Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai

Cold Meat Industry/Cryo Chamber: 2005/2017

So Simon Heath reissued a bunch of his early Atrium Carceri albums on CD, which is nice, as those initial Cold Meat Industry runs are well out of print at this point. It kinda' feels like the project's come full circle now with Cryo Chamber, the label first set up, among other things, to offer digital downloads of those albums. Then it grew to include new projects, other artists, creative challenges, and a little extra swag on the side too. I suppose it was inevitable that Simon would rescue his original works for another run of CDs, waiting for a time such that their Cold Meat rights expired following that label's closure. As such, only his first three have been physically resurrected on Cryo Chamber, Cellblock, Seishinbyouin, and Kapnobatai. I've a feeling Reliquiae's gonna' take a little longer.

Heath's Atrium albums on Cold Meat were heralded because they blended older, industrial dark ambient aesthetics while suggesting a larger canvas than creepy weird music for its own sake. Such is the case with Kapnobatai, an album I picked up because I just gotta' find out what's the deal with that bizarre cover art. What is that, a mask? A demon head? An alien skull? The title itself offers no real clue, as it refers to cloud-dwelling, meditating shamans of Scythian descent, typically by way of burning cannabis flowers. The liner notes relay the inner monologue of an embittered individual as he surveys a land he and his ilk once ruled, only to have been overthrown by lesser sorts, now mocking him as they pass by. Pretty sure that was the whole point of crucifixions. Still no closer to discover what the deal with that cover image is though.

The opening tracks of Enclosed World/Liberation and Behind The Curtain Of Life definitely does bring me back to the early days of Delerium, with choir pads, unsettling synth sounds, and disembodied dialog samples. (yes, Delerium is about my only firm frame of reference when it comes to old school dark ambient) Impaled Butterfly takes things a step further, offering up copious amounts of anime dialog. I keep thinking it's from Cowboy Bepop, just because there's a brief harmonica tone among the sci-fi sound effects, marching rhythms and distorted pads. It probably isn't though, just because I'm fairly certain Kapnobatai isn't supposed to be a sci-fi album. Definitely plenty of industrial body-horror goings-on in later tracks though (Synaptic Transmission, Monolith Of Dreams, Stained Pipes, Thermographic Components, The Corrupter).

While there's elements of the 'cinematic drone' Heath would implement with greater frequency in later albums, Kapnobatai is still mostly playing by Cold Meat Industry's O.G. industrial rules. Which is fine if you prefer your dark ambient claustrophobic, dehumanizing, and horrific. Cryo Chamber showed me there was another way, one that could get introspective and strangely calming in the face of a bleak world (also, grand narratives!). Yeah, the label was hardly the first to do this, but it at least opened the door for yours truly.

Lee Anthony Norris - Italian Works

...txt: 2014

First you find the free downloads from ever-awesome portals like Ektoplazm or Bandcamp, and you think it's fine, because you're not going back on your word about paying for MP3s. Then they start offering older, out-of-print items up for free download, for being so supportive of their efforts, and you go along with it because you're still not paying for MP3s. Then come the discounts on digital-only items, and you figure since those won't ever see a hard-copy release, what's the harm in indulging in those too? And before you know it, you've succumb to the seductive dance of digital consumerism. Not all at once, and not instantly to be sure, but here I am, a decade removed from an 'epic rant' on TranceCritic about never buying MP3s (never!), eagerly buying in. So it goes.

Anyhow, when Lee Norris set up his ...txt print, he spent much of that time also working on various musics with various musicians, flooding the ambient market with a ton of new albums in the process. I've even reviewed some of those (Autumn Of Communion, Moss Garden, Nacht Plank, that shorty Porya Hatami collaboration). Right, much of what I have covered mostly came care of Carpe Sonum Records, if only because their CD runs aren't quite as limited as ...txt's usually are. There's still a chunk of albums in this period that I haven't picked up, so when Mr. Norris provided a good-will free download of his 2014 2CD compilation Italian Works - essentially a summation of his work during this period – how could I refuse? It didn't matter I already had some of this stuff elsewhere, it's an out-of-print ambient double-LP, for free download! Can't... resist...

