American Music Club--Atwater Afternoon___A stick to your ribs satisfying__Tour Cd

Ship of Lost Souls

I was so glad I managed to pick Atwater Afternoon, the Nashville leaning limited edition disc by American Music Club when it was released back in 2008. Over the years the band has put records like this out to help finance tours--they would sell them at their shows. Fortunately I was able to pick this up a few years ago on their website. It's a somewhat stripped down collection of songs, including covers and alternate versions of songs from their studio albums. The last 3 songs are from a rougher either live in concert or live in the studio versions of songs, and they don't really fit the rest of the material so well. One of the highlights is the exquisite version of All My Love, which is a truly beautiful song.



I also enjoyed the covers--the band seems very relaxed and loose here. Eitzel has had prior success with a cover album, Music for Courage and Confidence, (American Music Club also did a nice cover of Goodbye to Love on the If I Were A Carpenter tribute) and he succeeds again here. I particularly dug the old nugget I'm Your Puppet, performed in the past by about a million other singers. They also perform the Kris Kristofferson 70's megahit, For The Good Times. The band honky tonks it up agreeably with Bill Anderson's City Lights, which reminds me of AMC Gary's Song. Another highlight is the harrowing story-song Long, Long Walk. "I'm not butter for any man's knife." What a lyricist!



Vudi contributes a song here, the uptempo rocker Little Joy, and Steve Didelot's excellent Insider's Guide to Life is also here. But you have Eitzel crooning the beautiful Who You Are, and his alternate version of All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco, which ought to be the City's new anthem. Sorry, Tony...




In any event, while Atwater Afternoon is not American Music Club's greatest moment, it's still pretty damn enjoyable. As I've said ad nauseum, Eitzel is one of the best songwriters of our generation, so go out and find out what the fuss is all about. You won't be disappointed. Get out and support the arts.