Search - Townes Van Zandt :: Flyin Shoes (Dig)

Tyin' on my flyin' shoes...

B. Bowman | Jersey, United States | 07/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have read countless times that Townes Van Zandt's studio recordings suffer from overproduction, and at times when listening to his studio albums I can't help but agree that certain songs may have been stronger having been recorded with just Townes and his guitar. However, through time and countless listens the beauty of Townes' work shines through, and quibbles about arrangements become secondary. "Flyin' Shoes" is an album that gets this bad rap from some; the liner notes for this disc even mention that allmusicguide.com reviewed this album as being "padded out with lesser tracks, some of which seem like jam filler". Hard for me to believe they are talking about the same album I'm listening to. This album contains some of Townes' best songs, many of which could be regarded as classic Townes. "No Place To Fall", "Dollar Bill Blues", "Rex's Blues", and "Pueblo Waltz" were all mainstays of Townes' live set through his years of touring, and have been recorded by other notable artists since he committed them to tape. I have heard many versions of "No Place To Fall", and the version on this disc is by far my favorite. It is a beatiful song to begin with, but the arrangement here really brings it home. One of his lesser recognized songs, "Snake Song", has always been one of my favorites too, with its dark and bluesy guitar part. And you can't deny that Townes' version of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" brought it's own swagger to the classic song, with Townes bringing his Texas attitude to the arrangement. I'm pretty sure after watching the documentary "Be Here To Love Me" that the songs that comprise "Flyin' Shoes" were originally intended to be released as an album called "7 Come 11", his follow up to the "Late Great TVZ" album, which was never released for reasons unclear to me. Many feel that this album would have boosted Townes' career and given him the recognition for his songwriting that he deserved. I can't speculate on whether these songs would have had that effect, but listening to them all these years later one can't deny Townes' songwriting genius, and it's impossible for me to hear them without FEELING them too. Every time I hear the opening lines of the title track sung by Townes, "Days full of rain, sky's coming down again, I get so tired of these same old blues...", I think "Damn...me too.""