Townes Van Zandt - S/T

Townes Van Zandt's third recording is an early guitar-and-voice singer-songwriter classic laden with memorable originals. Start with "For the Sake of the Song," an oft-recorded classic here enlivened by tasteful percussion. Move on to a couple of Van Zandt's gritty, death's door laments--"Waiting Around to Die" (where the ex-con protagonist finds a friend in codeine) and a miner's sad tale, "Lungs." "Colorado Girl" is another in a career-long series of paeans to Colorado, where Van Zandt went to college. "I'll Be Here in the Morning" is a tender love song, while the Dylanesque "Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel" is almost playful. Like most Van Zandt albums, this one has the obligatory buried-but-beautiful small masterpiece, in this case the undeniably gorgeous "(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria." The closer is another oft-covered piece of scrimshawed tunesmithery, "None but the Rain." This 1969 effort is the first of several essential Van Zandt albums. --Robert Baird