TOWNES VAN ZANDT

with CHARLIE McCOY, LYLE RITZ, HARVEY NEWMARK, DAVID COHEN, JAMES BURTON, etc.

Among the most widely admired and influential Texas songwriters, an alt-country godfather with a dry, witty, allusive writing style. Townes Van Zandt's music doesn't jump up and down, wear fancy clothes, or beat around the bush. Whether he was singing a quiet, introspective country-folk song or a driving, hungry blues, Van Zandt's lyrics and melodies were filled with the kind of haunting truth and beauty that you knew instinctively. His music came straight from his soul by way of a kind heart, an honest mind, and a keen ear for the gentle blend of words and melody. He could bring you down to a place so sad that you felt like you were scraping bottom, but just as quickly he could lift your spirits and make you smile at the sparkle of a summer morning or a loved one's eyes -- or raise a chuckle with a quick and funny talking blues. The magic of his songs is that they never leave you alone.

"OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN"

 <reissue, originally published in 1969>

Produced by Jack Clement

LP     TOMATO RECORDS      TOM-7015   STEREO

PRINTED IN U.S.A.     1978 REPRESSING

SINGLE COVER + COMPANY INNER SLEEVE

HEAVY CARDBOARD COVER

NOTES: Brown (wrapping paper) inner sleeves with "stamp" Tomato 12" Quality Produce.

Label variant from another 1978 US reissue [Rainbo's S-#### company numbers printed below "Stereo" to the right of the spindle hole]. Copyright repeated on center labels, once in silver text (under producer credits) and once in white text (on bottom rim).

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: none

LABEL: TOMATO - BLACK LABEL with RED LOGO on TOP - SILVER TEXT

Catalog on cover: TOM-7015

Catalog on labels: TOM-7015 A / TOM-7015 B

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): TOM-7015-A   J.G.   (Stamped) MASTERDISK

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): TOM-7015-b   J.G.   (Stamped) MASTERDISK

On labels: rim text "© The Tomato Music Company, Limited, New York, N.Y. Printed in U.S.A."

Produced by Kevin Eggers, Jack Clement & Jim Malley

© The Tomato Music Company, Limited, New York, N.Y. Printed in U.S.A."

On back cover: Tracklist

TMK © 1978 The Tomato Music..............Printed in U.S.A.

tracklisting

Side A: BE HERE TO LOVE ME - KATHLEEN - SHE CAME AND SHE TOUCHED ME

LIKE A SUMMER THURSDAY - OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN - SECOND LOVERS SONG

Side B: ST. JOHN THE GAMBLER - TECUMSEH VALLEY - SNAKE MOUNTAIN BLUES

MY PROUD MOUNTAINS - WHY SHE'S ACTING THIS WAY

grading

RECORD EX  (please, read above description)

SLEEVE VG+ (please, see pictures and read above description)

Poppy Records tapped Jack Clement to produce this set, but the results of his work are mixed. The best tracks here are the ones in which Clement showed a bit of restraint, while others feature strings, flutes, harpsichords, and other touches that might have been trippy ideas at the time, but sounded embarrassingly dated even a few years later. "Be Here to Love Me" is a Tex-Mex flavored country tune, and the title song to the 2004 biopic about Van Zandt. It's a good, not great love song, with Van Zandt's vocals mixed way out front. An overloud tambourine and the jazzy flute that meanders through the arrangement add nothing to the tune's charm. The harpsichord on "She Came and Touched Me" is mixed down far enough to be ignored, and while Van Zandt's vocals are strong, the Dylan-esque lyric is crammed with too much surrealistic imagery. The song lacks the restraint of his more mature work. "Second Lover's Song," is a great tune addressing the uselessness of jealousy and the saving grace of fidelity with a strong lyric and heartfelt vocal, but that pesky flute returns with a string section in tow, clashing with the tunes simple sentiment. "St. John the Gambler" is the kind of hopeless, poetic love ballad Van Zandt does so well, with an aching melody that would have sounded better without the sappy strings. The best tracks are bunched up at the end of the album and only add minimal touches to Van Zandt's moaning delivery and sparse picking. "Tecumseh Valley," is the sad tale of a gal rambling around looking for love who finally turns to prostitution to make ends meet. "Snake Mountain Blues" is a traditional meditation on the duplicity of women and the dangers of the wild side of life driven by some tasty acoustic guitar work full of bent blue notes and flurries of arpeggios. "My Proud Mountains" is marked by Van Zandt's moaning delivery and sparse picking accompanied only by an understated second guitarist providing bluesy fills. "Why She's Acting This Way" has sustained organ chords adding to the song's cheerless atmosphere, the sad tale of a couple at the end of a troubled relationship. There's precious little communication going on, a subject Van Zandt is adept at describing with keen insight and compassion. It closes the album on a high, if depressing, note...(AllMusic)