Cult songwriter crosses country with weird
Eileen Gunn | Seattle | 07/20/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Is it folk? Is it country? Is it old-timey? Is it blues? Well, it's not blues.... It's sui generis Michael Hurley. Chicken-skin music from the king of Relaxed Strange. Nobody sees the world quite like Hurley does, and this is one of the great Hurley albums. Buy it: it will change your life. Related headspace: The Holy Modal Rounders; Jeffery Frederick and the Clamtones."
Primitive Genius - Smoking Something Good
Michael C. Stephens | charlotte, nc, usa | 08/26/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Michael Hurley is a complete original in the acoustic folk field. A songwriter and singer with a strange, nonsensical feel whose lyrics skid off into areas beyond the range of nearly everyone you've heard. In his own way Hurley is up there with Hank Williams, Leonard Cohen and Dylan, although he is nothing like any of these artists. He yodels and meanders and wanders off the track, "Well I want to a place called the 2 Ball, I went to a place called the 8 Ball, I went to a place called the Pool Hall..." and never comes back. After each song you're going to be smiling a little wider and loving life a little more for producing a magician like Michael. If you don't get Hurley, you just don't. His songs are hilarious and mountain-stream-clear way over on the other side of sense. This album is Michael's best, apart from Hi Fi Snock Uptown, which is pretty much unavailable. There's nothing on here that will remotely recall all the predictable corporate crap you hear, so shut uppa ya face and buy it. You won't be disappointed."