Townes Van Zandt Albums (23)
What The Critics Say
First things first: Townes Van Zandt was a singular artist. In his field, other than Hank Williams and Merle Haggard, no one can touch him. His studio recordings and Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas makes that abundantly clear. Even Rear View Mirror, which was spookily released on CD to the masses on the day of his death, proves that point. But this slew of posthumous live recordings by Van Zandt's manager, Harold F. Eggers, Jr. is another story. They feel like the robbing of a grave. Private Concert, recorded in a Holiday Inn hotel room in 1988 at 3:00 in the morning, feels like a homemade Tascam cassette mastered for CD. At that time, Van Zandt still had his guitar playing powers -- he was formidable at his best. He was in fine voice, and the song selection is solid: he opens with "Pancho and Lefty" and "Buckskin Stallion Blues." There's a great version of "Rake," here, and a good "White Freightliner Blues," as well as the set closer "I'll Be Here in the Morning." And the stories are as they always were -- wondrous vignettes. But there is something missing: the lack of dynamic in the recording itself, and the lack of motivation by Van Zandt to really get his music through to anyone. It's perhaps too informal. Van Zandt, when hungry and deeply into his tunes, could mystify. But this feels flat, monotone, staid. Van Zandt fans will need this, they always do; but they've heard better on bootlegs -- which is what this set sounds like except for the two bonus tracks -- "Brand New Companion," and "The Hole" -- taken from somewhere else. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Live at Union Chapel, London, England'
Release Date 9/13/2005
Tracks 36
Label Tomato Music
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What The Critics Say
This is a tough one. To read Harold F. Eggers, Jr.'s liner notes, one is led to believe that these unreleased recordings of Townes Van Zandt's 1994 show at the Union Chapel, London, is the Holy Grail from the vault. And to be fair, it's certainly better than anything else he or Van Zandt's estate has yet issued. Those recordings, many of them of dodgy quality and poor performances, were simply shameful. This one, which has been raved about by Van Zandt's fans on his Internet chat site, is problematic as well. It starts with the cover photo. There's the Tomato logo in the bottom left, a black-and-white picture of a much younger Van Zandt, and no year listed on the cover, aping the sublime Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas double album released in the 1970s. Hmmm, at best that's misleading. There are 36 tracks over these two discs. Most of them are his classic tunes, and among them were then new songs that eventually appeared on No Deeper Blue, his final studio offering before he died in 1997. The sound quality here is better than anything that has been released posthumously. The venue lends itself to acoustic music wonderfully. But the next questionable thing is the performance itself. According to Eggers, Townes' "spirit was soaring." This indeed may be true, though the tour was grueling -- 38 shows in a row across Europe. What cannot be overlooked is that while Van Zandt may have been in the best shape he had been in throughout the 1990s, the toll of alcoholism is everywhere evident. His delivery both sung and spoken is slow and sometimes slurred. His guitar playing, which had been masterful in his prime, borders on rudimentary and sometimes is actually marginal. To be fair, the song selection is fantastic. Everything one would ever want to hear live is here and then some. But what's inescapable here for those listeners who had been with Van Zandt from the beginning is that this is not the artist at his best. He may have been doing what he loved best, but his ability to do it was impaired. The effort is here, no question. And he's inspired by the audience. But it doesn't make up for what's already gone. This is a sad thing to say, and hard to write. Live at Union Chapel, London, England may be the best of the artist live in the 1990s, but it's far from the best of Townes Van Zandt. And one has to question whether or not he would have even wanted these recordings released. God knows he needed the money. Certainly hardcore fans will have to have this, but that doesn't excuse the fact that this feels like a vampiric effort to keep the Van Zandt legend alive. That will live on and so will the songs without question. It's simply an opinion, but packages like this seem to undermine it more than enhance or deepen Van Zandt's monumental contribution. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Rear View Mirror, Vol. 2'
Release Date 9/28/2004
Tracks 18
Label Varese
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What The Critics Say
The first volume of Rear View Mirror, which had appeared as an import in 1993, was released domestically on January 2, 1997, the day after Townes Van Zandt passed away. Recorded with a small band when he was in top form in the late '70s, Rear View Mirror was a hard pill to swallow in that it showcased in spades exactly who it was we had lost. This collection, compiled by Van Zandt before his death along with his manager/business partner, Harold Eggers, features the same band, though it is compiled from various performances between 1976 and 1979 and many of the songs are preformed solo. What is so startlingly revelatory about Van Zandt is that, like Bob Dylan, one can hear the depth and measure of the artist not only in his own material but in the performances of the songs he covers. And there are plenty of them in this bevy of 18 tracks. The set opens with a stomping folk-blues read of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love," turned inside out and retaining all of its swampy forbidden sexuality. In this version, with a woolly, devilish fiddle by Owen Cody, the spookiness in the lyric comes to the fore. The brief "Greensboro Woman" here is dignified, and contains all of the outsider tenderness that was Van Zandt's to dispense. The cipher in the set comes early in the medley of "Brand New Companion" with the traditional "Cocaine Blues." There is something utterly eerie in the combination of these two blues tunes. The latter is given a new, ominous meaning by the latter's proximity and added meaning. There are certain performances here that, while wonderful aesthetically, are of poor sonic quality -- "None But the Rain," with its cassette tape hiss and stage buzz, is a case in point. The version of Lightnin' Hopkins' "Hello Central" offers a wide, multi-dimensional portrait of Van Zandt as a folk-bluesman of the highest order as well. The version of "Loretta" here is simply one of his finest on tape and distills forever the portrait of its subject, and "Snowin' on Raton," bookended here by "No Deal" and "Tecumseh Valley," is alone worth the price of the disc. The version of "Coo Coo" here -- wrongfully credited to Van Zandt -- is one of the better reads of the song to come after Roscoe Holcomb's, without question. It's elliptical, troubling, ponderous, and full of edgy mystery. In sum, while this set is a little more erratic sonically, it is without a doubt a fitting and necessary companion to its predecessor. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Live at the Jester Lounge: Houston, Texas 1966'
