Quite literally the ramblin' gamblin' hobo in real life, TOWNES fetched up in Los Angeles to record "High,Low And In Between" at Larrabee Studios in 1972, the first of two successive flawed masterpieces.
Kevin Eggers returned to the control booth, bringing wih him a stellar cast of musicians including COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH guitarist David Cohen and pianist/arranger Don Randi to serve up TOWNES' fullest-sounding,band-oriented record since his 1968 debut.
Actually,"High,Low And In Between" (most apt title!) is stylistically all over the place, featuring mid-paced rockers, light-hearted country, throwaway bluegrass, several blasts of TOWNES' special brand of acoustic melancholia and two overt gospel pieces, opener "Two Hands" and "When He Offers His Hand" that the jury here are still out on after repeated exposure. Rather like Alex Chilton on BIG STAR's "Jesus Christ" he sounds sincere, but...
But, y'know, this is TOWNES VAN ZANDT man, so don't think there won't be genius shining through the clouds on occasion. Where to start? Well, how about the album's twin mid-paced "rockers" (term used loosely), the emotional "You Are Not Needed Now" and "To Live Is To Fly" - this latter written in tribute to JANIS JOPLIN - and also one of TOWNES' prettiest, resigned life-experience lyrics allied to an attractive country groove and a lovely, vulnerable vocal.
TOWNES renounces his usual girl chasin' ways in "Greensboro Woman" when his faithful streak overcomes her attentions (amazing), while the rockabilly rattle,"Standin'" has a mighty catchy chorus and the witty "No Deal" - in which TOWNES turns down rip-off advice from doctors and car salesmen - is worthy of JOHNNY CASH himself.
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Perhaps most unusual of all is "Mr.Mudd & Mr.Gold", an incredible lyrical invocation of a murderous card game and almost a compact prototype of Dylan's epic "Lily,Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts" from "Blood On The Tracks." However, surely VAN ZANDT'S penchant for stark melancholia produces the finest moments here."Highway Kind" tells TOWNES' ramblin' tale with just an inevitable shrug over the sparsest of acoustic strums, but it's unbearably sorrowful, while the closing title-track pulls off a similar success, dspite Randi's pretty piano touches and a striking chord change; the lyric: "if a shadow ain't much company/who said it would be?" succinctly summing up TOWNES' riches-to-rags fatalism in one fell swoop.
"High,Low And In Between" then, hits peaks, troughs and then soars again. A strange brew by the standards of anyone's favourite poison, it still has enough addictive power to draw you in, which is probably what TOWNES intended anyway.
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