Jayhawks "Hollywood town hall"

Opinions about this album?

 

Top-notch Americana.

 

A high-point of the band.

 

Masterpiece. A triumph of both songs and taste. Many incredible tracks, no weak link, with some of the absolute best songs they ever did : Two Angels (reprised from the previous LP, here in its definitive version), Crowded in the Wings, Settled Down Like Rain, Nevada California and the classic Waiting for the Sun (with Benmont Tench's opening piano note). Topped for me by its follow up, the stunning Tomorrow the Green Grass.

 

I’m an enormous Jayhawks fan. Own all their albums, seen them live five or six times, etc. However, I seem to be in the minority with the opinion that the Louris era is much better than the Louris/Olson era. That’s not to say I don’t love HTH, but I actually prefer TTGG to HTH for the classic Louris/Olson era (the less said about Mockingbird Time the better). IMO, Sound of Lies and, especially, Rainy Day are the underrated Jayhawks classics.

 

I don't know. Yes, Sound of Lies and Rainy Day Music are both wonderful records. Like you, I think I even prefer them to HTH. But there's a certain youthfulness in the two Olson/Louris classics HTH and TTGG, the discovery of the band's power by the band itself, when a band is just becoming aware of how great it can be, the first great songs, when it's possible to hear them being amazed by the songs and the sound they make. This is something that you don't get from more "mature" records like SOL or RDM. You've got to love both eras. (myself, I even like Mockingbird Time !)

 

I think all of the Jayhawks' albums are great; including Hollywood Town Hall and Mockingbird Time.

 

You mention all these excellent tracks and then you leave out the masterpiece that is Take Me With You (When You Go). It might even have been their biggest song, certainly here in the Netherlands.
Not sure whether follow-up Tomorrow The Green Grass is even better. Not that it matters that much though, as both records are pure diamonds.

 

I was ready to mention Take Me With You (When You Go) which is the first Nighthawks song that I ever heard ( and immediately fell in love with) and then I saw your post .

Agree 100 % ! Masterpiece ! ..

 

Love the eclecticism and sweep of Tomorrow the Green Grass, but that exquisitely dry, spare sound of Blue Earth is what made me a fan. Love both those albums dearly.

Hollywood Town Hall always seemed to me like a more generic, more calculated attempt at "FM Americana." Felt at the time as though American, having successfully packaged the Crowes as neo-Stones/Faces, was dressing the Jayhawks as a new Neil Young/Gram Parsons. And while those (mighty) influences had been happily apparent from the start, the record's arrangements and production somehow made them less interesting than they had been previously...

 

I can see where bonus is coming from above, but it's about my favorite -- and it ends with Martin's Song, tops for me by The Jayhawks

 

HTH and TGG are both absolute classics in my opinion. All of the later albums have moments that are as good (even without Olson) but none are as consistently good as they were with these 2 releases. If they had stopped entirely after TGG they would be revered for these two.

 

In truth, I had just mentioned my favorite tracks by memory and ended up with ALL the songs listed. So I thought it was ridiculous to mention them all and I randomly erased some titles. Take Me with You is indeed one of their best !

Even though it doesn't prevent HTH to be a tremendous record, I see your point. But I think it's an accurate analysis of American's strategy, more so than of the band's attitude. And TTGG transcends this : they come into their own, Louris becomes the main songwriter, bringing some power pop, Beatles/Big Star influences and breaking away from the Gram thing, never to come back.

 

Well I bought this CD last saturday. I didn't know anything about them, but I had good references. At first listen I wasn't impressed, but on subsequent listenings it's growing on me

 

Great album, this and Blue Earth are my favorites of theirs.

 

Greatness. Fantastic album.

 

I see Rainy Day Music being praised all the time so don't agree that it is underrated at all. I like it just fine (though not at Hollywood Town Hall or Tomorrow the Green Grass level).

 

Their best album

 

I didn't hear Blue Earth until later so don't view it like you, but can see your point. Hollywood Town Hall was a "wow!!" album for me. Perfect in every way.

 

Yeah, both on my Top 100 (and are probably safe from being knocked asunder).

 

This is the album that introduced me to the band. Upon reflection, Mark Olson was an inferior lead vocalist to Gary Louris, or Tim O'Regan for that matter. Too nasally, like the guy from They Might Be Giants. And Olson sings almost everything here but the single.

 

So Benmont Tench playing on "Waiting For the Sun" might explain the similarity of that song's opening and the beginning of Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane?"

 

Great album, but I think that Tomorrow... , Sound of lies and Smile are all better albums. It’s almost like the sparseness of the album is a bit too much (or too little). I think the other three albums adds a bit more colour and eclecticism.

 

Blue Earth: I didn't hear this until the reissue in 2003. Instead of being the debut, in my world it came after Smile and I couldn't have been happier. The Jayhawks were "back"! (even, of course, when it was just me becoming acquainted with a more than a decade old album). Two Angels, She's Not Alone Anymore, Commonplace Streets, Ain't No End, Five Cups of Coffee...hmm, Top 100 album potential!

Edit: I see that it isn't the debut! I didn't know that. I guess I've never heard the self titled debut.

Hollywood Town Hall: loved from the get-go. Indispensable.

Tomorrow the Green Grass: see above.

Sound of Lies: I wasn't aware Olson had departed when I bought this. One listen and I was frantically reaching for the liner notes. I like the album but obviously a different band and sound.

Smile: This one put me off the Jayhawks for quite a while, to the point where I had no interest in even hearing Rainy Day Music. Then one day I had my iPod on shuffle and the album came on and it kinda clicked. It no longer makes me chuckle when I listen to it and I like it just fine.

After this point it's been catch up time, going back to hear Rainy Day Music (which i like). And, being an Olson fan, I'm delighted with Mockingbird Time. Hide Your Colors is a fantastic song. As is Tiny Arrows "coyotes howling in the mountains far away".

 

Oh yes. Most definitely. Rick Rubin knew what he was doing : he put Benmont and Mike Campbell all over most of his rock productions and a lot of his "American" releases. The Heartbreakers were big aces up his sleeve.

(I think there's also Nicky Hopkins somewhere on HTH, but Tench plays the opening notes of Waiting for the Sun)