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GOODY TWO SHOES
2CD Deluxe Editions (Occasional Threesome), Expanded Reissues and Compilations
All Info From The Discs Themselves
No Cut and Paste Crap
Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer 6 Times
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"...Beneath Still Waters..."
Although it doesn't say it on the front or rear cover - what you get here are a huge Forty-Four Country-Rock US 45-Singles (all tracks are Single Versions). Rhino have pulled a humungous thirty-seven tracks from fourteen Studio Albums and one Live Set ("Last Date") and added in a Best Of Compilation exclusive, a Soundtrack duet with Roy Orbison and Five Non-LP B-sides.
The LP releases stretch from her February 1975 Debut Album "Pieces Of The Sky" all the way up to the October 1990 set "Brand New Dance". The pictured discography in the booklet however has all releases up to "Red Dirt Girl" and photos of other releases where there is more Emmylou Harris available - like the Gram Parsons twofer "Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology" – also issued May 2001 by Rhino.
While the tunes are the usual mix of heartbreak, misery, abandonment and infidelity amongst drunken emotional desperados – there are three things that impress and stay with you. The first is the staggering guest lists throughout the years - Members of The Band, Eagles, Little Feat and The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Plus guitar pickers like James Burton, Rodney Crowell, Ricky Scaggs, Albert Lee, Herb Pedersen, Duane Eddy, Paul Kennerley, Carl Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Douglas and Vocal Duets with genre legends like Roy Orbison, Don Williams, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton with Backing Vocals from such luminaries as Vince Gill, Kate and Anne McGarrigle, Dianne Brooks, Sharon Hicks, The Whites and so many more.
Door number two is the songs – always aching, often beautiful, and always with smart choices and superlative execution. But then there is number three – the sheer class that emanates off every molecule of her back catalogue – and is presented her in the kind of gorgeous array most recording artists can only hope for but rarely get.
When Rhino did the Warner Archives Reprise sets, they really went for it in terms of annotation and quality Remastering. There is so much to love on here – so let’s get to the saddles and get sore...
UK released 1 May 2001 - "Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Years" by EMMYLOU HARRIS on Warner Archives Rhino/Reprise 8122-76705-2 (Barcode 081227670528) is a 44-Track 2CD Compilation of Remastered US 45-Single Sides that plays out as follows:
CD1 (76:20 minutes):
1. Too Far Gone (Billy Sherriff song)
2. If I Could Only Win Your Love (Charlie and Ira Louvin song)
3. Boulder To Birmingham (Emmylou Harris/Bill Dannoff song)
4. Together Again (Buck Owens song)
5. Here, There And Everywhere (Beatles song)
6. One Of These Days (Earl Montgomery song)
7. Sweet Dreams (Live) (Don Gibson song)
8. (You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie (Chuck Berry song)
9. Making Believe (Jimmy Work song)
10. Easy From Now On (Susanne Clark/Carlene Carter song)
11. To Daddy (Dolly Parton song)
12. Two More Bottles Of Wine (Delbert McClinton song)
13. Save The Last Dance For Me (Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song, Drifters cover)
14. Beneath Still Waters (Dallas Frazier song)
15. Blue Kentucky Girl (Johnny Mullins song)
16. Wayfaring Stranger (Traditional song)
17. That Lovin' You Feelin' Again (Roy Orbison/Chris Price song – a Duet with ROY ORBISON)
18. The Boxer (Paul Simon song, Simon & Garfunkel cover)
19. Precious Love (Byron Walls song)
20. Fools Thin Air (Rodney Crowell/Susanna Clark song)
21. Mister Sandman (Pat Ballard song, Chordettes cover)
22. Colors Of Your Heart (Rodney Crowell song)
NOTES on CD1:
"Pieces Of The Sky" Album
Track 1 is a 26 February 1975 US 45-single, Reprise RPS-1326, A-side (see also Track 3 for B-side) – reissued 10 January 1979 as a US 45-single on Warner Brothers WBS 8732, A-side
Track 2 is a 4 June 1975 US 45-single, Reprise RPS-1332, A-side
Track 3 is a 26 February 1975 US 45-single first issue, Reprise RPS-1326, B-side of "Too Far Gone" – second issue was 4 June 1975 on Reprise RPS 1332, B-side of "If I Could Only Win Your Love" (Track 1), third issue was 17 December 1976 on Reprise RPS 1379, B-side of "Light Of The Stable"
Tracks 1 to 3 on her debut album "Pieces Of The Sky", released 7 February 1975 in the USA on Reprise Records MS 2213
