I have to admit that one of my ‘hidden pleasures’ has been country music. Not Dolly Parton or Charley Pride but Willie Nelson or Hank Williams or, personal favourites, Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen. Bill Kirchen was one of the original Lost Planet Airmen and most of the tracks on this album were originally by that august band and they are pretty damn fine!
This is stripped down to just Kirchen on guitars and vocals, Maurice Cridlin on bass and Jack O’Dell on drums but between them they do make a wonderful noise.
They rock it up on ‘Too Much Fun’, get maudlin on the classic ‘Down to Seeds And Stems Again’ and get positively weird on ‘Truckstop At The End Of The World’ as well as an excellent version of Dylan’s ‘It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’.
Aged ‘somewhere in his sixties’, Kirchen has been living with these songs for many years and there is probably no-one who could do them better justice. His signature sound is described as ‘Dieselbilly’ and he was proclaimed as one of the kings of the Telecaster having, allegedly’ swapped his Gibson for one with a stranger on a bus in ’67 and playing it ever since.
Bottom line is that this is great fun and no little great playing but the man has a sense of humour that makes it more than just another country album. Yeehaw!
This is stripped down to just Kirchen on guitars and vocals, Maurice Cridlin on bass and Jack O’Dell on drums but between them they do make a wonderful noise.
They rock it up on ‘Too Much Fun’, get maudlin on the classic ‘Down to Seeds And Stems Again’ and get positively weird on ‘Truckstop At The End Of The World’ as well as an excellent version of Dylan’s ‘It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’.
Aged ‘somewhere in his sixties’, Kirchen has been living with these songs for many years and there is probably no-one who could do them better justice. His signature sound is described as ‘Dieselbilly’ and he was proclaimed as one of the kings of the Telecaster having, allegedly’ swapped his Gibson for one with a stranger on a bus in ’67 and playing it ever since.
Bottom line is that this is great fun and no little great playing but the man has a sense of humour that makes it more than just another country album. Yeehaw!
