Trace (CD) ~ Son Volt (Artist) Cover Art

Trace (CD)

By: Son Volt (Artist)

More About this Product
List Price: $13.96
Tower Price: $10.99
You Save: $2.97 (22%)
Add to BagAdd to Bag Click to go directly to the checkout.
This item qualifies for FREE Shop N' Save Shipping for orders over $25. Check individual shipping price. *Some Restrictions Apply.
Availability: Ships within 3 to 5 weeks
Share This:
Add To KaboodleAdd To Kaboodle  Submit To Digg!Submit To Digg!  Share On FacebookShare On Facebook  Add to FavoritesAdd to Favorites  TwitterTwitter 

Mesh Match For "Trace" CD by Son Volt:

Related Definitive Album:
 [A Retrospective 1995-2000 (Digipak) (CD) ~ Son Volt (Artist) Cover Art ]
 [A Retrospective 1995-2000 (Digipak) (CD) ~ Son Volt (Artist) ]
 

Son Volt Artist Snapshot:

From the ashes of seminal alt-country band Uncle Tupelo arose two great 1990s bands fronted by Tupelo's two visionaries. Jeff Tweedy started the Stones/Big Star-loving Wilco, and Jay Farrar led Son Volt, a band that delved further into UT's country roots while exploring an elliptical lyric-writing style and incorporating the occasional alt-rock riff.

Product Description

Track Listing

Your browser doesn't seem to have Flash enabled.
In order to access the album preview center, please ensure that the Flash player is installed. You can download it here.

DISC 1 for Trace (CD) Album By Son Volt (Artist)
1   Windfall
2   Live Free
3   Tear Stained Eye
4   Route
5   Ten Second News
6   Drown
7   Loose String
8   Out Of The Picture
9   Catching On
10   Too Early
11   Mystifies Me
 

Run a Quick Search on "Trace" by Son Volt to Browse Related Products:

Browse more products related to "Trace"

Browse more products related to "Son Volt"

Review

Rolling Stone (1/25/96, p.41) - Ranked #9 in the 1996 Critics' Poll.
Entertainment Weekly (11/10/95, pp.66-67) - "...Call it hillbilly alchemy: Son Volt turns heartland rust into gold." - Rating: A
Alternative Press (3/01, p.104) - Included in A.P.'s "10 Essential Alt-Country Albums".
Alternative Press (12/95, pp.97-98) - "...Son Volt are, in essence, western balladeers. The difference is Farrar's mentality and restraint, which he lends expertly to simplistic, acoustic-flavored arrangements and classic western instrumentation. TRACE is like sensible shoes: nothing to kick-ass with, but just what you need when you need it."
Musician (11/95, pp.88-90) - "...In a sane universe, Jay Farrar's gang would be rich and famous, thanks to his soulful, toe-tapping songs and sad-sack vocals....Son Volt is a welcome antidote to the new country blahs."
Village Voice (2/20/96) - Ranked #13 in Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
NME (Magazine) (12/9/95, p.38) - 8 (out of 10) - "...the sound of electricity humming through the wires above a back-woods country road....Jay Farrar hears the ragged rage of grunge in Hank Williams...seeks wounded solace in the sweet whine of the pedal steel and the bloody, blistered fingers of the weekend chickenwire thrash..."

Title Note

Son Volt: Jay Farrar (vocals, guitar); Dave Boquist (guitar, lap steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, dobro); Jim Boquist (bass, background vocals); Mike Heidorn (drums).

Additional personnel: Eric Heywood (pedal steel guitar); Dan Newton (accordion); Marc Perlman (bass); Craig Krampf (drums).

Recorded at Salmagundi, Northfield, Minnesota in November and December 1994.

Like a phoenix rising from the much-grieved-over ashes of Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar's Son Volt brings a balance of heart and mind back to the country-rock community. Which isn't all that surprising, considering it was Farrar who added that indeterminable sense of melancholic reserve to UT's albums in the first place. Son Volt retains Farrar's Gram Parsons-like ideal that traditional music works best when contemplating simple emotional truths not diluted by narrative or melodic cliches. From his ex-UT partner, Jeff Tweedy (leader of Wilco), Farrar also learned that the thick and speedy guitar textures of punk rock are just as adept at baring the honesties of the soul--that punk rock has become the modern folk music.

TRACE constantly wanders between such apparent opposites. There are fiery, passionate declarations propelled by crunching and thick electric chords that never fall prey to roots-rock sloganeering--songs like "Loose String," a mid-tempo stomp with the dark observation that "too much living ain't no way to die," and "Route," a charging rocker that paints the life-on-the-road cliche within rarely explored borders. There are also soft, thoughtful musings on the virtues of life's searches ("Windfall") and of metaphysical existence ("Tear Stained Eye"), lifted above the fray by Dave Boquist's heavenly accompaniment on various string instruments.

What unites these disparate pieces are Farrar's dark sweeping world-view and the plaintive voice with which he presents it. "When we're all passed over, the river will remain," he asserts on the bleak "Live Free," as a wailing lap-steel veils a vintage Stones beat. It is an image that exposes the pastoral as a timeless ideal, and man's reign as temporary--an image that weighs heavily throughout TRACE, and exposes Farrar for the folk philosopher he is.

Customer Reviews for "Trace (CD)" by Son Volt (Artist)

There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!

Submit your Review

Explore More Great Tower Sales & Specials

Tower Records music Sales, Promotions & Special Features

Today's Most Popular Music Genres

Tower.com Music Boutique Stores

  • Greatest Hits Boutique
    Expand your musical horizons with our monthly selections for "Greatest Hits" and "Best Of" CD Collections.
  • Tower Records Vinyl Store
    Enjoy some of our favorite new pressings, indie rock releases, and milk crate essentials priced at up to 30% off so you can keep spinning right round (Like a record!)
  • The Beatles Collector's Boutique
    On 09-09-09, experience music history when the original studio albums by The Beatles are re-released, digitally remastered for the first time! Browse our favorite Beatles music, video and book titles!
  • Woodstock Anniversary Boutique
    Celebrating 40 years of Woodstock - Three days of music that changed the world forever!
  • The History Of Indie Rock Boutique
    Browse Our Album Art History of Indie Rock Influencers, from the 1960s to today!

Interact with Tower.com