- Format: FLAC
Mark Olson & Gary Louris - Ready For The Flood (2008)
Product Description (amazon.com)
2008 release, the long-awaited reunion of former Jayhawks bandmates Mark Olson and Gary Louris. Olsen and Louris have made a largely acoustic album that has all original material and a fine vocal blend that makes you think of old-timey and bluegrass brother teams like The Monroes, The Delmores and The Louvins. They've got that intuitive ear for blending and weaving that exists on some genetic level. They're part of that DNA loop that started back with The Carter Family and has been winding down musical trails since early last century. Add in some English folk finger picking influence by guys like Roy Harper and John Renbourn, stir in some current-day surrealist points of view a la Dylan, and you're on the way to where the album resides. Produced by Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes.
Shane Harrison (pastemagazine)
Former Jayhawks bandmates put history behind them to make some new memories
These new memories—thank the Americana gods—are riddled with Louris and Olson’s past, but there are hints of even older musical moments. Ready for the Flood reveals traces of The Kinks, the Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, Buffalo Springfield and even Procol Harum (check the organ on “My Gospel Song For You”) lingering in the minds of the makers. That the ghost of Gram Parsons haunts some of the tunes is less surprising but more than welcome. The production of Black Crowe Chris Robinson lends grit, but is never intrusive, letting the scruffy melodies and jigsaw-puzzle interlocking of these stellar voices do the heavy lifting. The few electric moments (“Bicycle” stands out) provide a different kind of tension, a gruff contrast to the straightforward acoustic timelessness of tracks like “Bloody Hands."
Tracklisting
01 The Rose Society
02 Bicycle
03 Turn Your Pretty Name Around
04 Saturday Morning On Sunday Street
05 Kick The Wind
06 Chamberlain, SD
07 Black Eyes
08 Doves And Stones
09 My Gospel Song For You
10 When The Wind Comes Up
11 Bloody Hands
12 Life's Warm Sheets
13 The Trap's Been Set
Enjoy!!!
During the brief moment in the 1990s when it looked like alt-country might break through to the mass audience, the Jayhawks seemed like a sure thing for stardom with their beautiful, evocative melodies and stellar guitar work, and the superb songwriting and harmonies of Mark Olson and Gary Louris. The Jayhawks' first two major-label albums, 1992's Hollywood Town Hall and 1995's Tomorrow the Green Grass, were shining examples of what was good about the new wave of country-rock, and when Louris left the band in late 1995, even though they continued to make fine music, for many fans they were never quite the same, as if the Jayhawks' greatest promise went unfulfilled. For alt-country loyalists, the prospect of Mark Olson and Gary Louris working together again seems a bit like a reunion of Lennon and McCartney or Simon & Garfunkel, so it's well worth pointing out that Ready for the Flood, Olson and Louris' first recording together since Tomorrow the Green Grass and first ever as a duo, is not a Jayhawks album. The duo's harmonies are as lovely as ever, but though there was a widescreen grandeur to the Jayhawks' best work, Ready for the Flood is a purposefully modest album, with the emphasis on acoustic instruments, unobtrusive arrangements, and songs that tell small stories with a rich but elliptical sense of detail. The nearly 15 years that have elapsed since Olson and Louris last worked together is clear and audible; their voices are as strong as ever, but the maturity and caution of this music is unmistakable, and the production (by Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes) and arrangements give the music a feel that's spectral, as if this is the work of men who are older, wiser, and significantly more introspective than the days when they could call up shades of Crazy Horse or Creedence Clearwater Revival at will. The opening lines of the final song -- "I'm an old and angry man/Can't you see the trap's been set?" -- don't tell the whole story about Ready for the Flood, but the fact they fit so well says a lot about this music, and while there are moments of genuine beauty and grace, this is a far cry from what these men achieved in their prime. One can only hope that Olson and Louris will get the spring back into their step if and when they return to the studio.
Product Description (amazon.com)
2008 release, the long-awaited reunion of former Jayhawks bandmates Mark Olson and Gary Louris. Olsen and Louris have made a largely acoustic album that has all original material and a fine vocal blend that makes you think of old-timey and bluegrass brother teams like The Monroes, The Delmores and The Louvins. They've got that intuitive ear for blending and weaving that exists on some genetic level. They're part of that DNA loop that started back with The Carter Family and has been winding down musical trails since early last century. Add in some English folk finger picking influence by guys like Roy Harper and John Renbourn, stir in some current-day surrealist points of view a la Dylan, and you're on the way to where the album resides. Produced by Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes.
Shane Harrison (pastemagazine)
Former Jayhawks bandmates put history behind them to make some new memories
These new memories—thank the Americana gods—are riddled with Louris and Olson’s past, but there are hints of even older musical moments. Ready for the Flood reveals traces of The Kinks, the Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, Buffalo Springfield and even Procol Harum (check the organ on “My Gospel Song For You”) lingering in the minds of the makers. That the ghost of Gram Parsons haunts some of the tunes is less surprising but more than welcome. The production of Black Crowe Chris Robinson lends grit, but is never intrusive, letting the scruffy melodies and jigsaw-puzzle interlocking of these stellar voices do the heavy lifting. The few electric moments (“Bicycle” stands out) provide a different kind of tension, a gruff contrast to the straightforward acoustic timelessness of tracks like “Bloody Hands."