Steve Earle Album: “Transcendental Blues”

The first Steve Earle album I bought was Copperhead Road. It was good, and what I was happiest about with it was that I was sure that I would never need buy a Steve Earle record again.

Then somewhere along the way I lost it, and rather than replacing it I picked up Ain't Ever Satisfied instead, a greatest hits collection that included the best material from Copperhead Road, as well as a great deal of songs from Guitar Town and Exit O. I became aware of how much I had been missing from this artist, but now that I had the greatest hits collection, hey, I'd never need another Earle album again.

Then I bought a Steve Earle songbook that included a lot of the material that I already had, but also included a handful of songs from albums I didn't. After learning the songs - and quickly appreciating their quality and craft - I picked up I Feel Alright and Train A'Comin. Great stuff, even if now my Steve Earle collection was taking up more space than I originally had planned. Still, now my collection was complete.

Then I heard a co-worker's stereo down the hall a few years ago. I liked what I heard and asked: it was Earle's collaboration with the Del McCoury band, THE MOUNTAIN. Wth no hesitation, I prompptly went out and bought it. Whew...

I've gone on long enough, you know where this going by now: I finally bought Transcendental Blues, and am absolutely blown away. The number of standout songs on here is one thing, but the performances are stellar as well: the attack and bite of "Everyone's In Love With You", the drum pattern on the beautiful "Lonelier Than This", the Pogues-like "The Galway Girl" (Shane Macgowan would KILL to write a song this good these days), the her-honey-to-his-vinegar duet on "When I Fall".

It's funny: there are times I think Earle's material would be better if he'd spend more time shaping and crafting the individual songs. But then when I actually am listening, I'm not sitting there going, "That line needs editing", or "That guitar part needs tidying up". It's nothing short of inspiring how prolific and how good Earle's material is. As much as you've goota respect your Leonard Cohens and Peter Gabriels...I mean, c'mon guys, pick it up!

The best songwriter alove today? Take a listen to this disc and name one better.

Any fan of Steve Earle and alternative country music in general should buy this album without hesitation. I have listened to this album in its entirety about 20 times since I purchased it a few days ago. Each track on the album is a unique work of art. As he has done on all of his albums since 1995, Earle manages to equate a wide variety of musical styles to produce a compelling collection of songs. From the upbeat rock 'n roll songs of "Everyone's in love with you," "Wherever I Go," and "Another Town," to the Irish rooted track "Galway Girl," Earle proves that he is truly in his musical prime. In "The Boy Who Never Cried," Earle uses Christian inspiration and Eastern musical influences to crank out a tune that is one of the album's best. I'm glad to see that this album currently ranks as #5 on Amazon's best-sellers. Do yourself a favor and buy the album.

I bought this ablbum based on a review I read in The New Yorker (July 10, 00 issue) that praised Earle and this album. Reviews on this site also seemed to confim that Earle is a prince of Alt-Country. I was not led astray. I LOVE this album.

You'd probably like this album if you like: Tom Petty ("Another Town" sounds a lot like a Tom Petty song to me--guitar-based pop/rock well executed), Graham Parsons, the Chieftans ("The Gaway Girl" could be on a recent Chieftans album), 60's psychedelic influences and folky/country sounds ("Until the Day I Die" is very old-style country with fiddle and banjo to accentuate its old Nashville feel).

But I think I like his choice of material as much as the sound of it. What he's singing about are the kinds of things that matter without being too wordy or preachy. Earle Rules.

I wish I'd found this music earlier (no pun intended). Where have you been all my life, Steve Earle? Oh, yeah--in jail, on drugs and in and out of wedlock. Oh well, I'll buy the albums, Steve, you just keep it together.

Grab one of the strongest Earle albums out there; it's amazing how he continues to grow as a songwriter. I love Guitar Town -- which is like saying, I love the sky, in that it almost goes without saying -- but I am less of a fan of the albums that followed it until his drug bust (though there are moments, like Devil's Right Hand). Of the post drug-bust records, my favorites have been El Corazon, and Feel Alright (which has a few clunkers, but the high points (the Lucinda duet, More Than I Can Do) are so high it doesn't matter). T.B. is way up there in those heights. A lot of this album is about getting older, but it doesn't suffer from some of the pat, cutesy stuff that has plagued some of John Hiatt's lesser work. "Steve's Last Ramble" is one of the best tracks -- musically and lyrically -- he's ever done, and The Galway Girl continues the blending of Irish and American country that he started fiddling with (no pun intended) on the McCoury Band record. As his last three albums have had duets with women (including Lucinda Williams and Iris Dement), this one has a duet with his sister, Stacey. I also feel that in hist last three records -- El Corazon, The Mountain, and this one -- his writing of ballads has finally caught up with his writing of great folk-rockers. Nick Hornby's article on Steve in the New Yorker was pretty weak, but he did make a great point -- the fact is that Earle has released 5 near-great to great albums in around as many years. That's an astounding ratio. I recommend either this or El Corazon as the best place to start to get a feel for Steve. This is the strongest album I've heard from anyone in the alt-country/singer songwriter camp, probably since Mermaid Avenue and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

I used to listen to 80% commercial music - the better parts of commercial, mind you- but commercial just the same. I watched a Steve Earle concert on CMT one night and I was enthralled... I'd heard a couple of his tunes on rock radio years back, but hadn't ever cared to listen to more. That concert got me to pick up Transcendental Blues. Lo and behold, I had found a new thang. I was washed of my sins and reborn into a fan of real music and never looked back. TB is probably not Steve's best... but it's in his top 5... and that's better than 80% of what's out there. Praise Steve. (BTW, I'm not in agreement with most of his politics, but at least he backs up his assertions with intelligence and heart... it's all about the art, anyway)