Audio CD review:
Townes Van Zandt - A Far Cry from Dead

Townes Van Zandt - A Far Cry from Dead

Band: Townes Van Zandt Title: A Far Cry from Dead Rating: Release Date: 29 June, 1999 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Dollar Bill Blues 2: To Live's To Fly 3: Rex's Blues 4: Sanitarium Blues 5: Ain't Leavin' Your Love 6: Greensboro Woman 7: Snake Mountain Blues 8: Pancho And Lefty 9: For The Sake Of The Song 10: Waitin' 'Round To Die 11: Many A Fine Lady 12: Tower Song 13: Squash

Editoral Review After he died on New Year's Day, 1997, his last tapes started leaking out. Even in the 1990s, as he was finishing a lifelong quest to drink himself to death, Townes Van Zandt continued to write, record, and perform. There was The Highway Kind, a collection of live originals and studio covers, and Last Rights, a "CD documentary" of songs, stories, and interviews. All this belated work features a frail but unflinching voice haunted by its approaching rendezvous. Now comes this collection of 13 voice-and-guitar demos from 1989 through 1996 that Van Zandt's widow, Jeanene, turned over to producer Eric Paul, who tastefully fleshed them out with overdubs from a Nashville country-rock band. It's the most accessible of the man's posthumous releases, with Van Zandt revisiting some famous songs ("Pancho & Lefty," "For the Sake of the Song") and some obscure ones from a wearier but wiser perspective. He also reveals two unreleased tunes--the bouncy comic number "Squash" and the heart-shriveling "Sanitarium Blues," an autobiographical talking blues about his stay in a mental hospital. --Geoffrey Himes .. You can see a complete list of all Townes Van Zandt discography, or go back to the Townes Van Zandt tabs