Along with the above mentioned projects, also within Italian Works are Ashtoreth's Gate (Norris and Craig Murphy), The Ashes Of Piemonte (Norris and Wil Bolton), Solipsism & Nacht Plank (Lee and Craig again), and The Angling Loser (Lee, Wil, Porya, Martin Hirsch, Shintaro Aoki, and Sir Cliff). Fifteen tracks comprise both CDs (or full download), ranging from three-and-a-half minutes to a couple twenty-plus minute compositions. It's also all arranged into a mix of sorts, though as we're dealing with ambient here, it's more like faded blends between tracks rather than any layering.

And if you're familiar with Norris' style of ambient in recent years, much of Italian Works shouldn't come of surprise. There's the stuff with field recordings coupled with gentle melodic meandering - The Angling Loser's Dawn, Ashes Of Piemonte's Ordained By Winter's Fire, Solipsism & Nacht Plank's Lush, Polite, Heroin... almost every track really. Other pieces get more droning and abstract (Ashtoreth's Gate's When We Return) or go wide-screen with layered pad work (Moss Garden's Daily Catachresis), but about the only real differences between everything is what unique aesthetics Norris' collaborator brings to the plate. It all makes for a tidy bluffer's guide to his recent output, but lacks the diversity to elevate it beyond more than a pleasant, diverting compilation.

Way Out West - Intensify

Nettwerk: 2001

Far as I'm concerned, Way Out West has always been that duo who supplied solid tunes to a solid progressive set, or could class up a cheesy trance set. But because their album output has been so sporadic (five in two decades!), the solo careers of Nick Warren and Jody Wisternoff has generated more talk than the Way Out West legacy. For sure they had a brilliant run at the start, among the top rated acts in the nascent progressive house (trance/breaks) scene. Even then, however, it was clear they didn't need each other for sustainable careers. Mr. Warren was an established DJ on the UK circuit, while Mr. Wisternoff had a respectable discography under his belt before teaming up with Nick. Still, when they hit the studio back in the '90s, it was clear they had great synergy in crafting creative, deadly dancefloor weapons.

Success does create pressure in at least considering cross-over potential though, a tempting possibility for Way Out West following the turn of the Millennium. Like, if Hybrid could throw in a few vocals to critical plaudits, why not them as well? Surely folks would buy a collaboration with Kirsty Hawkshaw here, and a voice from Tricia Lee Kalshall there. And just in case their older followers weren't keen, you can win them over by sampling a bona-fide '90s classic in Coldcut's Autumn Leaves for the lead single in The Fall. That'll get those nostalgia triggers firing!

Shocking pilfering aside, The Fall is fine for what it is, a thumping prog-house anthem with a familiar hook to sing along to. Mindcircus was rather played out back in the day, but retains some charm all these years later, and Stealth works as a mid-album trip-hop breather. Really though, we're here for those propulsive prog-house/breaks (trance) cuts the Way Out West brand was built on, and the lads behind the moniker don't disappoint in the slightest. Activity's got a killer, clanking beat with a tasteful ethnic wail, Call Me works in a pounding prog groove, Hypnotise gets more floaty and break-beaty (paging Dr. Hybrid, yo'), and Sharkhunt... damn, is this ever some tasty-as-fuck sci-fi funk! It's a travesty this cut didn't get the EP treatment.

Okay, UB Devoid is a solid choice for “Big Banger Single From New Album”. It's almost doing a psy-trance thing for its first half, indulging in brief melodic passages, samples, and weird sounds for their own sake. The second-half goes down more traditional prog-house paths, but are mint in their own right. Can you believe this track's not even five-minutes long? Who crams that much music into a five-minute dance tune?

Finishing up, Secret hints at the burgeoning James Holden influences (grumbly low-end, twinkly highs), while the two-parter titular cut sums up most of the album's highlights. Unless you just can't stand prog-trance (breaks/house) of this era, there's nothing to fault with Intensify. It may not be as ground-breaking as their '90s output, but remains a great collection of tunes to this day.

36 - Hypersona

3six Recordings: 2009

With so many ambient artists on the market, it takes remarkable skill and ridiculous luck at cracking through the glut. I mean, after forty years of official existence (and some prior years of being called something else), how many unique angles are left in this genre? Even some of my present favourites typically tread territory covered by artists from the past, which isn't a bad thing by any stretch. Music genres become genres because of the familiar tropes that define them, relying on each musician's personal touch with established tools to distinguish themselves. Yet that may not be enough to get noticed, not without some serious sleuthing by dedicated diggers trawling for new material for their podcasts and blog hype. No, I'm not of that sort, usually content in letting others do the discovering for me. It's almost accidental if I happen across something none of my usual sources haven't yet.

