Townes Van Zandt - Flyin' Shoes (1978) Reissue 2009

Posted By: Designol

Date: Dec. 6, 2023

Widely considered one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, Townes Van Zandt has been hailed by such singers as Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and Willie Nelson. Fat Possum is proud to reissue four titles from his early career - "Townes Van Zandt," "Our Mother the Mountain," "Delta Momma Blues," and "Flyin' Shoes" - that comprise an essential introduction to his best songs. Recorded between 1969 and 1978, Van Zandt's most prolific (and most critically acclaimed) decade, these four titles are the heart of any serious consideration of Van Zandt's career. Featuring some of the most iconic cover art in album history (designed by Milton Glaser), each is a classic in every sense of the word. The four titles are the first in a series of Townes Van Zandt reissues that Fat Possum is undertaking in conjunction with the Van Zandt estate.

This is another stalwart collection from Townes Van Zandt, and not a dud in the bunch. The melodies here are strong, the lyrics full of Van Zandt's razor sharp insight, and the production is sparse and to the point, bringing to mind the inconspicuous polish of High, Low and in Between. The feel here is a balance between folk and country, with Van Zandt's voice and guitar up front, letting the songs speak for themselves. The tunes are full of heartbreak and hopelessness, making it a great album to put on during, or right after, the breakup of an affair. "No Place to Fall" sports one of Van Zandt's strongest melodies with a melancholy chorus that immediately imbeds itself in your mind. Pedal steel, a brief mandolin solo, and almost inaudible percussion add to the despairing feel of the track. "When She Don't Need Me" is another hopeless love song, this time with a Tex-Mex feel and a measured tempo that wrings every bit of drama out of the lyric. The title track has to be one of Van Zandt's saddest songs; images of winter, desolate hillsides, and loneliness complement an achingly beautiful melody. "No Place to Fall" is a teary waltz, a love song that pleads for connection and tries to be seductive, but ultimately succumbs to its own pessimism. On the slightly brighter side, there's an Everly Brothers influenced country-rock take of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love." "Snake Song" is a blues that could be about a poisonous snake or the obvious phallic object. The song ends with a fatal punch line. "Brother Flower," a striking meditation on mortality and the impermanence of love, has a melody that recalls Gordon Lightfoot's "Don Quixote" while "Dollar Bill Blues" is a sea shanty celebrating gambling, booze, self-destruction, and the desperate late-night search for love, or maybe just sex. None of the tunes on Flyin' Shoes have yet achieved the iconic status of Van Zandt's best-known work, but in the early 2000s, as his back catalog is being reissued and reevaluated, that might well change.

Review by Review by J. Poet, Allmusic.com

Townes Van Zandt at Allmusic
Townes Van Zandt at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. Loretta (03:55)
02. No Place To Fall (03:35)
03. Flyin' Shoes (04:29)
04. Who Do You Love (04:05)
05. When She Don't Need Me (03:17)
06. Dollar Bill Blues (03:05)
07. Rex's Blues (02:34)
08. Pueblo Waltz (03:06)
09. Brother Flower (02:59)
10. Snake Song (02:35)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 6 from 9. April 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 12. May 2016, 13:32

Townes Van Zandt / Flyin' Shoes

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-891SA Adapter: 0 ID: 2

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 320 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy 1.0 b6\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:55.10 | 0 | 17634
2 | 3:55.10 | 3:35.24 | 17635 | 33783
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9 | 28:09.74 | 2:59.20 | 126749 | 140193
10 | 31:09.19 | 2:35.31 | 140194 | 151849

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename L:\Lossless Temp\Townes Van Zandt\1978. Townes Van Zandt - Flyin' Shoes (2007 Domino Recording (Fat Possum), REWIGCD58, E.U.)\Townes Van Zandt - Flyin' Shoes.wav

Peak level 99.4 %
Extraction speed 7.1 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 9C000D51
Copy CRC 9C000D51
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [AF9AD0E7] (AR v1)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [23A8485B] (AR v1)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [D1AA1B34] (AR v1)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [BB058A13] (AR v1)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [2E625027] (AR v1)
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Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [CAD8778C] (AR v1)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [25A6F30E] (AR v1)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [663C3A92] (AR v1)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 3) [ABA59175] (AR v1)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

==== Log checksum FE56444EAF989EE55E9E6EF26F49306338BA851A8FA31EB5102C06BB2C60E09A ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-07-05 19:39:04

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Townes Van Zandt / Flyin' Shoes
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 -1.27 dB -19.22 dB 3:55 01-Loretta
DR14 -0.05 dB -17.62 dB 3:35 02-No Place To Fall
DR15 -0.53 dB -19.17 dB 4:29 03-Flyin' Shoes
DR14 -0.54 dB -16.99 dB 4:06 04-Who Do You Love
DR12 -0.78 dB -16.00 dB 3:18 05-When She Don't Need Me
DR14 -0.26 dB -16.75 dB 3:05 06-Dollar Bill Blues
DR13 -1.75 dB -18.52 dB 2:35 07-Rex's Blues
DR13 -1.73 dB -19.18 dB 3:07 08-Pueblo Waltz
DR12 -2.57 dB -17.94 dB 2:59 09-Brother Flower
DR13 -1.69 dB -19.46 dB 2:35 10-Snake Song
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR13

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 778 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

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