CD Odyssey Disc 697: Emmylou Harris

Yeehaw! The weekend is here and I’m soaking in it, just like Marge’s friend soaks in Palmolive. And if you know that reference, congratulations – you’re as old as me.

Disc 697 is…. Luxury Liner

Artist: Emmylou Harris

Year of Release: 1977

What’s up with the Cover? Just another one of those seventies “big head” covers. As big heads go, Emmylou’s is pretty easy on the eyes.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve known Emmylou Harris since I was a kid. “Luxury Liner” was just me drilling through her collection.

How It Stacks Up:  I have 11 of Emmylou Harris’ solo albums, with plans to get four more before I’m through. Of the 11, “Luxury Liner” is up there with the best of them. There are a lot of awesome Emmylou albums however, so I’ve got to put it at fifth.

Rating: 4 stars

In the mid to late seventies, Emmylou Harris had one hell of a run of great records. “Luxury Liner” is one of them.

This album has a good range, mixing up tempo country jangle on the title track and the swagger-filled sass of “Hello Stranger” with the slow and sweet angst of “Making Believe” and the Gram Parson’s classic, “She.”

Emmylou’s voice consistently makes my neck hair stand up, and “Luxury Liner” has some of the most amazing displays of her talent you’ll hear. In particular “Making Believe” hits some high notes early on that almost knock me off my feet every time I hear them. Good thing I’m writing this review sitting down.

This range is also on great display on her cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty.” I don’t know what key she sings it in, but I know she plays it with a capo on her guitar six or seven frets up. I’m teaching myself “Pancho and Lefty” on guitar right now and you can be sure I’ll be singing it in base position, thank you very much.

Emmylou’s approach to the song is inspiring, keeping the melody ninety per cent untouched, but adding her own flourishes to the end of some lines in just the right way. Too often artists feel they have to mess with the melody of a great song in order to make it their own, wrecking it in the process. Emmylou knows how to make something her own while honouring the original work. Her approach to singing a song lets you see the song’s original beauty in a new light.

In this case, “Pancho and Lefty” is a hard-boiled song about bandits and betrayal, and Emmylou’s voice brings out the tragedy of the story in a way that the rougher Van Zandt can’t do. That said lines like:

“The dust that Pancho bit down south

Ended up in Lefty’s mouth.”

Don’t sound quite right in her mouth. This is a minor quibble though, on what is a great version of a great song.

Similarly, she takes Gram Parson’s “She” to a whole higher level. When Emmylou sings about how the title character ‘sure could sing’ it is hard to imagine she’s talking about anyone other than herself.

The worst song on this record is the remake of Chuck Berry’s “(You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie.” This was actually one of the album’s hits, but I think it sounds campy and insincere. It is the one blemish on an otherwise wonderful album.

My version of “Luxury Liner” is a remastered re-issue, with a couple of bonus tracks. All of these Emmylou remasters are great, both in terms of the production values and also what tracks they choose to add. The new tracks are rarely available on some other album, and they’re not just live versions of a song you already have. There are usually only two of them, and they generally are as good as the album’s original material.

“Luxury Liner” is no exception, and the two bonus tracks (1981’s “Me and Willie” and 1986’s “Night Flyer”) are both excellent. In fact they are two of my favourites off the record. In particular, “Me and Willie,” a character study of a brilliant guitar player who ‘played to ease his soul/and drank to ease his mind.” The song’s lyrics are beautiful and tragic. I’m tempted to share more of them, but I know that without Emmylou’s voice they just won’t hit as hard as they should. I’ll just encourage you to go listen to it on Youtube and then go buy this album; it’s a good one.

Best tracks: Pancho & Lefty, Making Believe, Hello Stranger, She, Me and Willie (bonus track), Night Flyer (bonus track)