I'd like to say Dennis Huddleston's 36 project (remember, that's “three-six”) is one such example, but that's not quite the case. While hunting for examples of contemporary ambient regarding Guide 3.0 matters, I was checking some 'Best Of' lists from Discogs users, and 36's debut album Hypersona was coming up a fair bit. He was still fairly new then, only a couple years removed from self-releasing this record, but the buzz was palpable. After plucking a sample, I made a mental note to check his stuff further, and didn't get around to that again until this past year. Um, oops?

Well, better late than never (and before physical copies are sold out!), but yes, Hypersona definitely is the sort of album that deservedly cracked that thick ambient soup, floating to the top in the guise as a tasty bit of garnish in the bowl. See, Mr. Huddleston had a trick up his sleeve that helped him stand out from the pack, making sure you heard what his music had to say, and would want to hear more from him from then on out. Within the first five minutes of this album, which includes three tracks of Signal, 2249, and Inside, you're met with a rush of nostalgic, melancholy melodies and dreamy synth-pad layers that reach deep into your chest, rip your heart out, and forces sweet tears of blissful innocence into that gaping hole where your soul lies.

Okay, I'm laying the uber-hyperbole thick there, but conventional ambient album construction dictates these sort of tunes are reserved for closing numbers, melodic denouements after being led on an emotional journey. Yet here's 36 saying, “Nuts to that, I'm gonna' hit you in the heart-strings early and hard.”

And don't think Hypersona's front-loaded, equally evocative tunes cropping up throughout the album, just with different variations. The Box adds ethereal voices, Nephyr does the white-washed dub-drone thing, Juliet gets abstract with crackly radio chatter, and Forever is insanely grand, opulent, and lush. That, my friends, is how you get a debut ambient album noticed in this scene.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Hymns & Songs, Volume II

Verus Records: 2001

Hey-yo, Past Peoples, 2073 Sykonee back already again. I know, I know, this is growing ridiculous, how many times I've done this already. I warned myself this was a nigh futile endeavour, reviewing cheap options for Oak Ridge Boys albums. A group with as much history as this one, which saw remarkable commercial success after transitioning from gospel to country, will have its extensive catalogue pilfered for credit-ins based on name recognition alone. Never mind their Nauty-Eighties material had nothing to do with their Nauty-Sixties material (even the familiar members hadn't yet become their iconic selves), if there's unsuspecting fans eager for more Oak Ridge Boys music, the dozens of olden recordings are there to fill the gaps, with any number of cheap-o labels licensing out a dozen songs in bare-bones presentation. Even in my time, with the vast webclouds we have, I still don't think every Oak Ridge Boys release has been accounted for. What hope does my past self have?

This one though, this Hymns & Songs collection, this is different. There's actual care taken with these vintage recordings, remastered and even enhanced beyond the capabilities of the original hardware. Not some slap-dasherdly clutch at Americana dollars, but a resurrection of The Oak Ridge Boys' heritage. Capturing the feeling of being within a real rural church in a bygone era, sitting front and centre in the pews, a lead singer to the left of you, the harmonizing trio to the right, and piano or organ or guitar players just in the background. Every voice distinct and separate, not the usual mono-mush so many of these compilations settle for. Heckles, even the vinyl crackle is captured, because I assume the original records were the only sound source this company had to work with. And believe in me, they dug up some ancient recordings.

Ten songs are on Hymns & Songs Volume II, the bulk of which originally come from a 1962 record called He Whispers Sweet Peace To Me on Skylite. A few more were plucked from the 1958 record The Solid Gospel Sound Of The Oak Ridge Quartet. Yessiree, we're dealing with the Boys before they'd even rebranded themselves as Boys - tenor “Little” Willie Wynn was the new kid on this block! And let me tell you, it took some serious sleuthing through your archaic interactive datanet to figure this out. It's astounding just how many gaps in knowledge your version of Wikis and Oggs still have. Imagine having a Britannica without Rasta-Pasta or Dragon nests!

As I've done told yous all before, our enjoyment of The Oak Ridge Boys/Quartet mostly stems from decoding their Atomic codes wrapped in religious harmonies. Yes, they're singing about Literal Jesus, but what is Jesus to any of us but a representation of our noblest deeds in the face of our cruellest actions? When stacked against so many Oak Ridge Boys bone pickers, whoever took such care recreating these recordings is a Jesus to any audiophile, whatever the content within contains.

