Gerard HACKETT - 4/5/2011

The Walkabouts are truly a cult band. They are Americans whose "folkie, indie rock" is popular in Europe. This is the Walkabout's 7th album, first released in 1993, and many consider it their finest work. Quoting from Chris Eckman's liner notes: " This is a collection of other people's songs..... All of them shared a powerful pull.....Some were played by the band, and others by musicians we greatly admire...It has never made sense to us that songs should be tied down to one specific voice or place.... Sometimes songs like to travel. Hopefully, we've given these songs that chance."
That hope was abundantly realised here, more so than any other "covers" album I can think of. Anyone who follows Uncut magazine's favourites such as Arcade Fire, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Lambchop's Nixon, Wilco, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, etc. will be delighted to discover this "Buried Treasure".

The full Track Listing is not given on this page. It is:
Satisfied Mind (by Rhodes & Hayes)
Loom of the Land (by Nick Cave)
The River People (by Robert Forster)
Polly (by Gene Clark)
Buffalo Ballet (by John Cale)
Lover's Crime (by Pewee Maddux)
Shelter for an Evening (by Gary Heffern)
Dear Darling (by Mary Margaret O'Hara)
Poor Side of the Town (by Johnny Rivers)
Free Money (by Patti Smith & Lenny Kaye)
The Storms are on the Ocean (by The Carter Family)
Feel Like Going Home (by Charlie Rich)
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone (Traditional)