Posted on: November 25, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

OST: Heartworn Highways / 2007 Hacktone / 26 Tracks / http://www.hacktone.com

Heartworn Highways is a documentary similar in style to All My Loving, but the subject material is a little different. Where All My Loving was a child of the sixties in terms of the bands covered and individuals’ feelings about rock music, the director of Heartworn Highways, James Szalapski focuses on the folk and roots rock sounds that were present during the middle of the 1970s. Where there were performances by Cream, Zappa, and Hendrix in “All My Loving”, there are performances in Heartworn Highways by Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, John Hiatt, and Steve Earle.

This soundtrack represents a blend of the performances during Heartworn Highways, and different clips from interviews and other segments from the documentary. Of particular note to me on the CD is a pre-racist (at least overt racist) David Allen Coe singing “River”, a track that will get at your heart while making an individual think. Individuals should focus in on the finale of the track, a version of “Silent Night” that features most of the individuals that were previously on the CD. The many-vocaled “Silent Night” gives another spin on a classic, no matter how many times individuals have heard the song done and redone. For those individuals that were still a decade or two away from being born when this documentary originally came out, this soundtrack will allow fans to find new individuals that have fallen out of favor with current radio stations and fans.

For example, I was born in 1983 and had no clue who exactly Larry Jon Wilson, Rodney Crowell, or Gamble Rodgers were. Individuals that have seen the movie and are unhappy with an older vinyl copy of the album or poorly-ripped audio file should search out this Hacktone release and be amazed at the clarity and full sound that these thirty-plus year old songs all have to them. I wish there were more tracks available to listeners; perhaps it could be within the range of good taste for Hacktone to go and acquire the skills of someone versed in this period to come up with a multiple disc compilation of songs from a similar period and sound. If that is possible, we could experience a revival in fans of this style, which in turn would lead to the re-releases of a number of original albums from that time period. Essentially, it is a win-win-win type of thing.

Top Tracks: David Allen Coe – River, Guy Clark – Texas Cooking

Rating: 7.4/10

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