Townes Van Zandt Delta Momma Blues180 gram Limited Edition Vinyl LP + Download
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Description
2009, Fat Possum Records
VINYL FORMAT. One of the new vinyl reissues of the early albums of renowned songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Recorded between 1969 and 1978, these albums are the heart of any serious consideration of Van Zandt's brilliant career. Features some of the most iconic cover art in album history, each designed by Milton Glaser.
Tracklisting
On Van Zandt's fourth album his voice hasn't yet attained the weary gravitas that made his later albums so shattering, but his dark, skewed visions of life are already in place. "Tower Song" is one of the minor key laments Van Zandt did so well, delivered with sparse guitar and subtle classical harp. The singer is leaving behind his wife and child, blaming her for the break up, although he admits he's a drunk and unable to communicate with her, except in song. "Where I Lead Me" is a dark folk-rocker that takes another jaundiced look at relationships with his characteristic bleak humor. "Rake" has the feel of a British folk song, the familiar story of an old soul adrift looking back on his youth with longing and regret. It has an epic feel augmented by the string section and a lone French horn. "Nothin'" is a bitter kiss off, a guy who doesn't want nothin' from a departing lover who he says gave him nothin', but there's more than a hint of revenge and rage in the lyric, and Van Zandt's flat, dry singing makes the tune chilling. The title track, a country blues, is more lighthearted, and sounds like a ragged jug band tune. "Turnstyled, Junkpiled" is in the same vein, a Jimmie Rodgers' style love song; you almost expect to hear Van Zandt break into a yodel, but instead he starts talking like a drunken roadside philosopher. "Only Him or Me" and "Come Tomorrow" could be commercial country songs, but Van Zandt's hopeless poetry and aching melodies make them sound so blue they're hard to listen to. "Brand New Companion" is a boozy 12-bar blues, but something of a throwaway compared to the more chilling tunes on the album.FFV Traditional / Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 3:37 SpotifyRdio
2 Delta Momma Blues Moore / Ruben Studdard / Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 4:01 SpotifyRdio
3 Only Him or He Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 2:32 SpotifyRdio
4 Turnstyled, Junkpiled Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 3:26 SpotifyRdio
5 Tower Song Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 4:09 SpotifyRdio
6 Come Tomorrow Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 2:59 SpotifyRdio
7 Brand New Companion Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 4:46 SpotifyRdio
8 Where I Lead Me Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 2:52 SpotifyRdio
9 Rake Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 4:07 SpotifyRdio
10 Nothin' Townes Van Zandt Townes Van Zandt 2:46 SpotifyRdio
I am always happy to discount postage for multiple items. Maximum postage for any number of albums, posted to anywhere in Australia is capped at $15
All records are New, Sealed and on the shelf ready to go.
All records are safely and professionally packed for transport
Townes Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues” is a difficult song to write for a friend. “If it rained an ocean I’d drink it dry/ and lay me down dissatisfied.” Much of it seems too personal to share, and the author’s insistence that Bell – a bass player – never accompany him on “Rex’s Blues” is telling. Like Merle Travis’ “Nine Pound Hammer,” which Van Zandt covers on Live at the Old Quarter, the song is a tentative goodbye.
In Van Zandt’s lyrics, the best are personal, told in the first person. He wrote testimonials of frailty and helplessness that instantly identify them with their author: “Livin’s mostly wastin’ time/ and I waste my share of mine/ but it never feels too good/ so let’s don’t take too long.” He called them sky songs, borrowing from Bukka White before him. “Songs one simply pulled from the sky.”
The New York Times includes in its online archives a review in passing by Janet Maslin of Heartworn Highways, a documentary on country music filmed by James Szalapski and featuring, among others, Townes Van Zandt. In New York City, the sight of a gaunt singer pointing, in turn, a can of Coca-Cola, a bottle of whiskey, and a shotgun at the camera could only be an oddity, although Ms. Maslin finds humor in the chickens Van Zandt introduces as Smith and Wesson. He was full of gallows comedy.
Critics pigeonhole the Townes Van Zandt of the shy, sad smile, the torn and frayed laureate of small graces. But his music is so much grander, full of fear and cowardice and the emptiness of open places. When Van Zandt was not performing, he often stayed in a cabin sixty miles outside of Nashville, or in Austin, or else wandered Colorado hills on horseback alone. A biography is supposedly on hold, and one wonders what it will say. There is the music, and the man who made it, and the latter is susceptible to so many things.
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