Post Description

Op Verzoek.

In any other circumstance, that title would be hyperbole, but in the case of the Flatlanders, it's the simple truth. Although their only commercial release during their nearly four-year existence was an eight track on the tacky Plantation label, bandleaders Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock went on to become pioneers in alternative country, directly influencing bands ranging from Uncle Tupelo to Ely disciples the Clash. This 1990 reissue gives that eight track a proper CD release for the first time ever (minus two weaker tracks, covers of the country standards "Hello Stranger" and "Waiting for a Train"), plus four previously unreleased tracks recorded during the same March 1972 sessions. The Flatlanders didn't fit in the least in early-'70s Nashville, both because their music is too weird (Gilmore, a devout Hindu, contributes a song of devotion called "Bhagavan Decreed," and non-musician Steve Wesson contributes musical saw to the proceedings) and, frankly, too country. Tunes like the heartbreaking "Tonight I'm Gonna Go Downtown" have much more in common with Lefty Frizzell and Jimmie Rodgers than the countrypolitan glop of the era. The percussionless, all-acoustic instrumentation is akin to traditional bluegrass, but the gentle, easygoing vibe (tempos barely even break into a trot on the entire album) are much more akin to mellow hippie folk-rock à la Pearls Before Swine. Every song is a small gem, with "Downtown" and Gilmore's career highlight, "Dallas," being the very best of a uniformly fabulous lot. The entire '90s alt-country movement can trace its genesis to these powerful and underappreciated songs. 


Verenigde Staten
Country / Rock
Label: Rounder


01. Dallas
 02. Tonight I'm Gonna Go Downtown
 03. You've Never Seen Me Cry
 04. She Had Everything
 05. Rose From The Mountain
 06. One Day At A Time
 07. Jolé Blon
 08. Down In My Hometown
 09. Bhagavan Decreed
 10. The Heart You Left Behind
 11. Keeper Of The Mountain
 12. Stars In My Life
 13. One Road More