Various - Home

Spiritech: 2014/2017

Though Spiritech was primarily an outlet for Lingua Lustra and BlueBliss material, they did bring in a couple outside artists too. Data Rebel, Rainbow Vector, Textural Being, Dark Passenger, Snufmuumriko, 0ther... Okay, so we aren't exactly dealing with a roster of well-known producers. Heck, I sometimes feel Albert Borkent only got noticed in the world of ambient through sheer force of will, or at least flooding the digital market with dozens of Lingua Lustra EPs. That's the cynical take though, and I'd rather take the positive take, where the dude is just a workaholic, and understands any hope of getting your name out there in the world of ambient requires releasing music at a ridiculous clip, lest you are lost in the sea of other workaholics. That, or luck out with a record or two on Very Important prints of the scene (which he done did with Databloem).

Getting outside contributions for Spritech didn't hurt though, smatterings of EPs and compilations finding their way into the label's discography throughout its short run. This here Home was one of the few such compilations to get an actual physical release, just this past year in fact. Why this one in particular, I don't know. Far as I can tell, a digital version was originally released back in 2014, and several more were released through Spiritech's Bandcamp since, many of which free (or Name Your Price deals). The liner notes mention Home being dedicated to Mr. Borkent's mother, so perhaps this one has more personal connection for Lingua Lustra, thus more deserving of a spiffier roll-out compared to all the other compilations.

Seven tracks comprise Home, two of which are from Lingua Lustra, natch. The opener Time Window clocks the longest too, a shade under fifteen minutes, mostly minimalist space ambience with echoing tones being sent deep into cosmic realms. Moorland comes off a little more grounded, New Agey spritely synths pitter-pattering in the background, followed upon by lush pads for a moving bit of music; throughout it all, whispery effects guide you along like ghosts.

So Mr. Borkent's material is good stuff, of which wasn't in doubt. How about the rest, then? What does the likes of Shambala Networks, Tonauac, and Reality Sandwich offer? Ultra-minimalist drone, melancholy pad ambient with strings, and blippy ambient techno, respectively. The latter two also have very little to their names within Lord Discogs' archives, at least beyond anything Spiritech related. Then again, the label's catalogue's looking mighty thin compared to their Bandcamp; needs an updating, methinks.

Two other tracks come care of a Markus Guentner and John Daly, both some of the emptiest drone I've ever heard, though Mr. Guentner does add an extra layer of dub warmth. He's also garnered quite the cult following, which isn't too surprising as he's Kompakt alumni. This John Daly though, is it the same Irishman who's been doing house and techno for a decade now? Because his D1 is nothing of the sort. A strange contributor for Spiritech if so.

The Oak Ridge Boys - A Higher Power

Nashville: 1965/1970

Hey-yo, Past Peoples, it's you know who, from a future far from now, where things are weird and wild compared to your primitive eyes. Why, even I, in the year 2073, have a hard time realizing how much things have changed. Apple pie costing seven bones and a femur. Self-driving vehicles tailgating self-driving vehicles in fits of road rage. Cherry blossoms fluttering across my holo-eyes in the long winter days. Sure ain't nothing like that in your times... my vintage times... the days of yore... so much a bore...

Anywhen, A Higher Power sums up the ever-lasting foreverness that is The Oak Ridge Boys quite nicely, methinks. The title, I mean, though those vocal harmonies stretch across the ages just as well. Now obviously when these songs were recorded back in the Nauty-Sixties, that 'higher power' the boys were referring to was in parlance to the Christian God, but the Atomic Brotherhood decoded their words, understanding it's just as much referring to the mighty energies stored in atoms. It cannot be under or overstated how much influence those early shows at secret nuclear research facilities had on the original gospel quartet, men of God being exposed to therein untold secrets of God's power, stored in the very make-up of our beings. Science and religion, joining forces to create a vocal group who's legacy lasted longer than your Beat Boys or Beachles. And I was a fan of those groups too, way back in my youth!

Why else do you think this particular album was renamed A Higher Power? It's original 1965 title was The Sensational Oak Ridge Boys From Nashville Tennessee. How boring, how uninformative - except for the facts that these 'boys' are from Nashville Tennessee, and that they're sensational. Parent label Starday Records reissued it with this new title, maybe as a means to market old material, but the Atomic Brotherhood knows better.

