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Spade Cooley Spade Cooley & Tex Williams Spade Cooley & the Western Swing Dance
Gang |
There
is limited Spade Cooley available on compact disc, but what we have
is invaluable. We've been told that Columbia compilation, Spadella!
The Essential Spade Cooley is the place to start. While it's very
good, our hunch is that it's programmed to appeal more to modern post-Rock
sensibilities than a true representation of Spade Cooley in all his
glorious dorkiness. Only six of the 20 tracks are instrumental and
we know from his surviving radio shows and transcription recordings,
this ratio is probably off. The Tex Williams vocals are actually better
here than on the transcriptions. The instrumentals have the great
harp intros, accordion percussion, steel guitar riffs and square dance
orchestrations we love, we just wish there were more.
Jasmine's A Western Swing Date With Spade & Tex is a collection of radio transcriptions of what we have to assume is Cooley's band after Tex Williams left (as the vocals are handled by Del Porter and Red Egner) and by Williams' newly formed band. The CD's liner notes give no indication of the source or actual dates. The tracks alternate between the two bands, but you have to wonder why. Other than the general sloppiness in preparing the CD, the actual music is pure country corn, as in hokum and liquor. You can pick which you prefer. Bloodshot Revival's Shame On You is
the real gem. It's a collection of radio transcriptions from what
must be early 1946, shortly before Williams left the band, when
they were at the height of their popularity. The instrumentals outnumber
the vocals and the sound is nothing short of amazing. The packaging
is true to the sounds within and unlike this writer, the liner notes
focus on the music, eschewing the more sordid facts surrounding
the Spade Cooley legend. |
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  © Coconut Grove Media |
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