Search - Townes Van Zandt :: Abnormal

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 8/13/2023...

Nope!

Bob Dylan Wishes

Gianmarco Manzione | Tampa, FL USA | 12/12/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was the first cd I got by Van Zandt. I was feeling down that night. One of those nights when you sit by the stereo with a bottle of red wine and lose yourself in your world; the world no one else can touch. With this album, Van Zandt lets you into his world. I'm a huge folk music fan, but had only heard of Van Zandt. When I got this album that night, it fit my mood like a perfect shoe. He writes dark, sad, introspective songs that are so real it's as if he pulled then out of Appalachian soil. On "Abnormal," those qualities reach a pinnacle. I dare say he never released an album as morbid, yet powerful as "Abnormal." It helped me get through that night and many otherlike it. It offers stunning, haunting versions of "Lung," "Dollar Bill Blues," "Waitin' around To Die," "A Song For," and plenty of other classics-live. It has always amazed me to hear the power one man and his guitar can possess. Since buying this album, I've bought many other Van Zandt recordings, and this remains one of my favorites. It was released just around his death. I believe this was the last live album, or album of any kind, that he released. It's one of his best, no doubt. If you are a new fan or seasoned Van Zandt lover, this is for you. The album's first track, a cover of the legendary song of the folk circle, "Coo-Coo," pulls you right into the bleak, lonely, drunken wasteland in which he lived. But somehow, he mixes those flavors into one masterful piece of work. Many reviewers have described van Zandt as a more down to earth Leonard Cohen. That is as true as could be, and on "Abnormal," there is just no denying the comparison. Buy this album, and prepare to be taken into a new universe."

A great recording of this quality is too far abnormal

Ernest Boehm | Des Plaines, IL United States | 07/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For all the lovers of very main stream music this is not for you. This CD is a abnormal, in its themes and subjects and that is what makes it great.My favorite songs on this CD are Two Girls about two daughters with extreme differences and how it effects a father, old shep is great song about a dog so sad that during the recording Townes's has to stop because he has hard time singing it. There a cover of the Stones Dead Flowers that rivals the orginal. I have heard so few songs as honest and complete in theme as WAting Around To Die. This rich music is so accoustic, so bluesy, so wonderously sad yet up lifting. Abnormal does not fit into a catogory. Yes this is an abnormal, but most treasures are."