Chip N' Tony Said---Rank and File--Long Gone Dead

If it's a Joke, why aren't we Laughing??

This is another short but good album from the 80's. Rank and File are classified as country-punk, but it sounds more to me like punks shedding their skins and playing country music, with a lot of love and reverence. Probably a lot of their fans had problems with their metamorphosis from The Dils, but I don't doubt that their intentions were good and that Chip and Tony Kinman were not selling out their musical integrity. This album is simply a lot of toe tapping fun and it is evidently clear that these guys enjoyed playing this music. Long Gone Dead is deemed by many to be inferior to the first Rank and File disc Sundown, probably because this record is a bit slicker and the first record had Alejandro Escovedo. And I'm sure that people will find some of this music to be a little retro and corny. Nonetheless, the Kinman brothers put together an album of pretty catchy songs here that is worth listening to.

"Try to get up, they'll only knock you down" starts the first song, the Everlyish Long Gone Dead, a great upbeat tune whose dark lyrics belie the cheerful music, something that always warms my heart. The harmonies are something special, brothers harmonizing, sort of like Dave Alvin and Jonathan Richman dueting. Song two is the high octane I'm an Old Old Man, a Gram Parsons tribute with revved up pedal steel. Song three is a rehash of a Dils classic, the thoughtful Sound of the Rain, and this slight reinvention works well, probably my favorite song on this album.

Hot wind feature Tony Kinman's deep voice and a guitar riff reminiscent of a spaghetti western. Tell Her I Love Her is an unabashed pop song with Chip's vocals, another highlight on the record. When the next song, Saddest Girl in the World starts up, I always think its going to be a Motown song, but then changes over to a straight country song with banjo. Timeless Love is a really nice ballad and John Brown, their historical foray on this album is pretty good also. "Last night I dreamed I died and went to Hell" begins Last Night I Dreamed, another happy song with unhappy lyrics. After all it is a country song. The song ends with an old timey country tune with fiddle, It Don't Matter, where they sing about getting their van towed while on tour in Hoboken, New Jersey.

If you like Gram Parsons, Country Music, O Brother Where Art Thou's Soggy Bottom Boys, you're gonna like this one. Sundown is also a really good record too, but I thought I would put my two cents in about an album that seems to be unfairly maligned.