD Odyssey - a quick comment on album covers. Why? Why not.

Disc 123 is...Delta Momma Blues
Artist: Townes Van Zandt

Year of Release: 1971

What’s Up With The Cover?: A relaxed Townes leans nonchalantly against a wall. Beside him someone has apparently discarded a perfectly good bed spring - or it belongs to that couple making out in the shade of the staircase. Um...Townes - maybe give them a little space?

How I Came To Know It: As I've noted in previous Van Zandt reviews, I came to know him through a tribute album by Steve Earle. "Delta Momma Blues" is a more recent addition, and is just me drilling through his catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Van Zandt albums, as well as a live album. Of those five, the previously reviewed "High Low and In Between/The Late Great Townes Van Zandt" is the best (technically two albums). I place "Delta Momma Blues" last among the five studio albums, but still excellent.

Rating: 4 stars.

"Delta Momma Blues" is right in the middle of Van Zandt's highly creative period, which ran from about 1968 to 1972.

Although this album is solidly folk, it does add some blues elements. It works well enough, particularly on "Brand New Companion", I love the opening of this song:

"I've got a brand new companion
Gonna do right this time
She cools me with her breathing
And chases away those half bottles of wine"

"Brand New Companion" reminds me of KISS' "Cold Gin", as a song about a relationship at least partly based on having someone to get drunk with.

Most of the other tracks are either sad and introspective, break up songs, or a combination of both. Exemplified in "Come Tomorrow":

"It's strange how many tortured mornings
Fell upon us with no warning
Looking for a smile to beg or borrow
It's over now, there's no returning
A thousand bridges sadly burning
That light the way I'll have to walk alone
Come tomorrow."

The exception to these themes is the opening track "FFV". This is a track about an engineer who drives his train too fast, crashes it, and dies in the wreck. Well, it is kind of related, the engineer admits he's 'proud to die with the engine I love, 143', so it is sort of a love song.

"Delta Momma Blues" is not an uplifting album, but it is a good one. Townes is mournful and believable, and both music and lyrics showcase his incredible talent.

Best tracks: FFV, Only Him Or Me, Tower Song, Come Tomorrow, Brand New Companion, Rake

Othello 1997-2010