Ray Wylie Hubbard - Snake Farm
List Price:
Our Price: $13.99
You Save: $0.99 (7%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $10.52 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Ray Wylie HubbardEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Music Label: Sustain Records
Soundtracks:
- Snake Farm
- Kilowatts
- Heartaches and Grease
- The Way of the Fallen
- Mother Hubbard's Blues
- Rabbit
- Pole Cat
- Old Guitar
- Wild Gods of Mexico
- Live and Die Rock and Roll
Free Music Notes for Snake Farm
Free Music Review: SARDONIC HUMOUR AND VISCOUS GROOVES - 'DARK' MUSIC FROM THE NETHER REGIONS
Hit: 4 Stars
On first listening, you might think that this is simply an album of 'grooved out' Texas swamp-rock (are there many swamps in Texas?), but there is more to the music than just this. As much as anything, it's the sardonic humour of RWH's lyrics (often delivered with an air of nonchalance) that will command your attention; 'Ramona's got a keen sense of humor', but she's not the only one - RWH also has his moments (in fact, a good few of them). Also, the songs can be thought of as a series of mini character studies covering an assortment of individuals (including the Devil Incarnate) with dubious backgrounds, questionable morality and less than honourable intentions.
A couple of reviewers feel that many of the songs sound the same. To an extent, I'd go along with this; whilst the songs are infectious, I wouldn't describe them as melodic - you can't whistle along to these tunes (not that you'd want to anyway), their tempos range from slow to medium slow, they have fairly similar primaeval rhythms, and they are all smeared with RWH's world-weary drawl - punctuated by the occasional groan. However, all of these ingredients combine to produce music which I find quite mesmerizing. Also, it is the lyrics, and the fashion in which they are delivered, which raise this album above the ordinary; this is not background music, it is music to be LISTENED TO. 'Snake Farm' is an album that I enjoy listening to in 'slices' of 3 or 4 songs, rather than all the way through from beginning to end. Another reviewer makes a comparison with ZZ Top - and I couldn't agree more. The music originates from the 'same place' but, whilst ZZ Top veered off towards mainstream 'southern rock', RWH stays closer to his roots by placing more emphasis on 'groove' with a bluesier edge (his lyrics are more 'colourful' also).
The guitar solos are fairly short and, if you are an 'aficionado' of electric guitar technique (which I'm NOT), forget fancy fretwork and speed breaks - instead, immerse yourself in the chilling sounds which Gurf Morlix extracts from his instrument. RWH plays acoustic guitar and, on a few tracks, electric slide also. Rhythm is provided by some emphatic 'no frills' percussion (Rick Richards) and funky bass (George Reiff). There are several guest musicians who bring added instrumental variety to the proceedings (harmonica, mandolin, 2nd electric guitar, 2nd acoustic guitar,); also Ruthie Foster lending some soulful backing and harmony vocals on 'Resurrection'. Purely from a personal point of view, I would have preferred a little more in the way of instrumental soloing.
Based upon music samples, RWH's earlier albums are not for me - too country flavoured for my tastes; but the sound on recent albums, culminating with 'Snake Farm', has become progressively greasier and denser, and the mood has become increasingly 'darker'. If this trend continues, who knows what his next album will be like - the mind boggles.
The music on 'Snake Farm' will not be everyone's 'cup of tea' but, within its genre (whatever this is!), it must be one of the best albums around - it's so 'bad', it's good. Much to my surprise, I found my wife, a woman of some refinement (or so she keeps telling me), secretly grooving along to the title track - surely, this must be the final accolade?
If you like this album, check out Growl also, similar vibe - but I think a little 'smoother' and with more of a country blues flavour.
