The Bottom Line
Pros
- "Driving Nails In My Coffin"
- "Rake & Ramblin' Boy"
- "Jean Harlow"
- "Mr. Garfield"
- "Woody's Last Ride"
Cons
- Nothing!
Description
- Guest artists Lucinda Williams, David Hidalgo, Flea, Corin Tucker, and others.
- Elliot's back with old time country, folk, and yarn spinning, etc.
- An oustanding collection of some of his best work yet.
Guide Review - Ramblin' Jack Elliot - I Stand Alone
From the first notes, you know you’ve just stuck a legend in your CD player. If it’s possible to take the hot, dusty, winding highway and transform it into melody, Ramblin’ Jack has mastered this feat.With a few younger cats like Lucinda Williams, David Hidalgo, Flea, and Corin Tucker (Sleater Kinney), picking around in the background, the old rambler returns with an album of quintessentially Jack Elliot songs.
Elliot has been just about everywhere and seen just about everything in his life. He must have thousands of songs he's learned through the years, and his voice comes across on I Stand Alone with as much encyclopedic command as ever.
His choice of songs is most fascinating of all. In fact, Elliot's song choices seem to follow along much in the same way you'd imagine a day in Elliot's life would run: a little bit of thought about a woman ("Careless Darling" – performed here, heartachingly, with Lucinda Williams), about 20 seconds singing to the dog ("My Old Dog and Me"), and, after reflecting on the political situation ("Mr. Garfield"), it's back to love again ("Remember Me").
There's nothing much more to American folk music than that.
Elliot has always been a consummate story teller. His incredible sense of wordplay, and the power of creating an image with words, has inspired generations of musicians and songwriters, including Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen.
Don't miss this record!