"Elite Hotel" Album
Tracks 5 and 4 (note order) are the A&B-sides of a 11 February 1976 US 45-single, Reprise RPS 1346, a No.1 on US C&W singles charts
Track 6 is a 5 May 1976 US 45-single, Reprise RPS 1353, A-side
Track 7 is a 22 September 1976 US 45-single, Reprise RPS 1371, A-side, a No.1 on US C&W singles charts
Tracks 4, 5, 6 and 7 on her second studio album "Elite Hotel", released 29 December 1975 in the USA on Reprise Records MS 2236
"Luxury Liner" Album
Track 8 is a 2 February 1977 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 8329, A-side
Track 9 is a 4 May 1977 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 8388, A-side
Tracks 8 and 9 are from her album "Luxury Liner", released 28 December 1976 in the USA on Reprise Records BS 2998
"Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town" Album
Track 10 is a 5 July 1978 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 8623, A-side
Track 11 is a 2 November 1977 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 8498, A-side
Track 12 is a 7 March 1978 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 8553, A-side, a No.1 on US C&W singles charts
Tracks 10, 11 and 12 on her album "Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town", released 6 January 1978 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3141
"Blue Kentucky Girl" Album
Track 13 is a 2 May 1979 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 8815, A-side, a Drifters cover version
Track 14 is a 23 January 1980 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 49164, A-side, a No.1 on US C&W singles charts
Track 15 is a 22 August 1979 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 49056, A-side
Tracks 13, 14 and 15 on her album "Blue Kentucky Girl", released 13 April 1979 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3318
"Roses In The Snow" Album
Track 16 is a 14 May 1980 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 49239, A-side
Tracks 18 and 19 are the A&B-sides of a 13 August 1981 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 49551 – the B-side "Precious Lover" was Non-LP
"Roadies" Soundtrack Album
Track 17 was a US 45-single released 21 May 1980, Warner Brothers WBS 49262 – a duet credited to EMMYLOU HARRIS and ROY ORBISON. It also featured on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album to "Roadie", released 21 May 1980 in the USA on Warner Brothers 2HS-2441
Tracks 21 and 20 (note order) are the A&B-sides of an 11 February 1981 US 45-single on Warner Brothers WBS 49684. It is essentially a stand-alone 45 because the B-side "Fools Thin Air" was Non-LP and the A-side "Mister Sandman" had a different mix on the 1981 "Evangeline" album that contained additional vocals by Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt (not on the single version)
Track 22 is a 13 May 1981 US 45-single, Warner WBS 49739, the Non-LP B-side to "I Don't Have To Crawl"
CD2 (72:43 minutes):
1. If I Needed You ((Townes Van Zandt song – with DON WILLIAMS)
2. Tennessee Rose (Karen Brooks/Hank DeVito song)
3. Born To Run (Paul Kennerley song)
4. Another Pot O' Tea (Paul Grady song)
5. I'm Movin' On (Hank Snow song)
6. (Lost His Love) On Our Last Date (Live) (Floyd Crammer/Conway Twitty song)
7. So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) (Live) (Don Everly song)
8. Maybe Tonight (Shirley Elkhard song)
9. Drivin' Wheel (T-Bone Burnett/Billy Swan song)
10. In My Dreams (Paul Kennerley song)
11. Pledging My Love (Don Robey/Fats Washington song – Johnny Ace cover)
12. Someone Like You (Bob McDill/Dickey Lee song)
13. White Line (Emmylou Harris/Paul Kennerley song)
14. Rhythm Guitar (Emmylou Harris/Paul Kennerley song)
15. Timberline (Emmylou Harris/Paul Kennerley song)
16. I Had My Heart Set On You (Rodney Crowell/Paul Kennerley song)
17. Today I Started Loving You Again (Merle Haggard/Bonnie Owens song)
18. To Know Him Is To Love Him (Phil Spector song, a Teddy Bears cover, a Trio with DOLLY PARTON and LINDA RONSTADT)
19. Heartbreak Hill (Emmylou Harris/Paul Kennerley song)
20. Heaven Only Knows (Paul Kennerley song)
21. I Still Miss Someone (Johnny Cash & Ray Cash Jr.,)
22. Wheels Of Love (Marjy Plant)
NOTES on CD2:
"Evangeline" Album
Track 1 is an August 1981 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 49809, A-side – a duet with DON WILLIAMS. From the "Evangeline" album, released 28 January 1981 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3508 (see also Notes for Track 21 on CD1 – a variant of which is also on the album)
"Cimarron" Album
