I’d never heard this record before last week when I found it for the princely sum of one New Zealand dollar in a local charity shop. I must have seen the cover a million times though – it’s one of those country records like Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood’s Nancy & Lee, or the Louvin Brothers’ Satan Is Real, that belongs to another era but has more than enjoyed a 21st century revival and reissue.
In any other world, these might be forgotten albums, and it makes you wonder about all the hundreds (and thousands) of forgotten albums that will remain truly forgotten. Light In The Attic records were responsible for the Lee & Nancy and Satan Is Real reissues, but they’re just one company and, to the best of my knowledge, seem to be alone in that kind of pursuit.
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs’ revival comes from its appearance in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die books, and while I’m not a country nut I still find it a very nice listen. It’s real music before music was spoiled by all those teenagers and hippies in the 1960s. My copy is a New Zealand first press from 1959, which makes it almost sixty years old. Something must have been lost in translation over the Pacific when they sent the artwork though, as my cover is a garish pink instead of the usual red.
Hit: El Paso
Hidden Gem: Big Iron
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