Amazon.com
In an age when barroom-'n'-cheatin' songs hit country radio program directors' wastebaskets quicker than you can say "Foolin' Around," it's good to remember Gary Stewart. The Kentucky native kicked around for years before breaking big in 1975 with the likes of "Drinkin' Thing," "Out of Hand," and "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)." If anything, those hard-driving plaints were soon eclipsed by the rocking "Your Place or Mine (I Really Don't Care)" and "Ten Years of This" (a bitter soliloquy delivered by a man to his wife on the occasion of their wedding anniversary)--two cuts on which Stewart gives Jerry Lee Lewis himself a run for his money in terms of unhinged vocal artistry.
Essential captures all these and more on a generous CD that matches Gram Parsons, if not Hank Williams, for abandon and dark emotional intensity.
--Rickey Wright
The Essential Gary Stewart,Gary Stewart,RCA,Country,Country & Western,Country-Rock,Honky Tonk,Pop,Progressive Country
Average customer rating:
- Awesome
- ESSENTIAL
- Sorely missed, abundantly gifted and highly underrated honky tonk genius
- Crusin' Town in His Cadillac
- Gary Stewart Was A Rare Gift To Music
|
The Essential Gary Stewart
Gary Stewart
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
 General
| Country
| Styles
| Music
Honky-Tonk
| Country
| Styles
| Music
Outlaw & Progressive Country
| Country
| Styles
| Music
General
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
Country Rock
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
Pop Rock
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
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ASIN: B000002WZG
Release Date: 1997-02-11 |
Tracks:
- Drinkin' Thing
- Honky-Tonkin'
- Roarin'
- She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)
- Back Sliders Wine
- Out Of Hand
- Single Again
- Quits
- Oh, Sweet Temptation
- In Some Room Above The Street
- Your Place Or Mine
- Ten Years Of This
- Whiskey Trip
- Stone Wall (Around Your Heart)
- Flat Natural Born Good-Timin' Man
- Mazelle
- Cactus And A Rose
- Are We Dreamin' The Same Dream
- I See The Want In Your Eyes
- Brotherly Love
Amazon.com
In an age when barroom-'n'-cheatin' songs hit country radio program directors' wastebaskets quicker than you can say "Foolin' Around," it's good to remember Gary Stewart. The Kentucky native kicked around for years before breaking big in 1975 with the likes of "Drinkin' Thing," "Out of Hand," and "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)." If anything, those hard-driving plaints were soon eclipsed by the rocking "Your Place or Mine (I Really Don't Care)" and "Ten Years of This" (a bitter soliloquy delivered by a man to his wife on the occasion of their wedding anniversary)--two cuts on which Stewart gives Jerry Lee Lewis himself a run for his money in terms of unhinged vocal artistry. Essential captures all these and more on a generous CD that matches Gram Parsons, if not Hank Williams, for abandon and dark emotional intensity. --Rickey Wright
Customer Reviews:
Awesome.......2007-04-05
It's as good--great--as I remember it being. I had this CD a long time ago but lost it. Thank you Amazon!!
ESSENTIAL.......2007-03-10
The "essential" Gary Stewart is basically EVERYTHING he recorded for RCA under the guidance of Roy Dea. This album gives a reasonable overview of Gary's stint with RCA but leaves out so much excellent material that one could be forgiven for feeling a little short-changed with this album. Stewart is THE greatest honky-tonk singer of all time and if the reader hasn't yet discovered his full repetoire go directly to the CD store and get all you can afford. Start with the two-fer "Out Of Hand"/"Your Place Or Mine". The former is the best honky-tonk album ever released and the latter is one of the best rock & roll/country albums out there. The other two-fer, "Steppin' Out"/"Little Junior" is maybe a little inferior to the "Hand" one but still head and shoulders above any competition. His other RCA albums ("Gary" and "Cactus and a Rose") are available on a harder-to-find two-fer but are well worth seeking out. Get these six albums and THEN you have the "Essential" Gary Stewart. His Hightone albums are good but not really in the same class as the RCA stuff so start with the RCA material and then alight the staircase to honky-tonk heaven.
