More a Legend Than a Band | 
 enlarge | Artist: The Flatlanders
Label: Rounder Select
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $11.55
You Save: $5.43 (32%)
New (35) Used (18) Collectible (2) from $7.87
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 53297
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 34
UPC: 116615534226
EAN: 0011661553422
ASIN: B0000002C1
Release Date: October 7, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Dallas - The Flatlanders, Gilmore, Jimmie Dal | | • | Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown - The Flatlanders, Gilmore, Jimmie Dal | | • | You've Never Seen Me Cry - The Flatlanders, Hancock, Butch | | • | She Had Everything - The Flatlanders, Hancock, Butch | | • | Rose from the Mountain - The Flatlanders, Driver, Louis | | • | One Day at a Time - The Flatlanders, Nelson, Willie | | • | Jole Blon - The Flatlanders, | | • | Down in My Hometown - The Flatlanders, Gilmore, Jimmie Dal | | • | Bhagavan Decreed - The Flatlanders, Vizard, Ed | | • | The Heart You Left Behind - The Flatlanders, Strehli, Angela | | • | Keeper of the Mountain - The Flatlanders, Strehli, Al | | • | Stars in My Life - The Flatlanders, Hancock, Butch | | • | One Road More - The Flatlanders, Hancock, Butch |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
More a legend than a band because, even though the Flatlanders included the likes of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock, their 1972 album wasn't actually released on vinyl until 1980 and on CD until 1990. By then, that trio of singer-songwriters had become solo stars. But this long-lost debut isn't just historically interesting. Gilmore songs here, such as "Dallas" and "Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown," have become folk-country classics, and the old-time arrangements--often featuring little more than guitar, Dobro, and (on a few cuts) musical saw--are quite haunting, as are Gilmore's piercing lead vocals. --David Cantwell
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wonderful, Wonderful July 8, 2007
Music Fan (Illinois)
I had this record some years back, and just recently went to see a concert by the Flatlanders, looked for the record to listen to before, and couldn't find it! Well, I've got it again and couldn't be happier. These 3 guys are really legends on their own, but together they make some of the best music around. Standouts are Dallas. Jole Blon, Stars in my Life, Rose from the Mountain, well, I could go on, but if you've never heard a musical saw, get this record, you won't be disappointed.
One of the truly great country albums of all time June 22, 2006
Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Although Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock were all destined for alt country greatness, for some unfathomable reason the band of which they were all members was not. They recorded an album in 1972, but it only received widespread attention in 1990 when it was rereleased with additional cuts on Rounder. I remember seeing the title when it was released thinking it the most pretentious I had ever seen. Only upon reading the back and learning that it featured both Gilmore and Ely, two performers I tremendously loved, did I realize that the title was almost certainly not hype.
The problem with the Flatlanders is that they were a band before their time. The concept of playing traditional country songs without the overproduction typical of Nashville and Billy Sherill was unheard of at the time. Gram Parsons work was just beginning to reach a wider audience and Emmylou Harris was still singing with Parsons and would do so until his death in 1973. So, the Flatlanders truly was a revolutionary band. By the time this repackaging of their work was released, however, all three primary members of the band had established themselves as major forces in the burgeoning alternative, anti-Nashville scene. What is especially amazing is the fact that Gilmore, Ely, and Hancock formed the band in Lubbock, Texas, a town that has produced far more hometown musicians than anyone could have had a right to expect. Starting with Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings, the town has produced more than its fair share of musicians since the fifties including Delbert McClinton, Mac Davis, and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, while Roy Orbison and Bob Wills came from not too far away. Must be something in the water.
The songs on this album are absolute gems of simplicity. They pretty much anticipated much of what would happen in country music in the next thirty years. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, blessed with one of the great male voices in country music (perhaps the greatest of the past thirty years), sang most of the songs in his exquisite tenor, while Ely and Hancock provided guitars and back up vocals. Unfortunately, their friend Steve Wesson played musical saw on a number of the cuts and it can't be said that this was much in the way of a positive contribution. It would be hard to say whether the cowbell or the saw was the single most irritating "musical instrument" to see its way onto a musical recording. Both have their vices and little in the way of virtues. Neither requires much in the way of talent.
But if one can get past the saw, the songs are simply spectacular. The album begins with three glorious songs, beginning with Gilmore's lovely "Dallas." His voice is so clear and pure on this one that someone previously unfamiliar with his work could instantly understand why he is so esteemed as a vocalist. The song is one of Gilmore's best, in which Dallas is personified over and over in the verses. "Tonight I'm Gonna Go Downtown" is just so simple with the kind of stuff that was being recorded at the time in Nashville. Contrast it with Charlie Rich's dreadful BEHIND CLOSED DOORS (mind you, I love the many bits and pieces that Rich did before he ever met Billy Sherill, such as THE FABULOUS CHARLIE RICH, but artistically meeting Sherill was his doom). It sounds almost like country minimalism by comparison. The album then moves into two wonderful Butch Hancock compositions, "You've Never Seen Me Cry" and "She Had Everything." The rest of the album is also very good, but for me those four songs stand out.
If one loves Alt Country, this is one of the essential albums. By any measure it is one of the truly great discs in the genre, but quite apart from that, it is simply great music.
In addition to Johnny Cash February 5, 2005
Paul Montag (Minneapolis, MN)
6 out of 18 found this review helpful
I am not much for country music but it has the potential for beauty, with its combined inclusions of comedy and sadness. The Rolling Stones were influenced by country ('It's All Over Now' is glaringly rock/country and 'Dead Flowers' is of the same vein and is out of this world) but after a while, they couldn't take it seriously and made a parody out of it with 'Far Away Eyes.'
I have also had a difficult time holding country music in high esteem (when Willie Nelson is one of the greats of this type of music, you no you're in trouble because he is booooorrrrinnnnggggg) I am also one of those people who joins the masses and says, 'I don't like country music but I do like Johnny Cash.' Now, finally, with my discovery of the Flatlanders, I'm finding a reason to dig deeper into country music and see what other nuggets I can find, once through all the twangy crap that permeates most of it.
'Keeper of the Mountain' is my favorite number on the cd and it is very weepy and sad but to a reflective soul it really hits the spot. It's a moody album and will take you somewhere you may not want to go, depending on how you feel at a given moment. But if country music is supposed to deal with heartbreak and loneliness a little more often than other styles, then this was does it well, and somehow, after listening, I feel strengthened and as though someone out there understands.
An Alt-Country Classic July 15, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
13 soulful twangy perfect gems. Yes, there's a saw being played amongst the other instruments, but it just adds to the feeling of other-worldliness on this legendary recording. I was delighted and moved by this CD; so much so that it is high up on my list of essential recordings, and I listen to A LOT of music. Perhaps not for everyone, but for anyone who likes great songs and great performances, and anyone who wants to be swept away to the lonesome plains of West Texas. Those who liked it when country went pop need not apply. This is for folks who like *real* country.
 One saw too many February 24, 2004
R. P. Marshall (Wayzata, MN United States)
3 out of 31 found this review helpful
Didn't know what a musical saw was, but henceforth I will be on the lookout. Unless you like an eerie wail floating over most of the tunes, this album is nigh unlistenable.
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