Track 2 is a 16 December 1981 US 45-single, Warner Brothers WBS 49892, A-side
Track 3 is a May 1982 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29993, A-side
Tracks 2 and 3 are on the album "Cimarron", released 18 November 1981 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3603
Track 4 is a 15 September 1982 US 45-single on Warner Brothers 7-29898, the Non-LP B-side to "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date" (for A-side see Track 6 on CD2)
"Last Date" Live Album
Track 5 is a 16 February 1983 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29729, A-side (for Non-LP B-side "Maybe Tonight" see Track 8 on CD2)
Track 6 is a 15 September 1982 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29898, A-side
Track 7 is a 1 June 1983 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29583, A-side
Tracks 5, 6 and 7 are on the live album "Last Date", released 13 October 1982 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 23740-1
Track 8 is a 16 February 1983 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29729, the Non-LP B-side to "I'm Movin' On" see Track 5 on CD2)
"White Shoes" Album
Track 9 is a 19 October 1983 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29443, A-side
Track 10 is a 22 February 1984 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29329, A-side
Track 11 is a 11 July 1984 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29218, A-side
Tracks 9, 10 and 11 from the album "White Shoes", released 19 October 1983 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 23961-1
"Profile II: The Best Of Emmylou Harris" Compilation Album
Track 12 was a new songs exclusive to the compilation "Profile II: The Best Of Emmylou Harris", released 17 September 1984 on Warner Brothers 9 25161-1
"The Ballad Of Sally Rose" Album
Track 13 is a 27 February 1985 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-29041, A-side
Track 14 is a 12 June 1985 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-28952, A-side
Track 15 is a 16 October 1985 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-28852, A-side
Tracks 13, 14 and 15 from the album "The Ballad Of Sally Rose", released 31 December 1984 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 25205-1
"Thirteen" Album
Track 16 is a 22 January 1986 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-28770, A-side
Track 17 is a 2 April 1986 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-28714, A-side
Tracks 16 and 17 are from the album "Thirteen", released 20 January 1986 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 25352-1
"Trio" Album
Track 18 is a 14 January 1987 US 45-single, Warner Brothers 7-28492, A-side. Also on the "Trio" album by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris, released 2 March 1987 in the USA on Warner Brothers 9 25491-1
"Bluebird" Album
Track 19 is an 18 November 1988 US 45-single, Reprise 7-27635, A-side
Track 20 is a 28 March 1989 US 45-single, Reprise 7-22999, A-side
Track 21 is an August 1989 US 45-single, Reprise 7-22850, a-side
Tracks 19, 20 and 21 on the "Bluebird" album, released 10 January 1989 in the USA on Reprise Records 9 25776-1
"Brand New Dance" Album
Track 22 is a 22 November 1990 US 45-single, Reprise 7-19510, A-side – also on the "Brand New Dance" album, released 16 October 1990 in the USA on Reprise 9 26309-2 (CD)
Produced for Rhino by their A&R man Patrick Mulligan (he introduces the liner notes), the outer card slipcase houses two Card-Digipaks (pictured) with the 50-page booklet slotted in beside them. The booklet is gorgeous and jam-packed with serious discography info and thorough history notes by HOLLY GEORGE-WARREN. Period photos pepper the text – they have even provided Billboard C&W and Pop chart positions for each single. And although Rhino only uses songs from 15 of her actual album releases, they have listed and pictured a full 24-album discography including compilations, Soundtracks and Retrospectives across Pages 42 to 46 as well as other suggestions where to get more of your EH fix (very classy stuff, like the good lady herself).
Long-time-associated Audio Engineers with Rhino reissues BILL INGLOT and DAN HERSCH have carried out the gorgeous Remasters at Digiprep – every song singing like that Kentucky Bird – pedal steel and mandolin solos ahoy. It really is a beautiful listen (check out the clarity on her cover of the going-over-Jordan Traditional "Wayfaring Stranger" – a song that features acoustic and gut-string geetars and mandolins by Ricky Scaggs, Brian Ahern, Jerry Douglas and Albert Lee). To the chunes...