Snake Farm Poster
To listen to Ray Wylie Hubbard's Snake Farm is to enter an eerie netherworld populated by dark and fascinating characters, some of whom are creepy enough to give you the shivers. The sandpaper-voiced Hubbard, a Texas songwriting legend, works a primal, greasy groove with these bluesy portraits, starting with Ramona, the dancing, tattooed reptile-house worker of the unforgettable title track. "Snake Farm" hypnotically mixes slithering images of sex, fear, revulsion, and humor, especially when Hubbard lets out a shimmering and menacing shudder of disgust. ("Snake farm / It just sounds nasty / Snake farm / Purty much is.") Guitar gunslinger Seth James sharpens the fine point on the stiletto that helps make these songs so lethal, but throughout, Hubbard strives for a tone of decadent elegance, whether evoking polecat love or the sideshow thievery of "Rabbit" ("There's two kinds of people in the world / The day people and the night people / It's the night people's job / To get the day people's money"). Produced by the masterful Gurf Morlix, who keeps things lean, foreboding, and roadhouse rough, the album sounds as if it were recorded in a room lit only by a naked 90-watt bulb--the perfect atmosphere in which to conjure songs of sin, deceit, and subterranean shenanigans. By record's end, redemption appears in a gonzo-ized telling of the Christ tale ("Resurrection"). But the Devil holds center stage until then, particularly on "The Way of the Fallen," inspired by Dante's Inferno, and on the Joseph Campbell mythology of "Wild Gods of Mexico," which involves a graphic canine sacrifice. Like Reservoir Dogs, the Quentin Tarantino classic Hubbard references in another humorous--if complex--example of women, sex, and revulsion, Snake Farm is not for the faint of heart. But fans of lowlife chic and exemplary Texas songwriting should lap this up quicker than cold longnecks and hot chicken-fried steak. --Alanna NashBlues Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in My Country
Johnny Cash - My Mother's Hymn BookRelease date: 2004-04-06; Music CD
Best price: $11.67
Price in other shops:
Marty Robbins - Hawaii's Calling MeRelease date: 1991-05-27; Music CD
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Snake FarmRelease date: 2006-06-27; Music CD
Best price: $10.48
Price in other shops:
Bob Dylan - Nashville SkylineRelease date: 2004-06-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.83
Price in other shops:
The New Riders of the Purple Sage - New Riders of the Purple SageRelease date: 2003-06-03; Music CD
Best price: $6.91
Price in other shops:
Paul Siebel - Jack-Knife GypsyRelease date: 1994-10-18; Music CD
Price in other shops:
David Bromberg - David BrombergRelease date: 2007-08-28; Music CD
Best price: $8.68
Price in other shops:
The Flatlanders - More a Legend Than a BandRelease date: 1992-10-07; Music CD
Best price: $11.89
Price in other shops:
Joe Ely - Joe ElyRelease date: 2007-06-12; Music CD
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
Jerry Jeff Walker - Ridin' HighRelease date: 1990-08-13; Music CD
Best price: $25.00
Top Rated Albums
James McMurtry - Just Us KidsRelease date: 2008-04-15; Music CD
Best price: $11.02
Price in other shops:
James McMurtry - Childish ThingsRelease date: 2005-09-06; Music CD
Best price: $11.58
Price in other shops:
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Crusades Of The Restless KnightsRelease date: 1999-07-20; Music CD
Best price: $11.79
Price in other shops:
Chris Knight - Enough RopeRelease date: 2006-07-11; Music CD
Best price: $11.59
Price in other shops:
Lucinda Williams - WestRelease date: 2007-02-13; Music CD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Todd Snider - The Devil You KnowRelease date: 2006-08-08; Music CD
Best price: $6.66
Price in other shops:
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Dangerous SpiritsRelease date: 1997-08-05; Music CD
Best price: $12.32
Price in other shops:
Guy Clark - Workbench SongsRelease date: 2006-11-21; Music CD
Best price: $9.63
Price in other shops:
Ray Wylie Hubbard - GrowlRelease date: 2003-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $11.73
Price in other shops:
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Delirium TremolosRelease date: 2005-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $11.78
Price in other shops: