- The Coal Porters: The
Chris Hillman Tribute Concerts
- Prima Records SID013
- The latest release from Prima Records comes
courtesy of our old friends The Coal Porters. As
the band's last release was also a tribute album,
fans could be forgiven for thinking that the band
are getting a little too formulaic, but they'd be
wrong. The Gram Parsons album was a one-off gig
which spawned an album and video, pretty much as
an afterthought. This tribute is rather a
collection of tunes recorded live at different
times with the intention of producing an album.
The result is I think a much better album all
round. Hillman's longevity (or failure to
"die young") means that there is more
breadth of music to choose from. Hence, whilst
there are tracks from his times with The Byrds
and the Burritos, there are earlier later tracks
from The Hillmen days and later ones from
Hillman's recording with Stephen Stills' Manassas
and with Herb Pederson.
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- With the album still a month or two away at the
time of writing, I am restricted to a pre view
tape which gives no details of the personnel or
venues involved, so apologies if I overlook
individual brilliance from the likes of messrs
McGarvey, Herd, Neald and the other musicians who
have no doubt contributed. The tape I had also
contained 16 t racks, some of which may have been
dropped by the time the album actually made it to
CD, so if you're favourite track of all time is
mentioned but not on the album, I can only
apologise on the band's behalf!
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- It is also worth pointing out upfront to those wh
o have not had the pleasure of attending any of
these shows before that they have become largely
acoustic affairs. The original Chris Hillman
birthday tribute gigs were all electric shows,
but more recently the band have chosen to perform
these with acous tic guitars, banjo, mandolin and
dobro, with the occasional stand-up bass and
fiddle adding a little flavour to the mix.
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- The album kicks off with a brief intro for the
band and then they are straight into the
Burritos' My Uncle, a brisk and lively track to
immediately get the feet tapping with Sid and
Neil sharing the vocals. Dylan's When The Ship
Comes In is a fine collective vocal from Sid,
Neil and Pat and is guaranteed to stir the
passions in good protest song tradition. Summer
Wind, written by Hillman w ith Steve Hill for the
Desert Rose Band is another jaunty song that has
a very catchy refrain and is one of the
highlights of the album for me. After two
relatively obscure tracks for non-Hillman
aficionados, we are quickly back on familiar
territory with 4 tracks culled from his time with
The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Draft
Morning, slow and atmospheric works surprisingly
well with this instrumentation, and adds a bit of
gravitas to the set. Time Between, likewise
probably sounds better electrically than it does
here, but it's a classic Byrds track and one
which any Griffin/Byrds fan would love to hear.
The two Burrito tracks, Older Guys and Wheels,
both appeared on the Gram Parsons Tribute
Concert, so you'd be forgiven for thinking
they're su perfluous on here as well. The version
of Wheels however follows a great story from Sid
about falling off a motorbike in LA in the
mid-eighties and becoming a vegetarian soon
after!
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- The Lost Highway was done on Hillman's
Bakersfield Bound album with Herb Pederson, and
The Coal Porters cover it well here, with Neil
Robert Herd taking charge of the vocals admirably
and featuring a great banjo break from Pat. This
is just a short break in the Burritos section of
the album with two more from Hillman's time wit h
them. Cody Cody has never been a favourite track
of mine, though it is well received here and
includes some lovely fiddle playing. Sin City on
the other hand, introduced by Sid as "a
classic" is just that. Despite it too
getting a repeat from the Parsons album, this is
definitely worth it as this is a superb version
and it gains rather than loses power for being an
acoustic version.
-
- Felice and Boudleux Bryant's Brand New Heartache
will be familiar to Long Ryders fans from their
version on Metallic BO. The version here is a
sweet reminder that the 'Ryders were not all
Lewis And Clark and Gunslinger Man tunes. The
Byrds' The Girl With No Name was at one time my
favourite track by said band, and whilst the song
probably sounds better when the band do it
electrically, it's still great to hear it
released by The Coal Porters. As the 'set'
progresses to its' conclusion, the gems emerge.
The traditional I Am A Pilgrim sounds superb with
Pat taking the vocal this time, and it fits in
perfectly with the instrumenta t ion the band
have on hand. Fallen Eagle, from Hillman's time
with Stephen Stills' Manassas is one of the other
highlights for me. It is Sid's ability to pick
out these songs that constantly amazes me, and it
is these (to me) less celebrated tracks which
often turn out to be the greatest tracks at the
shows which formed the basis of this album.
Having said that, the album closes quite
naturally with two more 'classics'. So You Want
To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star doesn't sound like the
sort of song best suited to a mandolin and banjo
treatment but the addition of Dave Woodhead's
whistle in place of Hugh Masekela's trumpet
rounds off a wonderful version, with Sid as usual
encouraging the crowd to scream to replicate the
sound of the original. After shouts of
"Yeah! Yeah!" (most of which came from
Sid, if you ask me!) the band finish up being
joined by Steve and Steph from The Arlenes for
the traditional closer You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.
With the crowd again getting involved in the
sing-a-long it is a great ending to the set and I
cannot imagine closing such an album any other
way.
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- Whilst fans might yearn for more original
material, this album shows off the band's varied
musical skills and styles both individually and
collectively. The Coal Porters put the songs
across wi th an enthusiasm and passion that is
testament to Hillman's career and to their own
love of his music.
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