Take It Slow
The sampler Fill Your Head With Rocks [are you sure? - Ed.] was my first introduction to Tom Rush. His version of Driving Wheel seemed to hold more power than was possible in a vinyl groove - a cavernous sound his voice inhabited like a Shakespearean king in a high castle. For some old engine that lost its driving wheel, the song had an inexorable momentum that swept me down the track (and I never came back). If you're not familiar with Rush, I suggest you cue up his self-titled - wupes - eponymous - album first [at left - Ed.]. His version of Jackson Browne's Colors Of The Sun is as heartfelt and sheerly beautiful as singing gets and will blow you right away.
Maybe its because he interpreted other songwriters that he's not considered to be a first-tier artist. That's a mistake. Elvis, Sinatra ... and when he does write, he writes superbly well. No Regrets is a staple, and on its own worth more than many singer-songwriters' entire output.
I'm on a Tom Rush kick at the moment. Can't get enough, but I'm a long way from knowing his extensive discography, dating back to the birth of coffee-house folk in the early 'sixties.
Incredibly, the guy's still out there, as beautiful as ever and making great records at seventy-seven - Voices is his first consisting entirely of self-penned songs.
Major talent, major dude.
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| You give us hope, Tom. |
hello, saw tom at central michigan university for $2.50 -absolutely incredible. for a REAL kick see side one of take a little walk with me. al kooper, harvey brooks and company stir the pot and how! r. keith noble
ReplyDeleteAny youse guys gots th' aforesaid elpee?
DeleteM. Farquhar...as an interesting aside, the woman behind Tom on The Circle Game album is Linda Eastman, soon to become Mrs. Paul McCartney.
ReplyDeleteJeez - she looks quite a tomato here.
DeleteHis version of "Who Do You Love" on "The Bitter End Years" anthology may be the best acoustic version ever.
ReplyDeleteOK, it's not a good look, but mistakes were made, and the goats were allowed to escape. All that's left is this pair of hootenannies from '62:
ReplyDeleteAt The Unicorn
https://www11.zippyshare.com/v/ZD2f7zsR/file.html
Balladeers Show - Cambridge, MA
https://www11.zippyshare.com/v/xhP3DxOX/file.html
ReplyDeleteRushes
Thanks for the links, Crabster!
Here are two rare Tom Rush albums. Both were originally posted on his web site, and then made available as limited edition CDs.
ReplyDeleteVSOP (Very Special, Old, Pale) A collection of acoustic solos.
"These are some recordings of my favorite songs with me and my guitar. Check them out!" - Tom Rush
https://www120.zippyshare.com/v/AcngzGYR/file.html
Trolling For Owls V 1.0
https://www120.zippyshare.com/v/afGDoqIb/file.html
Per your request I will post Take A Little Walk With Me a little later today (busy with grand kids).
ReplyDeleteI believe l'il ron may be mistaken, Linda Eastman took the photo, I doubt that she is also the model.
You're a great man, Bob.
DeleteAh, this was confirmed by The Man himself to me after a gig in Vermont in 2011.
DeleteThanks! I always wondered what all the hubbub was about Rush back in the 80s when everyone seemed to have his name plastered on their Ford Pintos. Looks like a cool dude ... I thought those stoners with their feathered roach clips hanging from their mirrors were lame when I was busy tripping to the Stooges, MC5, and Blue Cheer but looks like they were the cool ones after all
ReplyDeleteThe trick is to being open to everything; that tribalism (mea culpa) back then was just a way of closing yourself off. Listen to Driving Wheel, Dave. Volume up.
DeleteAs promised here is Tom Rush - Take A Little Walk With Me
ReplyDeletehttps://www73.zippyshare.com/v/qAEYit9S/file.html
Note: includes front & back cover.
Saw these in the cheap bins for years and always passed. Thanks for slapping me around. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteSince last visiting these foamy shores, it seems the four or five guys, in collaboration with the esteemed FT III, have been busy. As noted by others, my limited Tom Rush library was undoubtedly a victim of genre-fication. Somehow I had filed him under "lightweight folkie." Thanks for helping vaporize those sort of taxonomical tragedies. False memories, indeed.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Tom Rush and didn't understand why he didn't get more love.
ReplyDeleteYawning Angel sez...
ReplyDeleteI thank ye, Farq. Thanks also to the 4 or 5 guys for more of His Rushiness.
All Uploaders, thank you very much!
ReplyDeletePlease kepp it up Femory Foam. From London England (...but not europe now...shit)
ReplyDeleteI mean Memory Foam
ReplyDeleteI mean False Memory Foam
ReplyDeleteMegatom re-up here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that reup Farq. I was almost a little disappointed when I clicked the other link....
DeleteThat last album, Voices, is an absolute gem. I'd sort of dismissed it because so many "old guy" albums are just that, and you have to say they're "good for their age" and make allowances for them. But Voices is exactly the album we need for these times - warm, affectionate, funny, wise, and on the title song, incredibly moving. It's as good an album as he ever made. Think of a folkified JJ Cale with a shit-hot band and you're half way there.
DeleteComfort listening at its best. God Save Tom Rush.
Farq, you are a wonderful blogmeister. Got Save Tom Rush, indeed!
DeleteThank you.
Delete