Townes Van Zandt – In Pain

As with many of the latter-day Townes Van Zandt releases, In Pain primarily gathers live solo versions of some of his better-known songs recorded during the final years of his life. Most of the 16 tracks here were recorded in November ’94 (a little more than two years before his death) at a club in Bochum, Germany, with a handful of others gathered from recordings at various venues in Germany and Austria in November 95 and November ’96.

The material includes Van Zandt staples such as “Buckskin Stallion”, “Snowin’ On Raton”, “To Live’s To Fly”, “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold”, and “Rex’s Blues”, all of which have been rendered more definitively on previous discs. Townes completists, however, may want In Pain for the three covers tacked onto the end: “Stopping Off Place”, written by Chris Eckman of Seattle band the Walkabouts; Hank Williams’ “Alone And Forsaken”; and “You Gotta Move” by Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Perhaps the most notable information to report concerning this disc is that U.S. label Innerstate is now distributing all the Van Zandt releases on German label Normal, resulting in typical domestic prices and availability for In Pain and other previously difficult-to-obtain Townes releases.