Fans are going to love digitally remastered versions of cool rarities like the Honky Tonky guitar-picking of both "Precious Love" and "Fools Thin Air" – two Non-LP B-sides from 1980 and 1981, but that Roy Orbison duet from the crappy "Roadies" movie soundtrack feels like a clunky disappointment. But they are as nothing to the fabulous Rodney Crowell plaintive ballad "Colors Of Your Heart" – another Non-album flipside (from 1981) that surely should have been glistening on an album. The whole band elevates her floating ethereal vocals - Frank Reckard on Acoustic, Hank DeVito on Pedal Steel, James Burton on Dobro, Ricky Scaggs on Mandolin and a few more top session-types bolstering up the Rhythm Section. It’s a perfect example of the surprises this set throws up.
The first moment of genius for me on CD1 is her tingle-inducing ballad "Boulder To Birmingham" – as sweet and as movingly simple a listen as you could get in 1975. Her live version of the Don Gibson classic "Sweet Dreams" is fab too – somehow even more emotive for being in front of an audience - but I have to say I find the Dolly Parton song "To Daddy" far too saccharine. Not so the simple brilliance in the Delbert McClinton moaner "Two More Bottles Of Wine" – the kind of boozy-battered-broken-hearted-fool tune Emmylou so excels in. I can understand the clever Harmony Vocal overdubs in her cover of The Chordettes hit "Mister Sandman", but again the LP cut had additional vocals from Dolly and Linda and is much better for it. Vocalist Group The Whites (Buck, Cheryl and Sharon) lend their deeply lovely pipes to a very sweet cover of that "Bridge Over Troubled Water" classic "The Boxer" – Simon & Garfunkel might even have been impressed if they'd been talking. And as I mentioned earlier, "Wayfaring Stranger" is just plain beautiful and a track I return to again and again (Tim Buckley in 1968, Johnny Cash in 2000 and especially Natalie Merchant on her 2003 CD album "The House Carpenter’s Daughter" have all done storming versions too).
Over on CD2, the Eighties and its highly polished sound dominates – only in EJ's case she is thankfully determined to not make it Soul-less. Part 2 begins with a beautifully recorded duet with Don Williams on her cover of the Townes Van Zandt song "If I Needed You" – Wayne Godwin on Mandolin and Fiddle. Bert Ahern and Ricky Scaggs give a classy underpinning to the jaunty ache in "Tennessee Rose" (one night would sort things out). Not to be confused with The 1975 Boss Anthem of the same name, husband Paul Kennerley provided with EJ with "Born To Run" – great guitar sound in the clear-as-a-bell Remaster. Surprising lovely is the Non-LP B-side "Another Pot O' Tea", our Kentucky Girl in love with an Irish accent – laughing around the table but longing too.
Emmylou and her Hot Band were clearly raring to go with the live set "Last Date" opening proceedings with a cool Honky Tonk version of the much-covered Hank Snow song "I'm Movin' On" (a perfect scene-setter). Immediate concert class comes in the shape of "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date", our gusto-gal foolishly breaking her man down easy only to find she knows it's a fooler mistake as she watches her good baby walk away. Wayne Goodwin opens the lovely "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)" with his Mandolin strums only to be joined in the Harmony Wall by Steve Fishell and Don Johnson on Pedal Steel and Keyboards.
And again another flipside impresses big time - "Maybe Tonight" benefitting from Dobro by Steve Fishell. Time to get shuffling with the T-Bone Burnett and Billy Swan-penned boogie-down - "Drivin' Wheel". Aided by Barry Tashian dueting on Lead Vocals – it's the kind of Country Rocker that would make Gram Parsons smile in the great Blue Kentucky yonder. Emmylou will hold her man tight and everything will work out all right "In My Dreams". A clever choice is the Johnny Ace cover, "Pledging My Love", Emmylou turning his Doo Wop Fifties pleader into a Country one – such a lovely version with her voice evoking the hurt. And on it goes with an embarrassment of riches...
I have seen "Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Years" by Emmylou Harris on sale on Amazon for under three quid and on Auction Sites for as little as four or five sterling. I would take up that bargain before the crowds dawdling in some lesser musical space notice their extraordinarily discombobulated dicky behaviour...
