“yoakam_dwight”
Dwight Yoakam
Last Chance For a Thousand Years
Reprise
This second greatest hits collection from Yoakam provides us a great service – mainly, collecting the best songs from his ’90s records, which, as a group, don’t match up to his first efforts, records that set country music on its ear. This collection has some classic numbers – “The Heart That You Own,” “Pocket of a Clown,” and “Fast As You,” and the listener is spared having to pick them out of mediocre records. Yoakam’s themes haven’t changed much since his first record – Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. in 1986. Broken hearts, faithless women, and the pull of a smoky bar at midnight are the topics that he drapes his amazing voice around, complemented by guitarist Pete Anderson’s great licks and tasteful production. Included on the set is his version of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” that propelled us all to rush out and buy Gap pants. Eh, maybe not, but it’s a good version of a so-so song, made better by Yoakam’s rockabilly voice.
Deftly straddling the fence between the drek of Nashville and the hip cred of the alternative country scene, Dwight Yoakam has survived and prospered all these years because of a real simple fact – the boy can flat out sing a song. Even if you hate country music, check Yoakam out. Not saying you’ll rush out and buy a Stetson, but maybe you won’t change the channel the next time that damn Gap ad comes on, either.
Reprise Records, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, 21th Floor, New York, NY 10019
