My good friend and longstanding AUK comrade Keith Hargreaves and I had a debate recently about the best and worst of The Jayhawks. To be fair, there was agreement that there wasn’t much “worst” but of the best alas the waters between us got choppier. For me, ‘Smile’ is a patchy album but one with some of the best songs the band ever recorded – ‘Better Days’ and ‘A Break in the Clouds’ being two such examples, but the title track too for me just has a melody and arrangement that 20 years on from the first time I heard it still feels magical. “Wake up, put your shoes on, Take a breath of the northern air – And rub those eyes” – the song’s opening lines which are essentially my average day. And in a strictly Northern sense, it’s perhaps a more Beatlesy album than anything that came before or after it, but no bad thing for that. Chin up.
Gary Louris strips it back for an intimate set of songs dedicated to his life partner. The third solo album from Gary Louris, best known as one of the pivots of The Jayhawks, is quite a glorious listen, an impassioned love letter to his wife according to the publicity and…
Welcome to ‘Essentials’ a brand-new AUK series where we will be delving into the back catalogue of prominent americana artists and bringing you our estimation of either their top ten albums or their top ten tracks. Long established artists with a large back catalogue, may warrant an assessment of their…
Gary Louris is an artist who needs no introduction to Americana UK readers. Over the last three decades, Louris has built a compelling body of music which has won the loyalty of an international audience and the respect of both critics and his peers. Best known for his seminal work…
Editor of Americana UK website, the UK's leading home for americana news and reviews since 2001 (when life was simpler, at least for the first 253 days)
And isn’t ‘i’m gonna make you love me’ one of the best ‘pop’ songs ever?
It is indeed Malcolm!