Hoyt Axton Albums (23)
What The Critics Say
Originally released as an LP, Lonesome Road is a brief collection of ten songs drawn from two 1964 Hoyt Axton albums, Sings Bessie Smith and Explodes. In the '60s Axton's music veered toward folk and rock 'n' roll rather than country, with limited success. "Young Man" and "Big Red" are straight-ahead rockers, and the Bessie Smith material is performed with horns and clarinet in an approximation of the originals, although Axton's vocals are often delivered in an unappealing growl. Given the scarcity of Axton's '60s recordings on CD, serious fans may find something to enjoy here. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
'Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 13
Label Youngheart
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Hoyt Axton's award-winning children's album Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog flew under the radar of most of his adult fans. The 13-song set is recommended for children ages 3-9 but is so broadly appealing that anyone with an interest in Axton's music is likely to enjoy it. The songs mainly concern kid-friendly topics such as animals and food, but in many cases are drawn from popular music and are not strictly for children. Axton's recordings of "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and a remake of his own "Joy to the World" (referenced in the album title) are rendered with excellent performances and high production values. The tone is not very different from that of the albums he released on his own Jeremiah label in the last decades of his recording career, with a preponderance of cover songs and a few whimsical originals. Many of the songs are tried-and-true children's favorites, but the less obvious selections show Axton to be a perceptive maker of children's music. It's a shame that Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog was his sole foray into the field. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Part of an odd, short-lived reissued series launched by Capitol in the early '90s, American Originals consists of two 1971 albums, Joy to the World and Country Anthem, plus one previously unreleased track. This period was a transitional one between Axton's uneven folk-rock of the '60s and his country hits of the mid-'70s, but on these recordings, Axton found the voice that would serve him throughout the rest of his career. Axton's own versions of "The Pusher," "Never Been to Spain" and "Joy to the World," hits he wrote for Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night, are here. Other highlights include the wryly humorous "Have a Nice Day," and "Thomas Hall," an excellent folk ballad. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
England's Edsel Records, responsible for reviving so much of Hoyt Axton's catalog in later days, likewise reissued Free Sailin', his 1978 MCA album, on CD. Although it produced no hits and has only a few originals, it's a strong album that touches on country anthems ("Honky Tonk Music"), vintage country (Carson Robison's "Left My Gal in the Mountains"), and another of Axton's many drug-related songs ("Them Downers"). Because of the brief running time it would have been nice if Free Sailin' had been issued as a two-fer with Axton's other MCA album, Snowblind Friend (also available on CD from Edsel), but it's worthwhile to have the album available again in any form. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Featuring instrumental support from James Burton and backing vocals from Linda Ronstadt, Road Songs has a good cross-section of Axton's best-known songs, including "Boney Fingers" and "The No-No Song," making it a good introduction to the songwriter. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
By the time of this, his 13th and a relatively unlucky album, Hoyt Axton's talent was not always as strong a force as his own firm belief in the Axton legend: a genius songwriting artist with his own niche, not quite country, not quite rock, not quite pop. It is also the concept of "good old boy" charm that is wrapped around this album like yellow ribbons during a hostage crisis; it is something along the order of a Mac Davis vibe, and like the similarly well-tanned Davis, Axton comes across best when in a rowdy mode. His "Roll Your Own" is an in-your-face, unabashed pot song that would give a rasta a coughing fit, but there is equal time to drink in "Whisky," visit "Nashville," and get caught in a "Speed Trap." These titles all form an inner block inside the record when the listener may begin to feel like all is right with Axton's world -- he is cooking along and the God-squad philosophies of his earlier albums have happily vamoosed. Elsewhere on the album, however, is an excruciating version of "Greensleeves" and a flabby number called "Pride of Man" which unfortunately has led jumpy discographers to credit Axton with composing a different song with the same title by the Quicksilver Messenger Service. But while that "Pride of Man" was a highlight of the latter band's debut album, the Axton song is nothing to be proud of, like several numbers in this collection that seem like half-finished throwaways. Sometimes the songs themselves actually may have had the potential to come across much better than they do due to the party-hearty studio atmosphere, in which all manner of celebrity interface and networking seems to have been going on. Cheech & Chong make an appearance and so does television hunk David Hasselhoff. There is the warbling of Linda Ronstadt as well as that of Bob Lind, the one-hit wonder behind "Elusive Butterfly." The thoughtful Axton is on to some truths and gets his musicians into worthwhile grooves on a few less of the tracks than most listeners will find satisfactory. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Hoyt Axton was still in his first decade as a recording artist when he made this album, but it was a decade in which performing artists were certainly encouraged to think lofty thoughts. Pretension was as common on the radio in the late '60s as things would be in the '90s, hence we have an album, but sadly enough no song, on the theme of losing one's "griffin," typical Axton imagery that subtly invokes the wonder of childhood while pretending to be doing something else. He settles into some remarkable moods on the best parts of the album, communicating with such a sense of the natural that it makes the work of many other recording artists seem stilted. He can evoke the feeling of Colorado simply by mentioning the state as if in passing conversation; other singers would have to be recorded riding up and down a ski lift strumming in order to establish any equivalent sense of time and place. While his social commentary, such as "Beelzebub's Laughter," has the sting, if not the detail, of mid-period Phil Ochs, some of the songs -- such as "Way Before the Time of Towns" and "Revelations" -- ring so totally hollow, without any real sense of conviction or commitment, that the listener will be longing for one of the musicians to make a satirical raspberry. Instead it is a subdued, talented crowd doing the backup, pursuing a mood that can be quite effective when the ingredients are right -- roughly about half the time on this uneven but respectable production. Lead guitar is in the capable hands of James Burton, but this cannot be said to have been one of his most rip-roaring days in the studio. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
