The SWS Reviews Thread

[BlueGrass]

Originally Posted by lbfan

"But the recording suffers from thin, uneven sound and, on tracks like "Stars Are Crazy," a surfeit of muddling reverb. Sometimes a man needs to go it alone, but sometimes it's good to bring your buds."

While Mick and John are mainly studio players when it comes to LB's recent work, back in the heydey, I think they brought a different perspective that made the whole greater than the sum of it's parts. I personally feel the same way about Richard Dashut's involvement. That may be (for me) what sets OOTC (and LB's songs on FM albums through 1990) apart from LB's recent efforts (beginning with GOS original effort in the mid to late 90s). While there are some gems, the entire CDs have not been that I would listen to them without skipping some songs. Some of the live songs have the Neale Heywood influence (that "musical sensibilities") that make them that much more enjoyable. I will probably end up liking the live "Stars Are Crazy" better than the studio version, once it is released with the DVD.

I can see the point being made about the quality of recordings. Not that they are necessarily worse, but OOTC just has a different atmosphere than his last three albums. The difference might be what LB used to record the last albums. Weren't most of them done on his four-track machine? I know a lot of stuff for UTS was, sans a few Cavallo-era recordings. Dashut did add something for sure. Lindsey has also paired down is array of instruments that were deployed in OOTC.