Disco de Emmylou Harris: “Luxury Liner”

...So go the apt lyrics of a song ("She") on this gorgeous collection of artistic fabulousness. For anyone who hasn't heard the phenomenon that is Emmylou Harris' clear-blue bell-like young voice, this disc will tilt you back like a mountain breeze on a June day. Such wonderfulness! My exultation falls far short of the clarity, purity and sheer musical beauty of the brilliant music recorded here, that you can purchase, amazingly, for a few dollars. What a wonderful world! I have, I think, all of Emmylou's albums, and I will say that this one stands near the top. That's saying a lot for an all-time world-class musician of Emmylou's stature. Whether or not you agree about the superlatives, you can't help but enjoy the soaring lyrical tracks on this disc. It's impossible to dislike this music, and very possibly it will become one of the most-played favorites in your collection, as it is in mine. Enjoy.

Whatever she does, it is impossible for Emmylou Harris to disappoint. Nothing beats her beautiful voice or her exquisite taste in songs. This album, first released in 1976, has been enhanced by the addition of Me And Willie and Night Flyer.

She does a stunning cover of the Towns van Zandt song Pancho And Lefty plus stirring versions of the old country classics Making Believe and When I Stop Dreaming. The title track and She are Gram Parsons compositions, lovingly interpreted by Harris.

My other favorites include the moving country ballad I'll Be Your San Antone Rose, her cover of Chuck Berry's (You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie, Hello Stranger, the duet with Nicolette Larson, and the lilting Tulsa Queen, a song about a train which equals Arlo Guthrie's City Of New Orleans any day.

Both the previously unissued tracks are great. Me And Willie is a melancholy song about life in a travelling country band, whilst Night Flyer with Delia Bell is a powerful ballad with breathtaking harmony vocals, and moody mandolin.

The CD booklet contains 2 full colour and 5 black & white pics of the graceful songbird, plus extensive liner notes on her career and background on all the songs up to Tulsa Queen. All the lyrics are included, including the two new songs.

Although I like Pieces Of the Sky, Roses In The Snow, Cowgirl's Prayer, Wrecking Ball and Red Dirt Girl a little bit more, this album still deserves five stars! Emmylou's music enriches the mind and emotions in many ways and is always spiritually uplifting.

Like many of Emmylou's early albums, covers dominate. Emmylou's superb singing backed by some top-notch musicians ensures that the album is brilliant.

The album yielded two top ten country hits. Making believe is a country classic, which had been a huge country hit for Kitty Wells in the fifties. You never can tell (C'Est la vie) is a cover of a Chuck Berry song. Much though I enjoy Chuck's music, I think Emmylou's version of this song is superior to the original.

Emmylou included two contrasting Gram Parsons, the title track (an up-tempo rocker) and She (a sad ballad). Rodney Crowell, then a member of Emmylou's band, wrote the catchy You're supposed to be feeling good. He also co-wrote Tulsa queen with Emmylou. Pancho and Lefty became better known after Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard recorded it in the early eighties but I prefer Emmylou's version of this Townes Van Zandt classic. I'll be your San Antone rose had been a country hit for Dottsy, a singer who (sadly) has long since faded into obscurity. When I stop dreaming is a Louvin Brothers song, which feature Dolly Parton lending vocal support. Hello stranger is a great cover of a Carter family song.

This is one of the finest albums in Emmylou's long and distinguished career.

I've come to Emmy's music via WRECKING BALL, RED DIRT GIRL and SPYBOY. It was SPYBOY that made me realize the amazingness of Emmylou. I then set out to acquire all her recordings. I've heard (and now own) most of them; of these, I deem her masterpieces to be LUXURY LINER, ROSES IN THE SNOW, WRECKING BALL, and SPYBOY.

LUXURY LINER is magnificent. There's not a weak song or a misguided performance here. The best song (I believe) is the last, Emmy's gorgeous and heartbreaking "Tulsa Queen," co-written with Rodney Crowell. I confess (this is difficult, being the man that I am) to crying many times (only when I'm alone, of course) at the beauty of this song. I'm a total believer in the genius of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell, but I doubt that all of them together have written more than a handful of songs better than this about a train that doesn't care that someone beloved is gone. Sadly, by the end of the song the Tulsa Queen itself is gone, and maybe that's part of the answer to the question Emmy asks in her song: "tell me how a train from Tulsa has got a right to know."

The song preceding "Tulsa Queen" is the beautiful, bluesy, and lyrically surprising "She", written by Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge; I'm sure the song ordering is no accident.

There are too many perfect performances here to do justice to them all. But no review of this album could ignore Townes Van Zandt's story in song, "Poncho and Lefty". I treasure the performance recorded here because nowhere else (except on "Tulsa Queen" and "Boulder to Birmingham") have I heard the angelic beauty of Emmylou Harris' young voice better displayed. Every note is perfectly sung, perfectly phrased, and perfectly true. Her soprano here is pure and untouched by age--not to say that it's more beautiful than some of her performances on albums like WRECKING BALL and RED DIRT GIRL--but it's a different voice, and beautiful in a different way, and LUXURY LINER is the album that, in my view, best displays that voice.

Lastly, the album cover pictures the young Emmylou at a point in time when her outer beauty (she'll always be at least that beautiful inside) was perfect. In a strange way, the beautiful face depicted there totally corresponds to the georgous voice recorded on this album; there never was and never will be anything artificial about Emmy: LUXURY LINER is honest music at its very best.

Actually, just about all the Emmylou Harris albums up until around 1980 qualify as her best. Whatever one I'm currently listening to seems at the time to qualify as her greatest work. But regardless of how it compares to her other albums, this is sublime country / rock of the highest possible quality. It's got all the elements that make her albums of this era great: top shelf musicians (including Ricky Skaggs), a couple Gram Parsons covers ("She", "Luxury Liner"), a Townes Van Zandt tune ("Poncho and Lefty"), and several classic country covers. Her version of "Making Believe" sends shivers down my spine and certainly holds up to Kitty Wells' original, and her versions of the Carter Family songs "Hello Stranger" is also great. The only possible criticism I possibly think to apply to this album is that it follows a similar formula to her other 70s albums, so in this sense it could be seen as "formulaic", but what a great formula!

Also, while I sometimes consider the practice of adding bonus tracks to a CD dubious at best (typically I would prefer to listen to the album in its original form and perhaps have a separate disc with bonus material), I have to say that the bonus track "Me and Willie" is one of my all time favorite Emmylou Harris songs.