Sorely missed, abundantly gifted and highly underrated honky tonk genius.......2006-12-11
For those who think they're up on their 'outlaw country' just because they saw the CMT special, click 'order' now and get ready for the real deal, because each and every one of these Gary Stewart songs is a gem, guaranteed to put a lump in your throat and a tear in your beer every time. Hearing him wrap that voice (that voice!) around those lyrics - both steeped in the emotional anguish of the ages - will do your head and heart in, and you'll come running back for more, and before you know it, you'll have worn out your CD. Worth the price alone for "Single Again" and "Ten Years of This," rumored to be a favorite of Bob Dylan's according to writer Jimmy McDonough. May Gary Stewart rest in peace, and may he also one day get the credit he deserves for making the art of nakedly poignant country song-craft so great...
Crusin' Town in His Cadillac.......2006-11-12
Gary Stewart was one of those artists who seemed stranded between rock & roll and country. Shooting himself after the death of his wife of 40+ years was a great musical loss in 2003. This 1997 anthology opens with a Wayne Carson song. Carson will be remembered for writing the classic "The Letter" as well as "Neon Rainbow" & "Soul Deep" that were hits for the pop band The Box Tops in the 60s. Appropriately, "Drinkin' Thing" is a last call anthem filled with pedal steel teardrops, "It's a lonely thing, but it's the only thing to keep a foolish man in love hanging on." Stewart's big seller "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" is another Wayne Carson song filled with heartbreak, "My heart is breaking like the tiny bubbles." Michael Murphy's song "Backsliders' Wine" that was also recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker highlights Stewart's excellent way of filling the lyric with emotion, "Fight for your rights, but don't just fight for right." Gary's own song "Single Again" is another hardluck romantic weeper with Gary's great snarl, "Last I heard a little while back, you were cruising town in his Cadillac." On Danny O'Keefe's "Quits," Stewart's voice has a vibrato that makes him sound like a man on the edge. On Wayne Carson's "Oh, Sweet Temptation" Stewart's voice trembles, "I look into your bedroom eyes & Lord, I want to stay." Gary's voice bursts with lustful emotion on the crowd pleaser "Your Place or Mine." Stewart mines Carson's catalog again on "Whiskey Trip," "Lovin' her with every sip, I'm just like a sailing ship." On of my favorite tracks is the rocking "Mazelle," "Who's going to star in your movie, Mazelle, who'll play the big shot in your scene? Will it be him or me on your silver screen?" "Cactus & a Rose" was my first Gary Stewart album. The title track from that set still sounds good these many years later. Stewart's country twang is accented on Carson's "I See the Want in Your Eyes." Listening back on this collection, I'm impressed by Stewart's passion, his clarity of his voice and the raw emotion that he wears with pride on his sleeve. "The Essential Gary Stewart" is a good collection to discover this classic country artist. Enjoy!
Gary Stewart Was A Rare Gift To Music.......2006-06-18
I first heard Gary Stewart's music on country radio stations in Ohio while barely out of my teens.
His voice, his sincere sound had a way of reaching out of the radio and grabbing you by the throat.
Since his tragic end, some of the demons that were troubling him have been written about in detail. But Gary Stewart was no different from some other famous people in many fields who gave much of themselves away.
Those of us with less talent cannot possibly know the pressures of such talented people. Expectations are high. One hit is never enough....give us more and please us even more.
Gary Stewart had a unique sound and he seemed to live his music, which may not be something to always celebrate.
Some parts of his life were tragic; many things and events seemed to control him instead of the other way around. People close to him left him in shocking ways.
I will forever be thankful to Mr. Stewart for what he left
behind. He may be gone now to find the peace that eluded him in life, but his music will be played decades from now, and that lonely, calling voice will find new fans who have not
yet been born.
Thank you, Gary, for what you gave.
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