Pure Prairie League (1972) Angel No 9 - LOST 70s GEMS

The songwriting team of Craig Fuller and George Powell was one of the finest in the business, and on Bustin' Out they made an album that is unequalled in country-rock. The songs are meditative portraits of relationships that aren't running smoothly but are still alive, and they sound autobiographical rather than something contrived to sell records. These tunes are presented with grace and unusual taste, the country guitars and vocal harmonies backed with astonishingly sympathetic string arrangements by Mick Ronson. Both lyrical and musical themes carry over from song to song -- "Falling in and Out of Love" and "Amie" are really two halves of one suite, and there are echoes of that suite throughout the rest of the album. Despite the extraordinary beauty and intelligence of the music on this album, it was not immediately successful, and the already troubled band broke up after it was released. Nevertheless, the influence of Bustin' Out was profound, and one song in particular became a staple for bar bands everywhere. RCA re-released "Amie" as a single more than two years after the album came out, and it was a Top 30 hit. The revival of interest in Pure Prairie League led RCA to re-sign the group, alas without Craig Fuller. That hit status also led to a rediscovery of the merits of the rest of Bustin' Out, which is acknowledged to be one of the artistic high points in country-rock history.


Bustin Out, the follow up to Pure Prairie League's 72 debut album, busts out with the Alt rock vibes of Angel No 9 with a great mix of a restless drum performance, a lead steel guitar and a jangly country rhythm guitar and some fine twin solos. Jazzman is far more mellow and bears a more natural rhythm and melody, but it's the lonesome whine of a pedal steel in the far background alongside some crystalline acoustic picking that made PPL a folk rock cousin to the Eagles with a more separated sonic mix rather than the bland mush of Eagles song productions, here the warm harmonies, gospel flavour, and rootsy textures of Craig Fuller's lead vocals are all wonderfully restrained. Both are richly melodic yet lacking some snap, which is provided by the next track Leave My Heart Alone with it's hard groovin mix of spritely acoustic, piledriving rock guitar and soaring soulful backing vocals and more 'rusty pipes' lead singers.


I won't make a point about Amie or it's Pre-track Fallin In and Out of Love as their crisscrossing harmony folk pop was the big hit and don't qualify as gems; they are also far too awesome to sum up. Early Morning Riser is an amiable country shuffle with more glistening acoustics, rootsy tooin lead vocals and rock n roll guitar punches. The band were a little too laidback for their own good and never quite showed the depth of the lyrics in their delivery with bright folk rock arrangements that belied the dark presence. By the time you get to Boulder Skies, the sleepy vocal style gets a little too one note for me, I need variety! Well the next song Angel features a more melancholic mountain ballad vibe with the minor key, the lyrics are once again spectacular and the pensive sound brings the lyrics to he fore, though it's a shame country rock was a vocal based genre that the singers in this band didn't modulate more often for dramatic effect. Album closer, Call Me, Tell Me is a fast paced jangly 12 string number with swooping string arrangement that doesn't quite gel with the restrained vocal it's a massive mix error; highly obtrusive and ill fitting you couldn't find a worse addition of a string section to a song, what was Mark Ronson thinking, I mean Mick Ronsons..wait not Bowie's guitarist(checks album liner credits) wait, what!?