Release Date 9/21/2004
Tracks 16
Label Normal
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'Songs Torn from the Flesh'
Release Date 11/10/2003
Tracks 11
Label Sony
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'Live at McCabe's'
Release Date 11/27/2001
Tracks 12
Label Return to Sender
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What The Critics Say
A flood of live albums have attended the years just before Townes Van Zandt's death in 1997 and the years immediately after; this is another one. Its status as a collector's item is attested by the sleeve notation that it is a limited edition, with only 2,000 copies printed. The intended audience, then, is Van Zandt fans, who will welcome it as they would any recorded concert performance by the dour singer/songwriter. Those fans will know that, like such apparently depressive artists as Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman, Van Zandt was actually hilarious in concert. His shows featured his songs of derelicts and degradation, of course, but his manner, as here, was self-deprecating about the material. At times during this performance, recorded at the small Los Angeles club McCabe's on February 10, 1995, he seems amazed -- or perhaps the right word is appalled -- at what is coming out of his own mouth in the songs' lyrics. At least, he says, as he makes his way through Lightnin' Hopkins' "Short Haired Woman Blues" (which is about a woman whose hair is full of rats), he didn't write that one himself, although that doesn't explain why he's singing it. And so it goes; when he later invites Dobro player Kelly Joe Phelps up on-stage to accompany him, he says that, if he were Phelps, he wouldn't accept the invitation. But this is all part of Van Zandt's shambling charm, and it helps alleviate the depression of well-written songs like "Marie," which is narrated in the voice of a homeless man who details his desperate straits and the death of his girlfriend (as does the drunk joke he repeats from his Live at the Old Quarter album). The show has an off the cuff quality, as when Van Zandt and Phelps essay a cover of "Wabash Cannonball," which starts turning into something else as Van Zandt begins improvising bizarre new lyrics. But that's the kind of thing that endeared him to his fans, and 2,000 of them (if not more) will be happy to add this disc to their collections. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Culled from the same European tour dates as Abnormal and The Highway Kind, this set of minimal live performances features a number of true Van Zandt classics, including "Snowin' on Raton," "To Live's to Fly," "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold," and "You Are Not Needed Now." The man's in fairly decent voice, too, given how many of his later recordings betrayed the ravages of his hard-scrabble life. But even with his voice on his side, Van Zandt sounds as if he's trying to fend off death with a joke and a song -- and not necessarily succeeding. Though hardly the place for neophytes to begin, In Pain is a fitting and aptly named epitaph for this beloved singer/songwriter. ~ Brian Beatty, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Abnormal was released one year after the 1997 death of Townes Van Zandt. Abnormal is a live acoustic release featuring songs recorded throughout Europe, and showcasing songs from throughout his career. Many fans prefer this stripped-down setting for Van Zandt's music: intimate, personal, and palpable; there is no hiding the sorrow that exudes from these songs. These are sad songs, folks, and Van Zandt doesn't dress them up as anything else. Delivered through his troubadour-weary voice and guitar, even the lighthearted "Shrimp Song" sounds like a eulogy. The disc ends with "Old Shep," a song so sad that Van Zandt says it "takes the cake." He barely gets through the song, stopping every few lines to regain his composure. Even though most of his music is sad, it is not sentimental. You get the sense that, like Hank Williams before him, Van Zandt means what he sings, and that honesty is why fans gravitate toward him. Abnormal is not the best Townes Van Zandt album by far, but it will not disappoint those who already love him. With Van Zandt gone, these stray recordings are all we have left. ~ Dan Lee, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In 1990, Townes Van Zandt was working on a three-CD retrospective for which he was re-recording much of his repertoire. That album never appeared, but in 1993, the tiny Austin-based Sundown label released Rear View Mirror, a 17-track album running nearly 58 minutes and containing newly recorded versions of Van Zandt songs dating back to 1968. Though a cover note claims "unique instrumentation," that seems to consist of only of an occasional second guitar and a fiddle. (Sparse applause indicates the recording had been made in a club.) Many of Van Zandt's best-known songs are included -- "Pancho & Lefty," "If I Needed You," "To Live Is to Fly," "Tecumseh Valley," and others -- and while this is not the best set of recordings of those songs, the tendency of Van Zandt's albums to go out of print might mean this is the only one you would find in your nearest record bin, in which case the album is highly recommended. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'The Highway Kind'
Release Date 1/1/1997
Tracks 14
Label Normal Germany
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What The Critics Say
Judging by the number of live albums credited to him, Townes Van Zandt must have lived his life on the road. Or perhaps he simply recorded every show he did, just in case, always ready to make Alan Lomax proud. Nevertheless, another result of this steadfast dedication to documentation is The Highway Kind. Again, Van Zandt wanders through honky tonks and cowboy bars across America and Europe, band in tow, heart on sleeve. This collection of tunes is comprised of a mixed bag of originals and covers, all with that ever-present common thread of lonesomeness figuring prominently, in one fashion or another. It's yet another piece of the musical landscape that was Van Zandt's life, work, and talent. And luckily there are so many. ~ Kelly McCartney, All Music Guide
