The fourth volume of Bear Family’s seven-edition country-rock history Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock kicks off with Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen’s locomotive rendition of Hot Rod Lincoln, possibly the hardest-rocking cut yet featured in this series. It’s a good indication of how things were changing in 1971, the year chronicled in this double-disc set. What began as a mellow breeze blowing out of Southern California grew grittier as it swept across the country, picking up musicians who were perhaps a little rowdier than the previous generation’s. That’s another way of saying that there are a lot of bands featured on this installment of Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy…
320 kbps | 314 MB UL | HF | MC ** FLAC
…Angels: Commander Cody, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Randy Bachman’s Brave Belt, Cochise, Cowboy, Head Hands & Feet, Twin Engine, and Poco, every one of them bringing a heavier backbeat. When combined with a slight diminishment of the literate singer/songwriters that dominated Vol. 3 — the moody Mickey Newbury shows up toward the end of the collection, but both Kris Kristofferson and John Prine seem comfortable showcased alongside the shaggier country-rockers here — helps give this installment a funkier feel, a suspicion confirmed by the funkier acts included here: Link Wray and Lonnie Mack riding the roots movement, Hoyt Axton roaring through “Never Been to Spain,” Sir Douglas Quintet sending out “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” Freddy Fender, wherever he is, and this comp’s great re-discovery, Alex Harvey, a sensational singer/songwriter who wrote “Delta Dawn” and “Tulsa Turnaround” (and has nothing to do with the British rocker who shares his name). This kind of relaxed, down-and-dirty groove is so addictive that it’s easy not to realize that Gram Parsons is M.I.A. (the Chris Hillman-led Flying Burrito Brothers are here, though), but that only underscores how by 1971 the movement Gram set into motion grew into its own thing.
CD1
01. Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen – Hot Rod Lincoln
02. Hoyt Axton – Never Been to Spain
03. Link Wray – La De Da
04. Gene Clark – White Light
05. Alex Harvey – Tulsa Turnaround
06. Kris Kristofferson – The Pilgrim Chapter 33
07. Johnny Cash – Singing in Viet Nam Talking Blues
08. Lonnie Mack – Three Angels
09. The Flying Burrito Brothers – Colorado
10. Michael Nesmith & The First National Band – Grand Ennui
11. The Band – When I Paint My Masterpiece
12. New Riders of the Purple Sage – Henry
13. Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen – Seeds and Stems Again
14. John Prine – Angel from Montgomery
15. JJ Cale – Crazy Mama
16. Brave Belt – Crazy Arms, Crazy Eyes
17. Cochise – Lost Hearts
18. Cowboy – Please Be with Me
19. Heads Hands & Feet – Country Boy
CD2
01. Delaney & Bonnie and Friends – Never Ending Song of Love
02. Little Feat – Willin’
03. Ry Cooder – Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All
04. Lonnie Mack – Asphalt Outlaw Hero
05. Kris Kristofferson – Good Christian Soldier
06. John Prine – Paradise
07. Gene Clark – For a Spanish Guitar
08. New Riders of the Purple Sage – Glendale Train
09. Michael Nesmith & The First National Band – Tumbling Tumbleweeds
10. The Flying Burrito Brothers – Hand to Mouth
11. Rick Nelson – This Train
12. Twin Engine – My Life Gets Better Every Day
13. Alex Harvey – Delta Dawn
14. Mordicai Jones – All Because of a Woman
15. Doug Kershaw – Who Needs That Kind of Friend
16. Poco – Bad Weather
17. Mickey Newbury – The Future’S Not What It Used to Be
18. Link Wray – Fire and Brimstone
19. Sir Douglas Quintet – Wasted Days, Wasted Nights
20. Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen – Lost in the Ozone