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'The Atlantic
Recordings' (Rhino)
Loudon Wainwright III
(a review by Terry
Kelly)
 This
album by songwriting genius Loudon Wainwright is long-overdue.
A limited edition, available
only via the internet, it collects the American singer-songwriter's
first and second albums on CD for the first time. Originally
issued on Atlantic in 1970 and 1971 respectively, the albums
quickly established Wainwright as a glittering star in the bright
firmament of USA songwriters in the early 1970s, along with peers
such as John Prine and Steve Goodman.
This deluxe package, which includes
a previously unreleased version of 'Drinking Song,' features
many of the songs which revealed Wainwright's ability to create
songs brilliantly combining heartfelt pathos and verbal slapstick
- often in the space of a single line. Concert favourites
(and you really MUST see Loudo live) featured on this generous
24-track compilation include 'School Days,' ("In Delaware
when I was younger"), 'Me and My Friend the Cat,' that still
heart-stopping study in the loneliness of the road, 'Motel Blues,'
the early hours parental wisdom of 'Be Careful There's a Baby
In the House,' the hardbitten truth session of 'Old Friend,'
and the stark lyricism of 'Winter Song.'
Once inexplicably dubbed "the
male Melanie," Wainwright possesses the comic timing of
Phil Silvers and the heartbreaking lyrical precision of a songwriting
Montgomery Clift. Many of these distinctive qualities are
highlighted in a three-page essay by Irish poet and publisher,
Peter Fallon, who has many finely judged things to say about
his long-time friend, including this: "More than any other
singer-songwriter who emerged when he did, he's stuck the pace.
By being true to himself, he's been true to us."
The third album would see Loudo
switching to Columbia and enjoying his only big hit, with the
offbeat 'Dead Skunk,' but failing to repeat the successful formula
would haunt his career for years to come. But this essential
collection captures the young songwriting talent at his most
tenderly poetic, before numerous failed marriages and rocky relationships,
prodigious drinking and record company hassles fuelled Loudo's
muse on the later and equally brilliant albums.
Review written by Terry
Kelly
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'The Atlantic Sessions' is a
special release by Rhino Records of Loudon Wainwright's first
two albums - Loudon
Wainwright III and Album II, collected together on a single CD with
a specially produced booklet containing full lyrics, artwork,
sleevenotes and also an extra track - 'Drinking Song' (Another version of 'Drinking Song' later
appeared on Loudon's third album, - imaginatively called 'Album
III' :-)
This is the FIRST time that they
have been issued on CD, and it is a Limited Edition of
just 5000 copies Worldwide. The issue went on sale on 16th
December '99, so if you have not yet got your copy (and want
one) you would be well advised to act SOON.
ONLY available on the Internet, and ONLY from Rhino
Records |
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