Wide Swing Tremolo

[creepersin]

i just think on trace jay was free for the frist time in years. it was a new thing for him and the emotion shows. it breaks my heart every time i hear it. kinda like when you end a relationship and even though its good its over the change is scary. to me trace is like "tracing" the line of what happens next. the unknown. it is beautiful. one of the best albums of all time.

[gb68]

Trace was my introduction to Jay's music, and after a couple weeks, it was all I was listening to. After a while I picked up Straightaways and from the get-go, it was a recording I listened to repeatedly to the exclusion of all else. (I took to it straight away, you might say.) I found WST on vinyl and it didn't leave my turntable for a month. I had to get it on CD, too. It's not often I buy the same album twice. I've been listening to Terroir Blues a great deal lately.
I know some critics and fans feel as though Trace was a high point for him, but I just don't hear it that way. Some critics say he keeps writing the same kinds of songs over and over, and others complain he's since strayed too far from his "core competencies," so to speak. Which is it, then? Neither one, to my ears. His albums all have differences in mood and sound that sets them apart from each other, yet the consistently high quality of all his work is truly impressive to me. I would not have flown to New York to see him at the Bowery Ballroom if I truly believed he was eight years past his prime.

[Montana-Bitterroot]

I cant really pick which one is better of the Son Volt records.

I agree Trace is uneven, and the others are better paced.

[Alexa]

Ah...meant to say that Trace was more cohesive than the other two...so much for my writing ability. LOL.

[Alexa]

Trace works better for me because it's far less cryptic and cohesive than WST or Straightaways; plus, the vocals--always the most appealing part of any Farrar song--are better, stronger. For example, on Trace he never descends into any of that depressing low moaning that he does in, say, Straightaways's "Been Set Free." I think Jay's brilliant, but I have to skip that song because it just kinda drip-drips along...

Also, I frankly don't understand what many of the songs on WST or Straightaways mean, and I do "get" all the songs on Trace.

This is not to say that I don't like WST or Straightaways, because I do. I listen to them all the time. I simply think that Trace is more outstanding in that particular set of outstanding works.

By way of defense, I am not obtuse about song lyrics. I myself write--not songs but other things--and am published, as well. I also teach creative writing (univ. level). My mantra is clarity, clarity...so naturally songs that aren't as clear won't appeal to me as much as they might appeal to others.

[countryBoy]

Can't get enough of NoD through WST or the EP's to the solo stuff, it's funny there is so much you can keep switching around and still not hear the same song in a week if you try. The music speaks for itself. Personally I love WST it's probably SV's best. However a new record of Jay doing solo stuff alone on a 1939 National would be sweet. He is becoming the new heralded blues guy and I could see buying his disks well into 2025 or so.

[bentonbourbon]

Wow!
Sort of blown away here .... I thought WST was absolutley brilliant ...I think its right there with Trace and way ahead of Straightaways.
After listening to the record and then hearing songs like "Straightface" "Driving the View" "Medicine Hat"
"Strands" "Flow" and "Dead Man's Clothes" played live was breathtaking ... Seeing Jay whip the harmonica off his mike stand and blast the Straightface harp solo is still one of my all-time favorite moments

[heliocentrist]

I like them all about equally and don't understand the bad rap any of the SV discs get ... if I had to choose one it'd probably be WST

and I agree about Jay needing to rock again, or, more specifically, us fans needing Jay to rock again

[sawyer]

i'm with badmofaux - Straightaways is my fave, followed by Wide Swing then Trace.

[Sandusky]

Well, here's my 2 cents. I voted for Trace, but that does NOT mean I think any less of the others. I absolutely love all the songs on Straightaways & Wide Swing Tremolo!!!!! Sooooo, take the votes with a grain of salt, will ya??

[badmofaux]

I'm of the minority opinion that Straightaways is their best album. Caryatid Easy is such a smooth, warm, toe-tappin' tune... and it all just kinda flows from there. Anyway, Trace is obviously a classic but it's a bit uneven. It has the "hits", but as a conceptual whole it strikes me as a little, uh, slack. Wide Swing Tremelo, I love. I think that album is great. I was surprised to discover that most other folks don't agree. Song for song, it weighs in the heaviest. It just never stops.

[Danny the Kid]

You boys are right. We need another Son Volt album.

[loosestring]

I think they're all fabulous albums. There's not one song that I dislike on any of them. I don't know why WST and S haven't got many good reviews...

[Long Slow Fade]

While I think that WST is outstanding, I'd pick it as the weakest (read: not completely brilliant) record of SV's. It's great but kind of lags in the middle, in my humble opinion. That said, it has some of my favorite Jay tunes on it (Medicine Hat, Blue Side Hanging, Blind Hope, Question, Strands...).

I do second the motion for a rock record.

[Boots]

I held off for a long time on Wide Swing, because other SV fans told me it was weak, but when I finally got it and gave it a spin I was a bit confused. I figured it would be an attmept to remake the other two or just some lame attempt to make the anti-Trace record. But it was better then most records I've heard, besides Blind Hope, Chanty, and Medicine Hat were worth the price of the whole record