Recording Reviews
These are just a few of the dozens of reviews in every issue of Dirty Linen

Guy Clark
Cold Dog Soup
Sugar Hill SUG-1063 (1999)
We all know what to expect with a Guy Clark CD: Refusing to even set foot in a recording studio unless he has "ten good songs," he offers just that — except that there are 12 and they're great. Like his previous recordings there's no slow buildup or holding back. As soon as the opening title cut kicks in, Clark's first character, "William Butler Yeats in jeans," immediately grabs the listener by the lapels.
Clark's knack of carving out a lean and seamless verse, the time he lives with each song before committing them to tape and the way they're sung in that inimitable charcoal Texas drawl always draw the listener into the heart of songs as vivid as three-minute movies and guarantee a CD's worth of "songs you can smell." Backed by long-time sidekicks Verlon Thompson and Darrell Scott, Clark recounts stories like that of a fiddling mountain gal depicted in the old-timey "Sis Draper," based on a character from co-writer Shawn Camp's childhood. Good ol' boys shenanigans are honored in the playful "Men Will Be Boys" and a yearning eye is cast towards his grandparents' land in "Red River," expressing a wish to his wife Susanna that he be buried there. Among the three covers is a beautiful ode to his best friend and fellow Texas songwriter, the late Townes Van Zandt, with an intimate and moving "Fort Worth Blues" penned by Steve Earle.
Keeping the same stride since 1992's Boats to Build, the production is as dry as a bone — the way it would probably have sounded if the tape recorder had been left rolling in the Clark family sitting room — and make the songs extra-accessible. Cold Dog Soup is — to quote from Clark's aformentioned '92 project — "a fair curve from a noble plan."
— Gianluca Tramontana (New York, NY)

William Pint &
Felicia Dale
Hartwell Horn
Waterbug WBG 0048 (1999)
Seattle-based singers and multi-instrumentalists William Pint and Felicia Dale rank among North America's most exciting interpreters of music based in the traditions of the British Isles and France. They're both talented ballad singers who can blend their voices in a powerful counterpoint, and they have a great ear for old and new material. The most distinctive part of their sound is Dale's wailing hurdy-gurdy, which the duo uses both as a lead instrument in dance tunes and as an unconventional but spine-tingling reinforcement on some of their songs.
Hartwell Horn finds Pint and Dale returning to an all-acoustic sound following the amplified electric power surge of 1997's Round the Corner, and while the arrangements are unplugged this time their energy and sense of fun are undiminished. "Captain Grant" is a fast-paced narrative of a well-intentioned Scottish outlaw who meets the usual end, while "The Widow and the Devil" is a clever R-rated tale of an amorous woman who wins a bedroom bet with Satan. On "Sing Ho to the Greenwood," multi-tracked voices are joined by hurdy-gurdy and whistle in an uplifting choral round. Several of the vocal tracks are sung as unaccompanied duets, like the jolly account of a pre-supermarket-era shopping spree called "I Went to the Market to Buy a Cock," and "Johnny Sands," a lighthearted look at a seriously dysfunctional marriage of a few centuries ago. Five of the 15 tracks on the disc are instrumental sets, featuring exhilarating Breton dance medleys, a rousing Playford piece called "Rufty Tufty," and a unique and mesmerizing hurdy-gurdy arrangement of "She Moved Through the Fair."
— Tom Nelligan (Waltham, MA)

Various artists
Sacred Steel - Live!
Arhoolie CD 472 (1999)
This is without a doubt one of the most amazing collections of gospel music ever recorded. In the late 1930s, Troman and Willie Eason introduced the Hawaiian lap steel guitar into House of God church services and began a tradition that continues to develop today. The lap steel's range of timbres ranges from a human voice-like singing quality to a spine-tingling, hair-raising tone, invigorating the churches' gospel music and giving it a unique quality.
This album contains contributions from a number of House of God musicians, from different areas around the country and generations, including Willie Eason, and the most well-known (outside of the church) group, the Campbell Brothers, who have lately been performing at secular music festivals. The Campbell Brothers are the backbone of this album, appearing on most of the tracks, frequently supporting vocalists. Fans of roots music will especially enjoy this album due to the visceral punch of the music and the directness and power of the various voices.

Various artists
Balkans without Borders
Omnium OMM 2024 (1999)
Like listening to some great mystery station stumbled across on shortwave radio with which you become completely enchanted, Balkans Without Borders is filled with people passionately singing in indecipherable languages. The music is compelling, interesting, and even fun. What are they saying? Does it matter? How can you hear more?
This compilation dizzyingly spins through Balkan music — Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Macedonia — as sung by United States and European artists including Boiled in Lead and Klezmatics. Modern and traditional Balkan songs, folks songs, and techno-fused songs, appear in a continuing musical stream on this compilation.
There's not a wholly objectionable track among the 21 selections. Favorites? Everything is so different. Examples? Who can't love Brave Combo? "Hosa Dyna" was on their last album, but here it is again. "Ti Se Meli" is an oddly sensuous take on a traditional Greek folk tune. Zabe I Babe sing "Sjaj Mjesece" and the Immigrant Suns do "Surfin' Albania." "The Stars are Shining," as sung by Szécki Kurva, can only be described as "Never on Sunday" meets The Chemical Brothers.
Apart from the wonderful musical variety, the best thing about this recording is that proceeds from its sale benefits Médecines Sans Frontières.
— Linda Dailey Paulson (Ventura, CA)

Oysterband
Here I Stand
Omnium OMM2023 (1999)
British roots-rock pioneers the Oysterband have been decked with so many of the laudatory adjectives we've got in the English language that it is hard to find new words for the continuing fruits of their labour. Their past work has been characterized as being triumphant, brilliant, anthemic, intelligent, and irresistible – and that tradition continues. Here I Stand builds on their last several albums which have featured music that explores life on the cusp of another millennium. And, like their past work, this CD also contains those signature Oyster melody lines that swirl around in your head long after the CD stops spinning.
The CD showcases the usual range of moods, beginning with an uptempo bunch of songs with classic Oyster riffs and hooks. Their acoustic side shines through on tracks like "Street of Dreams" and "A Time of Her Own" (on which the acoustic guitar and fiddle dominate). A dark, atmospheric piece, "Someone You Might Have Been," is about slowly sinking into the water, feeling the weeds take your hand. Then there is the raw energy of "Jump Through the Fire" with its frenzied chorus. All of the songs are original, as are three short instrumentals including the fun "Cello Drop" and the quiet "A Last Glass." Lyrically, the material spans topics such as keeping faith against political tides like globalization and the race for mammon: "The hustle, the hassle, jostle and the muscle/ Squeeze it out to the last corpuscle/ That's what they mean by a fair deal/ Everybody's gonna be a spare wheel." Other lyrics explore relationships, as on "She's Moved On" or "And as for You."
The personnel of the band remains unchanged from past offerings, and it remains a unit which is cohesive, creative, and which draws fully on all of its members. A couple of tracks are done with friends in tow, such as "This is the Voice" (with Chumbawamba) and "This Town" (with Great Big Sea). Also notable is Rowan Godel's harmony vocals on "Street of Dreams." Although the tracks fit the visitors well, the songs are not overpowered by the guests.
One of the songs, "I Know It's Mine," is about the pace of history at the end of this millennium. But it could also be about the band itself. On the chorus, they sing: "In my time we've drunk away a century/ In my time we've tried to walk it honestly/ Love and anger, got to let the spirit shine/ In my time that's all I've got." Here I Stand is another strand of pearls from the Oyster.
— Ivan Emke
(Corner Brook, NF, Canada)