Mangles, this is reaching about as far back into The Oak Ridge Boys' history with any globally familiar members, William Gordon the spry turkey-chicken of the group (Duane Allen wouldn't join for another year). These recordings always feel more homely and, well, churchy, with Willie Wynn's tenor almost reaching choir-boy levels of pitch (I remember first thinking it was a 'church lady' singing – oh, silly naive young me). On the other hand, there's a fair bit of tasty slide-guitar action on here. Whether sombre standards like There's A Light Guiding Me, Land Of Beulah, and Angel Band, or chipper offerings like Shine Down On Me, I Am A Pilgrim, and There's A Higher Power, the ol' glissando twang is in full effect. I wonder who was playing it in these sessions. Like, The Oak Ridge Boys were more than just vocalists, they had those famous Nashville musicians handy too.

And wait, are those doo-wop tunes with I Am A Pilgrim and Just A Clear Walk With Thee? Well, Elvis was a thing, I do recall. He had himself gospel backers even while stealing rockabilly.

Various - Disco Heaven 02.02

Hed Kandi: 2002

I mentioned that 2002 is generally agreed upon as the year that Hed Kandi's quality peaked out. The following couple years weren't too bad, though a definite dip in consistency was settling in. This here Disco Heaven compilation is indicative of the problem. “Wait,” you probably think, “the label fashioned itself after appealing, uplifting house music, and disco's got that in spades. Hed Kandi would be out of their mind not to create a compilation series celebrating it!” And you're right, they did create a series, almost from the outset. It was called Disco Kandi. This, on the other hand, is Disco Heaven. That's right, Hed Kandi was finding so much success in the compilation market that they doubled their disco house options. By the next year, they'd set up a third series called Twisted Disco, and more recently a Nu Disco series. Plus don't forget the one-off Destroy The Disco. I'm surprised they haven't done a Disco Classics yet.

Point is, Hed Kandi's covered a lot of disco house in its day, probably spreading the choice selections out too thin in the process. They might have handled it okay in the early going, as label head Mark Doyle remained passionate of his pet project, but no one could maintain so many compilations with any regular consistency, especially if the franchise kept growing and growing with new series every few years. Small wonder it got sold off to Ministry Of Sound.

And for what reason did Hed Kandi see fit to create Disco Heaven in the first place (beyond muscling in more Hed Kandi covers in record stores)? Mark Doyle's liner notes state “we just thought it would be better to have a new title instead of hitting Disco Kandi 37 sometime next year!” Alright then.

Near as I can figure it, Disco Heaven offers up one disc of your standard uplifting, soulful garage house music – the stuff you'd find on Disco Kandi - and a second CD with clubbier tunes that feed off that loopier French filter funk. Like, I have no idea whether the Disco Kandi dabbled that way too, but I don't recognize any tracks of that sort in those CDs. Meanwhile, Disco Heaven has Junior Jack's Thrill Me; aka: that tune that apes the bassline from Daft Punk's Burnin'. I honestly thought it was some remix of Burnin' when I heard it here, only because I'd totally forgot about Junior Jack's version.

Anything else? Names I recognized from a glance included Kings Of Tomorrow, Full Intention, DJ Antoine, Kenny Dope, StoneBridge, Francois K, Jamiroquai and Shawn Christopher. Names you might recognize include Indigo, The Lab Rats, Shakedown, Kim English, and DaYeene. Really, name-dropping feels pointless with this collection. Disco Heaven is rather all one-note (and one-BPM) throughout, and does get weary hearing Yet Another House Beat unmixed over and over and over. It's still fun in spurts, but a little more variety would have broken up the monotony too.

Various - Beach House 04.02

Hed Kandi: 2002

I reviewed a couple Hed Kandi's Winter Chill compilations while it was still technically summer, so it's only appropriate that I tackle one of their summery collections as winter is settling in. Yeah, we're still in the autumn months, but the fact the West Coast got a white dusting already – the West Coast! - tells me winter is getting a head-start on its yearly shenanigans. I must combat it, then, with fun-in-the-sun Balearic beach music. Funk music for frolicking in the briny waves, soul music for sashaying through the blistering hot sand, and house music for hiding in the shade lest our pasty-asses get burnt by unforgiving UV rays. Man, beaches are kinda' terrible, when you think about it.

