Artist: The Bluegrass Album Band
Title: The Bluegrass Compact Disc
Year Of Release: 1986
Label: Rounder
Genre: Country
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 01:00:10
Tracklist
01. Blue Ridge Cabin Home
02. I Believe In You Darling
03. A Hundred Years From Now
04. On My Way Back To The Old Home
05. Cora Is Gone
06. The Old Home Town
07. Take Me In The Lifeboat
08. Sittin' Alone In The Moonlight
09. Head Over Heels
10. Ocean Of Diamonds
11. I'll Never Shed Another Tear
12. Unfaithful One
13. Is It Too Late Now
14. Chalk Up Another One
15. One Tear
16. Cheyenne
17. Devil In Disguise
18. Age
19. Talk It All Over With Him
20. Model Church
In 1980, guitarist Tony Rice got the idea of organizing a bluegrass supergroup to record an album made up strictly of old-school bluegrass standards -- no bluegrass arrangements of Bob Dylan or Eric Clapton songs, no jazzy originals, no funky instrumentation, just the classics played completely straight in the style of Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs. So he called up mandolinist Doyle Lawson, banjo picker J.D. Crowe, fiddler Bobby Hicks, dobro player Jerry Douglas, and bassist Todd Phillips, and they did just that; they called their project The Bluegrass Album, and referred to themselves simply as the Bluegrass Album Band. The project was both a commercial and a critical success, and was so much fun for the participants that they got together and did it again. And again. And again. And again, for a total of five albums over the course of nine years. When compact discs became the preferred format for music buyers a few years after the first volume in the series was released, the Rounder label condensed the four albums into a single CD and called it, inevitably, the The Bluegrass Compact Disc. It includes 20 highlight tracks from the four albums, including thrilling renditions of "Blue Ridge Cabin Home" and "On My Way Back to the Old Home," as well as such gospel gems as "Take Me in the Lifeboat" and "Model Church." Great as this album is, however, it should not take the place of the complete albums (all of which have been issued individually on CD) in any bluegrass lover's collection.
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Artist: Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice, Bluegrass Album Band
Title: The Bluegrass Compact Disc, Volume 2
Year Of Release: 1987
Label: Rounder Records
Genre: Folk, Bluegrass
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 58:55
Tracklist:
01 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Your Love Is Like A Flower (3:00)
02 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Gonna Settle Down (2:54)
03 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Toy Heart (3:02)
04 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - I'd Rather Be Alone (3:09)
05 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Molly And Tenbrooks (3:08)
06 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - When You Are Lonely (2:38)
07 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Somehow Tonight (3:06)
08 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky (2:53)
09 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Big Spike Hammer (3:01)
10 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Letter From My Darlin' (3:03)
11 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - So Happy I'll Be (2:37)
12 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darlin' (2:37)
13 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Just When I Needed You (2:37)
14 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Hey Lonesome (2:06)
15 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Down The Road (2:20)
16 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Please Search Your Heart (2:30)
17 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Lonesome Wind Blues (3:10)
18 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Come Back Darlin' (2:29)
19 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Nobody Loves Me (2:58)
20 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - Pain In My Heart (3:14)
21 - Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice - River Of Death (2:23)
Bluegrass playing does not get any better than this. Tony Rice is one of the best voices in bluegrass music and he is a superb flatpick guitar player. J.D. Crowe ranks up there with Earl Scruggs as a master banjo picker. There is no one better than Jerry Douglas on the Dobro. Rounding out the band are Doyle Lawson (mandolin), Bobby Hicks (fiddle) and Todd Phillips (bass). These are all top-notch players. But don't get the mistaken notion that this is merely technically perfect bluegrass music. This is music with heart and soul. In the album's liner notes, Rice takes about the excitement present during these recordings. "I was really surprised to hear how much it sounded like this group had been working together for years. I think the contributing factor here is that all of us are from the same 'school' of bluegrass music."