1001 Albums Summary

I didn't think I'd need to open this review with 'I think murder might be wrong', but here we are. Red headed stranger is a sparsely instrumented, plaintive, barely-controlled breakdown of an album. I like a concept, and I love a ballad, but I don't so much enjoy the balls-out misogynstic entitlement, especially when it's done with such a deft and elegant touch on the vocals. Let's talk songs for a minute: Time of the Preacher is a classic for a reason - it beautifully sets a scene, and lays out the ominous, nervy vibe 'Now the preachin' is over, and the lesson's begun.' The repeated motif holds the first side together, drawing deeper into the darkness 'Now the killin's begun.' My favourite track off the album is 'I Couldn't Believe It Was True', but I wish we'd stuck longer in the 'Her happiness always I hope will remain' groove. I enjoyed the emotional staging of the bouncing between disbelief, forgiveness, rage, and out-and-out destruction, which felt very real. The gentleness of the guitar, smiles and happy allusions that lead into the actual murders is very well done. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain is where it starts to come off the rails for me - the Christian allusions and rose-tinted spectacles met the passive distancing from violence ("Oh, my love, she just tripped and fell, woe is me!") It's around this time I put down my headphones and complained to the cat - 'the rest of this album is going to be about this guy whinging about the consequences of his actions, isn't it?' I was (not?) disappointed - his 'little lost love lay asleep on the hillside' in the next track had me reaching for the metaphorical sick bag. And he's shot someone for stealing a horse he stole from someone else he murdered, and the punchline is like delivered like that's funny. I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the pianist, Bobbie Nelson, who was an absolute delight throughout and kept my ears amused even when my guts were growling. The longing for a destroyed home is captured so well all through the second side - but the whole thing is marred by my loathing of the protagonist, who is so clearly the author of their own destruction, and feels entitled to get away with it. I find it hard to cheer for the little comforts found in Denver, and have started to think of good traditional English folk ballads which always end with the plucky young woman shoving the murderer off a ledge. Playing out with the harmonica, and gentle piano rolls of Bandera, I feel a sense of nostalgia for the first few songs of the album, back when the world was expansive, and we were poised on the edge of a wonderful adventure.

Pretty good coming of age teen rock album. Enjoyed Androgynous, which I thought was particularly prescient for the mid 1980s. I wish we'd travelled farther since then!

Tremendously trippy in places, with some timeless set pieces (Father and Son, particularly). A little too vaguely spiritual and tricksy for me, with a monotony in some of the musicality - but one I am glad to have listened to.