Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo tabs Uncle Tupelo discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Uncle Tupelo guitar tabs

CD reviews

No Depression

Uncle Tupelo - No Depression Audio CD

A fair review of the Uncle Tupelo "No Depression" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Uncle Tupelo reviews here, or go back to the Uncle Tupelo tabs.

Band: Uncle Tupelo
Title: No Depression
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-04-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Graveyard Shift 2: That Year 3: Before I Break 4: No Depression 5: Factory Belt 6: Whiskey Bottle 7: Outdone 8: Train 9: Life Worth Livin' 10: Flatness 11: So Called Friend 12: Screen Door 13: John Hardy 14: Left In The Dark 15: Won't Forget 16: Sin City (Bonus Track) 17: Whiskey Bottle (Live Acoustic Version) (Bonus Track) 18: No Depression (1988 Demo) (Bonus Track) 19: Blues Die Hard (1987 Demo) (Bonus Track)

One of the Greatest Albums of All Time
It is a classic. Not enough positive stuff can be said about this album. . . American to the core, but creative and interesting too. Really makes you want to quit your job and learn to play the banjo or something.

A great debut from a band that broke up before reaching its prime
Named for a song by the Carter Family, Uncle Tupelo tapped into some basic roots music in a time when over-produced junk ruled the airwaves, and they were a breath of fresh air. This album sort of launched the Americana revival.

One of the great "what ifs" of music is what would have happened to Uncle Tupelo if Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedey hadn't parted ways. Farrar's career has been less than successful that Tweedey and Wilco, but he had a dark, depressing side that in a way balanced Tweedey kine of like Lennon did with McCartney.

Hey, if Gary Louris and Mark Olson can get back together and try and recapture (not very successfully, sadly) the magic of the Jayhawks, perhaps someday we'll see a Tweedey-Farrar collaboration. For now, we have Uncle Tupelo's four releases (plus the "best of" with a great cover of CCR's "Effigy" on it), all remastered and with bonus tracks.

In all honesty, the bonus tracks don't add much to the originals, but what's here in original format is more than enough warrant buying this CD. My favorite remains "Still Feel Gone," although "March 1992" is mightly fine. This debut is eminently listenable and gives you a hint of the great stuff to come from Uncle Tupelo, Farrar, and Tweedy.
.

The Album that Kicked Off The Movement
Some of this alternative country music (Son Volt is another one) has done wonders for me, giving me a good, new approach to country, and feels like country, not just pop music with a faux country image or bland pop guitars with an irrating southern accent. Man, nothing like Uncle Tupelo to satisfy my fix for country music. Well, this is something that you should hear, especially if you are country freak. You just might find a gold mine.

While Uncle Tupelo's debut album may not be anything more than good, I'll be damned if there is nothing else that satisfies like this album. Uncle Tupelo blends southern rock, punk rock (!!!), folk music, and rugged, real country music into one addicting record. Perhaps more importantly, it shows the early talents of Jay Farrar (Son Volt, which fleshes out more melancholy and country tendencies) and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco, that went in millions of directions). Both get parts on this record, backed up with the explosive drumming of Mike Heirdon and besides a standard rock set up, there's fiddles, harmonicas, banjo, acoustic guitars, pianos, and a "rice can". The lyrics vary from the two song writers. The topics aren't exactly something gush over, but the two paint a very realistic picture of their topics, especially evident on their topic of an alcoholic.

On tracks like Graveyard Shift, Before I Break, Train, Factory Belt, and Outdone, the band plays this very explosive, raunchy country rock. What's remarkable is how damn evident the country sound is. On top of that, it sounds rustic and highway bound, like country music should, instead of studio and arena bound. The ballads and slow songs are authentic country. No Depression is fantastic, it's one that I fell in love with. Whiskey Bottle has lyrics that I doubt Jay Farrar has never experienced, however, I find that he does an excellent job writing from that point of view. They really do mix their influences, with the swingy John hardy being an example of their raw rock music with a country influence. Another example would be That Year, which goes from Green Day like cowpunk to fledging bluegrass rock.

This album sounds fantastic remastered. While the bonus tracks aren't top notch alltogether, a lot of the songs on them are actually good! Personally, the demo track is extremely good. It's quite amazing how good it sounds since it sounds like it's recorded in a basement on an 8-track. No Depression is one of my favorite songs on the album, and another, totally different cut is great. The live version of Whiskey Bottle isn't as good as the original, but it's mellow and does a great job as the acoustic piece it is suppose to be, and the harmonica is played instead of the electric instruments. Sin City is a cover of an old school country song, and it's acoustic like Whiskey Bottle. Won't Forget, for some reason, is a great garage rocker, while Left in The Dark is disposable. Sure, the main disc is the main attraction, but the bonus tracks are fun to listen to.

Wanna see where Tweedy and Farrar started out? Buy this album. Sick of today's country crap but want to see what the new musical styles have done for country music? Buy this album. Want good music? Buy this album. SHould you buy this album because it's damn good music? Yes, so buy this album already!

7. 5/10.

Alternative country comes alive...
For some reason it sat at the bottom of my tape collection for well over a year. A friend of mine actually gave me a copy of No Depression on tape shortly after this release came out and told me I had to check this new band out. I finally rediscovered the tape one day and realized it was time to check out the band with the unique name. Man, had I missed out on some seriously good music! There is a nice mix of punk and country on many of the songs on this cd. Songs such as "Graveyard Shift" and "Factory Belt" are quick paced, high-flying country/punk tunes but the song that blew me away (and still does to this day) is the old school country drinking song "Whiskey Bottle". Everytime I hear this song it just sends shivers up my spine as you can feel the pain and heartache in Jay Farrar's voice. Some great bonus tracks on the remastered version including a great version of Gram Parson's "Sin City" and an informative booklet just add to the original beauty of this release. Tupelo move forward into a more traditional country sound after this cd but "No Depression" is a groundbreaking effort.

.

Oh My, yes indeed!
Punk meets Country, with Rock sprinkled all over for good measure! From the opening note of "Graveyard Shift" to the close of "Blues Die Hard, there's 19 tracks of pure great music to be had here. Now this, THIS is my kind of music.

This stuff is potent - what creativity, what diversity, what a great sound these guys put out. Makes me mad I didn't discover them sooner, because Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt are two of the best groups I've been lucky enough to come across in the past year or two. Really and truly well worth buying this one is, you will be very glad you did!.

You can see a complete list of all Uncle Tupelo discography, or go back to the Uncle Tupelo tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.