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That having been said, to call this album the weakest is like picking the weakest between Tony Atlas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and early-80's Stallone. This is another phenomenal album. The point of that little ramble was this: Buy the album, you will be impressed. yeah, Stallone would be the weakest, but he's still lightyears tougher than the rest of the folks out there. It has one of my favorite renditions of Devil's Dream ever recorded and is, in true HCOC fashion, a genuinely good album. The only reason I give this album four stars instead of five is that it is probably the weakest album out of the five albums they have released.
Buy them all. However, the real greatness here is in the rhythm section. The Tiffany transcriptions were records made to be played on radio stations (back when radio stations usually did not play regular retail sold records). They were hotter, looser, and with a fuller repertoire than the recordings they were making for Columbia during these years. Maybe you might even get one or two extra. They were true to life Western Swing bands, but there aren't a lot of venues that are going to pay enough money for a 7, 8.
After hearing the wonderful version of Sally Goodin here, that almost measures up to the version Bob Wills put on his Tiffany Transcriptions, there was no way I could live without this CD. Their musical achievement is to do this with a trio. However, Elena gets a bigger richer more musically fluent sound. Yet, it is just a bassist and a guitar player. You'd swear there was the usual lineup in Western Swing with a rhythm guitarist playing behind the guitar leads, a drummer, and maybe a rhythm banjo player too and maybe people in a horn or fiddle section playing rhythm riffs when they aren't playing lead. They all were veterans of large real sized Western Swing aggregations in NYC and California and Texas. The Hot Club of Cow Town is a great band. Particularly on the initial records, we are seeing straight up Bob Wills music.
It is simple about which Hot Club CDs to get. How do they do it. She stays hot, but puts a lot of bow into her fiddling and is the apparent star of this band. Their rhythm is not merely good as what Wills had during his Tiffany recordings, it is much better. Being an inspiring wannabe baby steps fiddler, I really in love with Elena's work on all the albums.
The guest appearance of cornetist Peter Ecklund and late 1940s, early 1950s Bob Wills steel guitarist Bobby Koefert on some cuts here is wonderous. Buy, em, hear em send em money This almost reaches the quality of rhythm reached on the best Western Swing recording in history, the combined work of Eldon Shamblin, Smokey Dacus, and Tommy Allsup on "For the Last Time." That's saying something. The sound and most of the selections come from Bob Willis's great Tiffany Transcriptions of the mid 1940s. Just a guitarist and bassist.
She takes a lot of her lead from the great Joe Holley's solos and obligatos with Wills in the 40s and when he rejoined the Playboys in the early 1960s. The Hot Club picks up this music so well, and in such a lively spirit without being directly imitative that on some selections here I expect to hear Bob Wills, Joe Holley, or Tommy Duncan singing. or 9 piece bands to support its members, a factor that helped Rock and Roll get rid of lots of Western Swing, Big Band swing, and R & B groups in the 1950s, a trio or foursome is just cheaper to hire than a mini orchestra.
There's also some frenzied gypsy music thrown in for good measure. It's really impossible to go wrong with any of the Hot Club's CDs, but I think Dev'lish Mary still ranks as my sentimental favorite since it was the first one I bought. My personal favorite is their take on Stardust which really ranks as THE most beautiful version of this song I have ever heard. It's all played flawlessly with great energy. The sound is equal parts Bob Wills and Django Reinhardt. This album is a good mix of mid-tempo swingers (It's My Lazy Day and When the Bloom is on the Sage stand out), and barn burners (like Little Liza Jane).
Fun new swing group - this album is one that will run for a while without getting tired.
Play it in your car and you'll be rollin' down the wide open road with your foot a-tappin'. This is music that is rarely heard on the radio, so do yourself a favor and buy this CD. The fiddle/guitar interplay on several of the songs is very nice as are many of the guitar and fiddle solos.
3 pieces - swinging fiddle, hot guitar, and rock-steady upright bass. The trumpet (used on a few songs) provides a great traditional jazz feel. Hot Club of Cowtown is an amazing band.
If you ever get the chance to see Hot Club of Cowtown live, go to their gig by all means. Perfect for that big Route 66 roadtrip that you've been thinking about. Part Django and part Western Swing, Hot Club of Cowtown brings it all home with arrangements including "Dev'lish Mary", "When the Bloom is on the Sage", and the classic "Stardust".
The band is joined by first rate sidemen.
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