Flatlanders - Now Again

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Music reviews of Now Again

Music Review: The best disappointment of the year?
Rating: 3 Stars

The difference is, both literally and figuratively, as stark as that between electric and acoustic guitar. Where MORE A LEGEND... was plaintive, NOW AGAIN is rollicking. The high lonesome, almost alien musical saw that wrapped itself around the vocals dominated by Jimmie Dale Gilmore is back, still handled by Steve Wesson, but it's layered deep in the mix, lost in production that, while I'm reluctant to describe it as "glossy" when compared to many modern country recordings, lacks the depth present in MORE A LEGEND... - a depth also created by pure emotion; emotion nearly absent on NOW AGAIN. Only the album's opener, "Going Away," and closer, "South Wind of Summer," begin to approach the loss, desperation, hope, joy, and sadness that defined even the least of the tracks from MORE A LEGEND. The remainder of the tracks are not bad, but are instead generally forgettable, upbeat toe-tappers, not unlike many released on solo recordings by Joe Ely and Butch Hancock.

Songwriting and recording quality aside, one is also taken off guard by the equal distribution of vocal duties on NOW AGAIN. Jimmie Dale Gilmore is relegated to one-third of the lead vocals, leaving the much less distinctive vocals of Butch Hancock and Joe Ely to carry the rest of the album. Hardcore fans have doubtless explored each member's solo recordings and one can certainly make the statement that all three have recorded better songs individually - better entire albums, even - than all three turn in on NOW AGAIN.

That said, NOW AGAIN is still a good record - heads and shoulders better than 99% of the "country" albums released so far this year. One would like to judge it free of any expectations based on MORE A LEGEND..., but that is nearly impossible. The listener would be best served, then, to approach NOW AGAIN as a really pleasant record, just not a very important one.

Description of Now Again

Now Again was ostensibly produced by Ely, but the album's tracks were a true collaborative effort. The songs (with the exception of U. Utah Phillips' "Going Away") were co-written by the trio, and most of them feature the rough-hewn vocal blend of all three men ("It was fun to learn we could still sing harmonies," laughs Ely). Besides the session musicians, two other original Flatlanders joined Ely, Gilmore and Hancock for cameos in the studio: musical saw player Steve Wesson and vocalist Tony Pearson.

"We said, let's not put any limits on this thing," Ely says. "It freed us up a lot. We had to resist the urge to write a 10-verse song. Every line became important. We had to think about the structure of the songs as a whole. It was a very different kind of writing than what we would do as individuals."

But there are touchstones that the music on Now Again shares with the best of Ely's, Gilmore's and Hancock's music: there is an abundance of clever wordplay; there is the freewheeling blend of folk, rock, country, and blues that has always informed their work; and there is the feeling of lazy intimacy, of old friends tossing music and words around like softballs. Songs such as "Waving My Heart Goodbye," "Yesterday Was Judgment Day," "Now It's Now Again," and "Down in the Light of the Melon Moon" can croon, swing, rollick, or cry, depending on the whim of the three tunesmiths. --John T. Davis

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