Post by Tweet on Oct 8, 2024 11:10:18 GMT -6
There are a couple things I knew about Merle Haggard and this album before I put it on for the first time. I knew I missed Merle the year he played Riot Fest. I knew Nana really loves this album. I knew “Blue Yodel #9” was called out in a Colter Wall song, and I knew “Sing Me Back Home” was covered by the Grateful Dead a lot. I suppose I could be critical of a live album of Merle’s not including “Mama Tried”, but this is not a Grateful Dead show.
The most important thing to note contextually on your first listen is that Merle used this to get out of his MCA records obligations when he signed with Epic Records in the early 80s. There’s also a gospel album that was used but is neither here nor there. It’d be disingenuous to say Merle used this as a throw away album to get out of that deal- yes, the songs are somewhat oddly cut from time to time, and there’s a dueling fiddle section that, while hot, could probably be argued is just in there to make sure this album hits the 30-minute mark. AllMusic implies that the album is composed of new takes on old drinking songs. I can’t claim I know much of Merle’s background to confirm that, but the album isn’t boring. It’s a raucous listen from a hyped-up Anaheim crowd. With Willie Nelson and Johnny Paycheck guesting on it, it’s hard not to encourage the average country listener to give it a spin.
Merle sounds tender cover to cover here. Part of it, at least on the first few songs, is due to the standout piano playing of Mark Yeary, but at least part of it in my mind is the sound a man who, after a long time coming, finally hit the “big time”- a stadium show in southern California. At 44, the rough and tumble of Haggard’s life has clearly shown up on him, but that doesn’t take away the intimacy of him and his band working these songs. From the first few seconds, cut ups be damned, the crowd is clearly into it. Only Ronnie Reagan himself could’ve hyped them up more in this day and time.
Highights of the album include “Back to the Barroms Again” and the titular “Rainbow Stew”, whose lyrics from 40+ years ago about hoping for homes to be powered by solar energy and Presidents doing what they’ll say they’ll do could slot right in a modern song today with no adjustments needed. Maybe that’s a token to the staying power of Merle. Maybe that’s a reminder that there’s still so much more to do after all this time.
Rainbow Stew slots in tied at #31 on the list of best board live albums, tied with its fellow #1 ranking of The Rolling Stones “Still Life” at 50 points. The idea was to have a live online listening session as we reveal these top 30 live albums, but unfortunately the service I was planning to use for that is shut down, and its replacement in restricted beta mode access. Not ideal. So, starting around 1:30pm CST, we’ll include the list of live board albums 5 at a time. Ties are broken by number of lists an album appeared on. Songs will be posted from each album with its spot. Thanks to all who voted. See you later this afternoon.
The most important thing to note contextually on your first listen is that Merle used this to get out of his MCA records obligations when he signed with Epic Records in the early 80s. There’s also a gospel album that was used but is neither here nor there. It’d be disingenuous to say Merle used this as a throw away album to get out of that deal- yes, the songs are somewhat oddly cut from time to time, and there’s a dueling fiddle section that, while hot, could probably be argued is just in there to make sure this album hits the 30-minute mark. AllMusic implies that the album is composed of new takes on old drinking songs. I can’t claim I know much of Merle’s background to confirm that, but the album isn’t boring. It’s a raucous listen from a hyped-up Anaheim crowd. With Willie Nelson and Johnny Paycheck guesting on it, it’s hard not to encourage the average country listener to give it a spin.
Merle sounds tender cover to cover here. Part of it, at least on the first few songs, is due to the standout piano playing of Mark Yeary, but at least part of it in my mind is the sound a man who, after a long time coming, finally hit the “big time”- a stadium show in southern California. At 44, the rough and tumble of Haggard’s life has clearly shown up on him, but that doesn’t take away the intimacy of him and his band working these songs. From the first few seconds, cut ups be damned, the crowd is clearly into it. Only Ronnie Reagan himself could’ve hyped them up more in this day and time.
Highights of the album include “Back to the Barroms Again” and the titular “Rainbow Stew”, whose lyrics from 40+ years ago about hoping for homes to be powered by solar energy and Presidents doing what they’ll say they’ll do could slot right in a modern song today with no adjustments needed. Maybe that’s a token to the staying power of Merle. Maybe that’s a reminder that there’s still so much more to do after all this time.
Rainbow Stew slots in tied at #31 on the list of best board live albums, tied with its fellow #1 ranking of The Rolling Stones “Still Life” at 50 points. The idea was to have a live online listening session as we reveal these top 30 live albums, but unfortunately the service I was planning to use for that is shut down, and its replacement in restricted beta mode access. Not ideal. So, starting around 1:30pm CST, we’ll include the list of live board albums 5 at a time. Ties are broken by number of lists an album appeared on. Songs will be posted from each album with its spot. Thanks to all who voted. See you later this afternoon.
