Guy Clark Album: “Old No.1/Texas Cookin [Remaster]”

It's not like this record needs more recommendation than it has already gotten here, but I'll chime in. Once you start playing this CD, you'll have a hard time stopping. It's dangerous. I just got it a week ago. I miss it when I'm away from it. My wife and I look at each other when we're off doing other things and we chuckle because we're both still grooving on it. Our kids, too. At 2 and 5 they're both into this record as well. Pity me, I never knew of it until just recently. I've just started exploring what I guess you might call the heart of Texas music. I've heard it said that it's a world of its own. They seem to have a special relation with the 'writers.' It's what singer/songwriter is all about. This is my first stop. If you already love Willy and Jerry Jeff, you owe it to yourself to take the next step up and in and check out this particular CD. It's the real thing. It's hard to imagine that Guy Clark isn't as well known as anyone. But if we gradually get a million raves up here... Maybe he's like the finest wines--give em a lot of long, slow years and they eventually end up on top. --JP

Guy Clark's first two and very best albums finally available on CD! I spent 25 years wearing out the original LPs, what an incredible experience to now here the clear and crisp fidelity of all these classics - Texas Cookin', Virginia's Real, L.A. Freeway, Rita Ballou - every last song is pure magic. It doesn't get any better than this.

I first discovered Guy Clark in Santa Cruz, Cal. during the early 1970's I heard Jerry Jeff's version of LA Freeway, loved it, and went to buy it. I saw that it was written by someone named Guy Clark and I set out to see if he recorded anything. I found "Old No 1" and took it home. From the very first track, "Texas 1947", this album tore me up. This was pure soul, every word right from heart. There is not a phoney word on any cut here. In the almost 30 years that I have owned this album I have never grown tired of a single song. The songs are so powerful and so real they are truly the essense of living. I mean life ain't always pretty, and most of us have had some real ups and downs. "Instant Coffee Blues" catches perfectly that awkward feeling of waking up with someone you crawled home with the night before. And "Coat From The Cold" about a man who's suffered a lot is arguably the greatest love song ever written. I played it for my wife and she cried. And "Desperados Waiting For a Train" may be the greatest song ever written about growing up and reaching that epiphany that puts it all in perspective. Whether you're a country fan or not, this is one album that you should own. Guy Clark makes us believe he's lived his words. We want more. If you're someone who can appreciate honesty in music, this album will touch your soul. I have purchased over 50 copies of it and gave it to all the people I love. If we all did that the world would probably be just a little bit more soulful.

Anybody that enjoy's Guy, or any other great country roots music should really check this one out. Old No.1 and TX Cookin were his two first releases, and to this day, they remain his best. No duds to be found on this 70 plus minutes of pure magic. His influence on other musicians is too important to overlook, and it's too lengthy to cover in a review. If I were to talk about stand-out tracks, you'd reading this for an hour. A super bargain that should not be missed!

Bar-none, these are the two finest Texas albums ever recorded. Like a gift from God, Guy recorded Old No. 1 and Texas Cooking in the early 70's. Every track winds like the Frio, smells like Uvalde and tastes like a Bandera saturday night. Yes, the very soul of Texas was captured in these two window frames, framed by the master carpenter/boat builder himself. Me, I've got boats to build and roofs to jump off of.