But hey, never was there a marketable concept that Hed Kandi couldn't exploit, and Beach House was quickly established as the upbeat companion to their summery Serve Chilled compilations. It's proven to be one of the brand's most successful series, enduring to this day, even dipping into the 3CD option in recent years. Man, considering the label's drop in quality control post Ministry Of Sound buyout, not to mention what's thought of as mainstream 'classy' house these days, I couldn't handle three discs of such waffle. Maybe others couldn't either, hence a return to the two-disc format in 2017.

Beach House 04.02 is the fourth in the series though, released back in Hed Kandi's peak years. Can't argue that based on the track list, some real classics mixed in with the less familiar tunes. I mean, we get Ashley Beedle's Mahavishnu Remix of Bent's Always, one of the best European deep house singles that emerged from the year 2001! There's also X-Press 2's Lazy, Beth Orton's Central Reservation (with a rub from Spiritual Life and Ibadan), Nick Holder's Sumer Daze, and Kaskade's It's You, It's Me (when Kaskade made good music). And that's just the closing stretch of CD1!

Actually, that's about it for recognizable artists, at least where I'm sitting from. Miguel Migs shows up for the dancier CD2, and I spy an Axwell remix on that disc too, but it's mostly blanks for the likes of Rawsoul Orchestra, Jetlag, Jon Cutler, Octave One... two-thirds of Beach House 04.02 really. Not that they're bunk artists or anything, just that there's so much house music out there, keeping tabs on everyone's a difficult proposition. I feel if I'd dug into these Hed Kandi compilations more often, I'd start seeing several repeated contributors, but alas, my exposure remains but a sampling, as only indulged when I spy an eye-catching discount price.

So the music's all fine, but if I must make a quibble, it's that this Beach House compilation only feels properly 'beachy' some of the time. Like, these could just as easily be played in lounges or a terrace, though during daylight does remain optimal. Whatever, I'd prefer a solid selection of tunes that sometimes fits a theme, than a mediocre selection of tunes that struggles to fit a theme.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Greatest Hits

MCA Records: 1980

Hey-ho, Past-Peoples, 2073 Sykonee in your brain again, with a less pretentious greetings - Sykonee Prime tells me it's off-putting for some, making me sound like a smug Future Man. Not sure how that works, as I'm still the same guy from the here and now, just with extra decades worth of outlook and experience. And the things I've seen, you wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the Shoulder Of Orion. C-Beams glittering in the dark at Tannhauser Gate. No, wait, those aren't my memories, they belong to someone else. Can't recall who at the moment, but I'm sure it'll come back to me.

No, many of my recent memories consist of golf. Yeah, yeah, make your 'old man' jokes, but there's a very logical reason for it: golf is one of the few 'sports' still allowed by the Atomic Brotherhood. The courses doubly serve as nature sanctuaries, see, so a lot of effort has been put into creating them. The wilds between civilization just aren't worth hiking through, what with rabid animals, feral forests, and crazed Muricans lurking about. Things didn't help when most of this continent's National Parks were sold off to foreign investors to pay off crippling debts (not that it saved the nations from splintering anyway). Within our sanctuary cities, however, we can maintain and control these 'parks', and get a good bit of exercise in the process whacking little balls over fields of beige and green. And those little flags will always give us hope striving towards a better future.

Okay, enough sports talk. I'm here to review Oak Ridge Boys albums, though in this case, it's another compilation, this time an honest-to-God Greatest Hits option. In this particular release's case, however, it's a rather amusing offering. For one, despite being a gospel group for decades at this point, it was a right rarity their music was rounded up for compilation duty (that'd significantly change in the ensuing years). Once The Oak Ridge Boys started making country music for a wider audience outside their core gospel demographic, their singles started charting too, often hitting the Top 5 mark in the process. They were four albums deep in this new direction when the Nauty-Eighties hit, so a Greatest Hits package seemed ideal to catch folks up. No one could have predicted their actual biggest hits would quickly follow though, this Greatest Hits collection now hilariously incomplete if you're in need of a quick introduction to the group.

For those who grew with The Oak Ridge Boys through their pure gospel era, the switch to songs about Trying To Love Two Women and Leaving Louisiana In Broad Daylight had to be a jarring transition. There's still nods to loving relationships (You're The One, Dream On), but also the tumultuous times too (Cryin' Again, Y'all Come Back Saloon). And nary a word of Jesus anywhere, though plenty of string sections, in that vintage Nauty-Seventies country stylo. Reminds me of Kenny Rodgers concerts off the shoulder of Orion.