Aural Fixations

THE FLATLANDERS
Now Again
(New West)
Almost thirty years ago, legendary Texas singer/songwriters Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock formed a short-lived band called the Flatlanders in Lubbock, Texas. The group played a strange hybrid of traditional string-band country and counterculture hippie music. They managed to make only one record, One More Road, that saw very limited release and then only on 8-track.

By the time Rounder Records reissued the record as More a Legend Than a Band in the late 80s, the three principals had established long-running solo careers and become icons in the burgeoning alternative country/Americana movement. Hancock has quietly amassed a huge catalog of songs that blend Romantic poetry with American folk music, dusty cowboy songs and Eastern philosophy, a catalog mined by a wide array of performers. Gilmore is one of the most distinctive singers in contemporary roots music, a man of nearly impeccable song choices and an impossibly soulful croon that could make nursery rhymes sound like profound statements; he's also a fine writer when he wants to be. Ely, with a musical sense that refuses to recognize boundaries between rock, C&W, folk, blues and norteño, practically invented what we now call alt.country on his debut album in 1977. Plus he's become one of the best and most beloved live performers in roots rock, with a personal charisma and love of concert work that rivals that of his friend Bruce Springsteen. The trio remained friends through the years, playing shows together and appearing on or writing for each other's records, so an eventual Flatlanders reunion has been a tantalizing rumor for some time. After Ely, Gilmore and Hancock did indeed reconvene for a cut on the soundtrack of The Horse Whisperer, they had such a good time they decided to continue the reunion and the Flatlanders were officially reborn.

Now, a mere 28 years after their first record, we have the second Flatlanders album Now Again. With the easy camaraderie that comes from lifelong friendships in their favor, one would think this triad would produce an album that would encapsulate their innovative careers in Texas music. Alas, that's not the case. Mind you, the album is filled almost to bursting with good songs and performances. The trio has developed a lush harmony vocal style unknown in the members' careers up to this point, and the mostly acoustic arrangements blend folk, blues and C&W in that seamless manner that's apparently built into the genes of Lone Star musicians. Songs like "Down in the Light of the Melon Moon," "Yesterday Was Judgment Day" and "My Wildest Dreams Grow Wilder Every Day" would be excellent additions to any of the principals' main careers. The melodies are strong and Ely, Gilmore and Hancock sound like they're having a blast. Only the overly silly "Pay the Alligator" strikes a bum note. There's nothing but solid craftsmanship here, and that's the problem: there's nothing here that wouldn't have fit in just as well on any of the artists' solo records. Even though nearly all the songs were written by the trio together, none of them sound any different that they would have if written solo. (more)

Refreshed

WAYNE KRAMER
Hard Stuff+
(MuscleTone)
Guitarist/songwriter Wayne Kramer has his place in rock history assured as a member of the legendary Detroit combo the MC5. While that legacy is one of which he's justifiably proud—not every musician can claim to have been a key member of such an influential band—it tends to overshadow his unfairly overlooked solo career. After many years in the wilderness due to drug problems, jail time, anonymity and failed collaborations (see Gang War, his aborted early 80s combo with Johnny Thunders—or better yet, don't), Kramer hooked up with the good folks at indie label Epitaph in the 90s for a short series of terrific albums that proved the man's music every bit as vital in the present as it was back in the day. Then Epitaph inexplicably let the albums fall out of print. Fortunately, Kramer has since set up his own label MuscleTone ("Rock music for grown-ups") and has set about reissuing his solo catalog.

Originally released in 1995, The Hard Stuff+ was not Kramer's first record under his own name (that would be the obscure Death Tongue, due for reissue later this year), but it was the first to have any kind of high profile. Justifiably so—it may be the best rock & roll record of the past decade. Kramer performs like a man with something to prove. Every flaming Stratocaster lick, gritty vocal and snarling riff testifies that this is a musician at the peak of his game, not a relic from another time. He sings in a passionate, soulful bark that pays homage to his late bandmate Rob Tyner (one of the greatest rock singers ever) and strangles his six strings like they'll escape off the fretboard if he doesn't hold them in place. The young turks backing him up (including members of Clawhammer, Bad Religion, Pennywise and the Melvins) rise to the example set by the old man and kick out the jams like they were born to it. On the basis of sheer aural pleasure alone, The Hard Stuff+ makes mincemeat out of anything on the radio that calls itself rock. (more)

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