Asleep At The Wheel

Floating World have been releasing top class reissues for some years but this one really does hit the spot.

Asleep At The Wheel play what is generally called Western Swing – Country music with a bounce and swing to it. Think of artists such as Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Dan Hick & The Hot Licks, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. Country music with a sense of fun and made to dance to.

As a band Asleep At The Wheel - they have also had association with many other artists over the years - have been around since 1970 and these two live recordings were made 7 years apart, in 1973 ad 1980. The band are still playing today.

The first thing to note is the sheer quality of these recordings. One was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausolito in 1973 and the second at the Lone Star Café in New York in 1980 and the first could almost have been recorded in the studio while the sound quality of the second is way better than most live recordings from such a venue.

The second thing to note is that the music is simply wonderful. There is a great sense of good-times and having fun and while the playing is top notch there is that undefinable feeling that they are playing with a big smile on their face.

Fiddles, honky-tonk piano and pedal steel guitar abound as well as some delightfully cheesy female vocals and the syncopation of vocals and double bass is just remarkable.

As an example of Western Swing it is fine, well worth an extended listen.