Twenty or so years after dooming himself to forever being known as the guy who wrote "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother", Ray Wylie Hubbard delivered one of the best records of 1997, the stunning Dangerous Spirits.
Now comes this live CD, a willfully shaggy, casual affair that seems about equally divided between Hubbard singing and holding court with various musings (among others, dismissing gangsta rap's claims of toughness with the observation: "In music, Ralph Stanley has killed more people than Ice-T").
Inevitably, that patter wears a bit thin on subsequent listenings and makes this a record that will be of interest mostly to the already converted. But the music is never short of terrific. It helps that Hubbard is accompanied by such stalwart Texas musicians as Stephen Bruton, Lisa Mednick and Lloyd Maines.
Although he's really not much of a singer, Hubbard sure can write. Highlights include the chilling "The Last Younger Son", the "honky-tonk gospel" classic "When She Sang Amazing Grace", and the teetering-on-the-edge-of-the-abyss "Last Train To Amsterdam". The set's centerpiece, though, is a 12-minute version of the dangerous "Wanna Rock And Roll", which incorporates an edgy cover of "Folsom Prison Blues".
And, yes, Hubbard sings his best-known song, tellingly titled on the CD cover, "The Obligatory Encore". In the middle of its hopelessly dated celebration of the pleasures "of kicking hippies' asses and raising hell," Hubbard admits it's "kinda embarrassing" and offers this bemused counsel to those who ask what's the most important thing about songwriting: "Right after you write a song, ask yourself, 'Can I sing this for 25 years?'"
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