Search - Dave Alvin :: Interstate City

Interstate City
Dave Alvin
Interstate City
Genres: Country, Folk, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (13) - Disc #1

Dave Alvin is one of the half-dozen best rock & roll songwriters of the past 15 years, but it wasn't until 1991 that he learned how to sing. Before that, he made one disappointing solo album and otherwise left the sing...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Dave Alvin
Title: Interstate City
Members Wishing: 7
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hightone Records
Release Date: 7/30/1996
Genres: Country, Folk, Pop, Rock
Styles: Americana, Singer-Songwriters, Roots Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 012928807425

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Dave Alvin is one of the half-dozen best rock & roll songwriters of the past 15 years, but it wasn't until 1991 that he learned how to sing. Before that, he made one disappointing solo album and otherwise left the singing chores to his big brother Phil in the Blasters or John Doe in X. Since he finally matured as a vocalist--learning to sing within his Dylanesque limitations rather than trying to sound like the Big Joe Turner he'll never be--Alvin has gone back to those earlier songs and redone them, as if to demonstrate how he heard them in his own head when he first wrote them. He redid seven songs on the 1994 studio, acoustic project "King of California," and he gives five more new life on "Interstate City," recorded live with a rocking band at Austin's Continental Club. The Blasters' "Look Out (It Must Be Love)" gets additional lyrics, a new swing arrangement and Katy Moffatt harmonies; the band's tribute to Franklin Roosevelt, "Jubilee Train," is jammed together with Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" and Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" into a long, raucous medley. The new songs include "Out in California," a blues-shuffle cowritten with Tom Russell; the title track, a film noir recitation over moody, slow blues; and "Mister Lee," an exuberant New Orleans tribute to Alvin's mentor, Little Richard's saxophonist Lee Allen. This doesn't quite match Alvin's seismic, undocumented 1991-92 tour with the Skeletons, but it's the next best thing. --Geoffrey Himes

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CD Reviews

Excellent Excellent Excellent. I'm keepin' it.
P. Freebrook | new england | 06/26/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm selling off my CD collection to pay bills, but this one I'm keeping. When I first heard this CD in a record store back in '96, I barely knew the name of Dave Alvin and had no clue of his background or even realized he had anything to do with the Blasters. All I heard in that record store was a great comfy intimate live set of Americana singer/songwriter "alt-country" rock and roll performed with intelligence by a mature voice and band. On Hightone records so you know its quality guitar rock. I could listen to "out in california" all day long. Go Dave!"
The ultimate road CD
moose_of_many_waters | Palo Alto, CA United States | 08/31/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dave's best album, and he's made some fine ones. If I had to choose only one CD to put in my car on a road trip, this would be it. The songs rock. The musicianship is superb. Dave sings with confidence. And sure I'm a boomer, but I played this CD in a van with a bunch of college students and they went nuts over it. "Who is this dude?" They asked. "Dave Alvin," I said. "What do you call this kind of music?" "It's honky tonk, and this is as good as you will ever hear."



My vote for the best honky tonk album in a long, long while."
This album is an stellar showcase of a Great Band
moose_of_many_waters | 01/11/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"So i finally got my hands on this album after searching too many local music stores. Well worth the wait. This live recording really showcases a phenomenal band. There is variety for all here with influences from blues, rock n roll, rockabilly and soul. The band is well versed in all and switch between styles amazingly well throughout the album. A must have for all. That's all."